“You’re fired,” I said. “Pack your things and leave tonight. If I ever see you again, you won’t walk away.”
Renata opened her mouth, closed it, then turned and fled toward the staff quarters.
The silence that followed felt fragile, like glass about to shatter.
Sofia wrapped her arms around herself and looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
“What happens now?” she asked.
I walked toward her slowly.
She didn’t move.
When I stopped in front of her, I reached out and gently lifted the pendant from her hand.
The black-and-gold crest of the Duca family gleamed in the dim light.
“You kept this,” I said.
“It was the only proof I had,” she whispered. “That I wasn’t crazy. That it all really happened.”
I closed my hand around the pendant and looked into her eyes.
“You saved my life.”
She didn’t answer.
“You lost everything because of it. Your family. Your freedom. Fifteen years of your life.”
Her lips trembled, but she didn’t look away.
“I’m going to make this right,” I said quietly.
“You can’t—”
“Yes, I can.”
I let the pendant fall back against her chest and stepped back.
“You and your daughter will stay here. Not as staff. As guests. Under my protection. No one will touch you.”
Her eyes widened.
“Lorenzo, I can’t—”
“You don’t have a choice.”
She stared at me, her breath coming fast and shallow.
Then, slowly, her shoulders sagged, and she nodded.
I turned toward the little girl by the window.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
“Elena.”
“Elena,” I repeated.
The child looked up at me with those wide, dark eyes.
I crouched down slowly, careful not to startle her.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
She nodded.
“How about we get you and your mom something to eat?”
She glanced at her mother, then back at me, and nodded again.
I stood and gestured toward the hallway.
“Come with me.”
The next morning, I called Giulia Cortese.
She answered on the second ring, her voice smooth and sweet as poisoned honey.
“Lorenzo, darling. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“We need to talk,” I said. “In person.”
There was a pause.
“Of course. When?”
“Tonight. My estate. Eight o’clock.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hung up and set the phone down on my desk.
My most trusted man, Carlo, stood by the window with his arms crossed.
“You’re sure about this?” he asked.
“She sent Renata after Sofia,” I said. “She’s been looking for her. Which means she knows who Sofia is and what she saw that night.”
