Chapter 6 - The Secret Keeper
Beatrice looked up, her chest heaving as she fought for air. She looked over her shoulder at the sleeping child, then back at me, a profound, gut-wrenching sorrow washing over her features.
"I wasn't always a maid, Mr. Vance," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Twelve years ago... I was Clara's personal nurse and nanny."
The world seemed to tilt on its axis.
"Clara..." I repeated, the name feeling foreign and heavy on my tongue after a decade of silence.
"She trusted me with her life," Beatrice continued, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her frayed sweater. "The night of the 'accident'—it wasn't an accident. Lorenzo Vale knew about the hit before it happened. He was working with the rival syndicate behind the scenes, trying to orchestrate a coup from within your own ranks."
My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might shatter. The name Lorenzo tasted like poison in my mouth.
"Clara realized what was happening just hours before the car went off the bridge," Beatrice said, her voice dropping to a fierce, protective whisper. "She handed baby Elena to me in the nursery, shoved a bag of cash into my hands, and told me to run. She drove the car herself, with an empty back seat, letting them think the family was inside so the hunters would stop looking for the child."
I sat back on my heels, the brutal reality washing over me like a tidal wave of ice. Clara hadn't just died in a senseless tragedy. She had sacrificed herself, driving off that bridge alone to buy her daughter a lifetime of safety.
And all the while, Lorenzo had stood by my side as my most loyal lieutenant, knowing the truth, using my grief to bind me closer to him, turning my empire into his personal weapon.
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"Why didn't you come to me?" I demanded, my voice dangerously low. "Why live like this in the shadows?"
"Come to you?" Beatrice laughed bitterly, a harsh, dry sound. "Lorenzo told the entire underworld that anyone who helped protect the remaining bloodline would be flayed alive. I had no money, no connections, and everywhere I turned, his men were watching. I had to hide in plain sight, working in your very mansion just to earn enough to keep my little girl from starving to death in this frozen hell."
