Chapter 1: The Woman Nobody Was Listening To
**"GET THAT OLD WOMAN BACK UPSTAIRS!
AND IF YOU CAN'T FOLLOW SIMPLE ORDERS, PACK YOUR BAGS!" THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE HUMILIATED HIS 25-YEAR-OLD MAID IN FRONT OF FORTY GUESTS—BUT WHEN HIS MOTHER GRABBED THE MAID'S HAND AND WHISPERED THREE WORDS, LUCA MORETTI STOOD UP.**
"I'm paying you to clean this house, sweetheart.
Not embarrass my family."
Vanessa Bellini pointed toward the staircase.
I stood beside the dining table, gripping the wheelchair handles so tightly my fingers ached.
Seated in front of me was seventy-two-year-old Teresa Moretti.
Luca's mother.
The woman everyone believed had lost her ability to speak after a stroke eighteen months earlier.
"Mrs.
Moretti wanted to come downstairs," I explained.
Vanessa laughed.
"Oh, really?
And how exactly did she tell you that?"
Several guests exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"She asked me."
"Don't be ridiculous.
She hasn't spoken a complete sentence in over a year."
My name is Hannah Collins.
I'm twenty-five years old, and I've been working at the Moretti mansion in Chicago for eleven months.
I needed this job.
My mother was recovering from surgery, and every paycheck helped keep her in the apartment she'd called home for thirty years.
But I couldn't leave Teresa alone upstairs tonight.
Not after what she'd told me.
"Hannah."
Luca Moretti's voice came from the head of the table.
Thirty-four years old.
Dark hair, a black tailored suit, and the kind of quiet authority that made people stop talking without being asked.
He set down his glass.
"What did my mother say?"
Vanessa immediately reached for his arm.
"Darling, please.
You know how confused she's been."
Luca didn't look at her.
"Hannah?"
I swallowed.
"She said, 'Let me see him.'"
Nobody moved.
Luca slowly pushed back his chair.
"Mom?"
Teresa looked directly at him.
Her lips trembled.
Vanessa stepped between them.
"She's exhausted.
Hannah has obviously been encouraging this nonsense."
"Move, Vanessa."
Two words.
Barely above a whisper.
But Vanessa stepped aside.
Luca knelt beside his mother's wheelchair.
"Mom, can you hear me?"
Teresa raised her trembling hand and touched his cheek.
Then she smiled.
It was the first smile I'd seen her give him in months.
Luca's expression shifted.
"Why didn't anyone tell me she was improving?"
Vanessa folded her arms.
"Because she isn't.
The doctors explained that these little moments don't mean anything."
I looked down.
I'd promised myself I wouldn't speak again.
Then Teresa squeezed my hand.
Twice.
The same signal she'd used every evening when she wanted me to stay.
"Mr.
Moretti," I whispered, "your mother has been practicing her words with me for six weeks."
Luca turned.
"Six weeks?"
Vanessa's face reddened.
"That is completely inappropriate.
Hannah isn't medically qualified to treat your mother."
"I wasn't treating her," I said.
"I was listening to her."
The room fell silent.
Luca studied my face.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was told I'd lose my job if I bothered you about her."
"Who told you that?"
Before I could answer, Vanessa snapped, "Luca, are you seriously going to believe a maid over your future wife?"
He didn't raise his voice.
"I asked her a question."
My eyes filled.
"Vanessa did."
For the first time that evening, Vanessa looked frightened.
Then Teresa began tugging at Luca's sleeve.
"Mom?"
Her breathing grew uneven.
She struggled to form a word.
"Soph..."
Luca leaned closer.
"Sophie?"
His eight-year-old daughter.
Teresa nodded desperately.
Vanessa forced a laugh.
"Oh, for heaven's sake.
Sophie is upstairs sleeping.
Can we please stop this circus?"
But Teresa shook her head.
Hard.
She grabbed my wrist.
"Hannah...
tell..."
I knelt beside her.
"It's okay, Mrs.
Moretti.
I'm here."
Her eyes filled with tears.
Then she whispered something that made my heart stop cold.
"Not...
upstairs."
Luca slowly turned toward Vanessa.
"Where's my daughter?"
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
And somewhere beyond the dining room windows, a car engine started.
**That was when I remembered what I'd seen Vanessa carrying toward the garage twenty minutes earlier.**
**Sophie's little pink suitcase.**
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💬 Where is Sophie?
And what does Vanessa know?
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