Chapter 1 - The Hidden Wing
Dante Moretti took the stairs three at a time, carrying three-year-old Lily against his chest like an fragile, precious jewel. His personal physician, Dr. Gabriel Vance, sprinted alongside him, medical kit slung over his shoulder. Behind them, half a dozen armed guards flooded the service corridor, their shoes thunderous against the polished hardwood.
"Which room, sweetheart?" Dante’s voice was surprisingly soft against Lily’s ear, a striking contrast to the lethal fury radiating from his rigid posture.
Lily pointed a trembling finger down the narrow, dimly lit hallway reserved for house staff. "The door with the silver star on it."
Dante kicked the door open. Clara lay sprawled on the cold linoleum floor near the small wooden table. Her breathing was dangerously shallow, her skin pale and clammy. A shattered tea cup lay beside her hand, dark liquid soaking into the rug.
"Gabriel, move!" Dante commanded, pulling Lily back as the doctor dropped to his knees beside Clara.
Gabriel checked her pulse, his brow furrowing instantly. "Weak and thready. pupils dilated. This isn't a heart attack or stroke, Dante. She’s been poisoned. Organophosphate compound—slow-acting, meant to look like natural heart failure."
Dante felt a cold, sharp rage ignite behind his ribs. He looked down at Lily, who was clutching her stuffed rabbit, her eyes wide with uncomprehending terror.
Four years ago, Clara had disappeared from his life without a trace. She had been the daughter of his family’s chief accountant, a woman he had loved in secret while navigating the deadly ascension to head the Moretti syndicate. When his father was murdered and a bloody war broke out, Clara vanished. He had spent eighteen months burning down rival families searching for her, eventually assuming she had fled the country or succumbed to the chaos.
He had never imagined she was living less than two hundred yards from his bedroom, cleaning his mansion under a false surname, hiding a daughter with his own dark amber eyes.
"Get her to the private medical bay downstairs," Dante ordered, his tone deadly. "Set up a full blood dialysis. If she dies, Gabriel, every doctor on my payroll loses their license—and their life."
He carried Lily back to his private study, setting her down gently on the leather sofa. He called his head of security, Dominic.
"Boss," Dominic said, entering the room with a drawn weapon. "We’ve locked down the gates. No one leaves."
"Who hired Clara Vance?" Dante demanded. "And why was I never told she was working here?"
Dominic looked visibly shaken. "She was hired eight months ago through an outside domestic agency managed by your uncle, Silvio. Her paperwork listed her as Clara Miller. The estate manager handles lower-staff hiring—you never see their files."
"Silvio," Dante whispered.
Dante walked over to Lily, kneeling in front of her. "Lily," he asked gently, "did your mommy drink that tea tonight?"
Lily nodded slowly, wiping a tear with her rabbit’s ear. "A nice man in a suit gave it to her. He said it was medicine to help her sleep because she was tired."
"What did the man look like?"
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"He had a shiny silver ring," Lily said softly. "With a big bird on it."
Dante’s fist clenched until his knuckles turned white. The silver signet ring bearing a raven was the personal seal of Silvio Moretti—the uncle who had been trying to undermine Dante’s authority for two years.
