Chapter 5 - The Purge
By three in the morning, the Duca estate was quiet once again.
The Romano family’s attempted coup was crushed before the city even woke up. Their territory was seized by dawn, their leadership arrested or forced into permanent exile. The poison that had threatened to destroy my empire had instead ignited the swiftest, most decisive purge in the history of the New York syndicate.
I sat in the medical bay of my estate while my personal physician administered an aggressive chelation therapy to flush the heavy metals from my blood.
"You're lucky, Mr. Duca," the doctor said, adjusting the IV drip attached to my arm. "Another month of those doses, and the nerve damage in your ears would have been permanent. You caught it just in time."
"I didn't catch it," I said quietly, looking toward the doorway.
Clara stood in the hall, holding little Lily in her arms. The child was asleep, her soft curls resting against her mother’s shoulder, her little thumb tucked into her mouth.
I unhooked the heart monitor clips from my fingers and stood up, walking out into the quiet corridor.
"Clara," I said softly.
Clara flinched slightly, bowing her head. "Mr. Duca... we will pack our things and leave in the morning. I know too much now—"
"You aren't going anywhere," I interrupted firmly.
Clara looked up, her eyes wide with shock.
"From this day forward, you are no longer the head housekeeper," I said, looking down at the sleeping child who had saved my life. "You are the estate manager. You and Lily will move into the east wing suites. Lily will have the best private tutors, the best medical care, and a trust fund that ensures she will never want for anything for the rest of her life."
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Tears welling in her eyes, Clara gasped. "Mr. Duca... I... we can't accept—"
"She saved my life when the people I trusted were trying to end it," I said, my voice thick with genuine emotion. I gently reached out, resting my finger in Lily’s small, sleeping palm. Her tiny fingers curled instinctively around mine. "She spoke the truth without saying a single word."
