Chapter 1 - The Footage
Alessandro sat motionless in the dim blue light of his office monitors. The video timestamp read 01:14 AM. On screen, the heavy oak door of the east wing nursery creaked open without a sound.
A tiny figure glided into the frame. She wore oversized cotton pajamas with faded ducklings, her bare feet moving silently across the hardwood floor. In her left hand, she dragged a plush rabbit with one missing ear.
Alessandro’s breath caught in his throat. He leaned closer, expecting a threat—an assassin, an intruder, a traitor among his ranks. Instead, he watched three-year-old Mia approach the crib on tiptoe.
Sophia had been whimpering, her small body trembling with the night terrors that had haunted her since the crash that took Isabella’s life. On screen, Mia reached her arm through the crib slats. She didn't offer a mother's structured comfort; she offered simple, silent solidarity. She pressed the worn stuffed rabbit against Sophia’s chest, rested her small hand over the baby’s fists, and began to hum.
Within ninety seconds, Sophia’s breathing evened out. Her grip relaxed around the rabbit's fabric. Mia stood there for five full minutes, humming a soft, wordless melody, before slipping back into the shadows.
Alessandro pulled back from the desk, his hands shaking slightly. He replayed the footage three times. The heavily guarded perimeter, the biometric security doors, the guards stationed at every wing—none of it meant anything to a little girl following the sound of a crying baby.
He picked up his desk phone and dialed Richard Hale directly.
May you like
"Sir?" Richard’s voice was instantly alert.
"The new housekeeper," Alessandro said, his tone icy yet tightly coiled. "Elena Carter. I want everything on her. Every debt, every ex-partner, every move she’s made in the last five years. On my desk by dawn."
