Chapter 1 - The Breach
Alessandro Duca actually took one step backward when my daughter raised her arms.
I would have laughed under any other circumstances.
Instead, every practical fear I had spent eight months organizing into neat compartments arrived at once.
Job, rent, formula, insurance, and childcare all flashed through my panicked mind.
I stepped forward and whispered my frantic apologies while reaching for Mia.
I expected to be thrown out of the penthouse before I could even gather my cleaning supplies.
Alessandro looked from the baby to me with a strange, dark intensity.
He asked how long she had been secretly coming into his home.
The truth scraped my throat as I confessed it had been three months.
He listed the people who must have known, calculating the massive security breach in his life.
I nodded nervously, naming the doorman and the local delivery people who had shown me kindness.
Alessandro did not raise his voice, which somehow terrified me more than if he had screamed.
He slowly bent his knees and picked my daughter up from the cold marble floor.
He held her awkwardly against his expensive suit as if she were a fragile explosive.
Mia giggled and patted his hardened cheek with her small, sticky hand.
I braced myself for his legendary mafia temper to finally snap.
Instead, he looked directly into my eyes and told me that I was incredibly foolish.
He explained that the violent men he dealt with did not care about the struggles of a poor maid.
I promised to pack my things and leave the building immediately so he would never see us again.
Alessandro shook his head and shifted Mia to his left arm.
He declared with absolute authority that I could not leave the penthouse now.
Before I could ask why, the massive computer monitor behind him flickered violently.
The live video feed of the Swiss investment bankers vanished into gray static.
It was instantly replaced by a hacked security camera view of the private residential corridor.
Four men dressed in dark tactical gear were stepping out of the private elevator.
They were holding silenced automatic weapons.
Alessandro reached under his mahogany desk and pulled out a heavy black pistol.
He shoved me into the corner of the office and handed me my daughter.
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He ordered me to keep her quiet and pray that the reinforced doors would hold.
The heavy wooden doors of the office suddenly splintered inward with a deafening crash.
