She Thought She Could Silence a Helpless Nanny... Until the Mafia Boss's Footsteps Echoed Behind Her.
She Thought She Could Silence a Helpless Nanny... Until the Mafia Boss's Footsteps Echoed Behind Her.
The first thing Lily heard wasn't the baby's crying.
It was the sound of tiny bones cracking.
Then...
Heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Someone had come home hours earlier than expected.
And Serena had no idea who was standing behind her.
"Stop!"
"You're going to break his arm!"
Lily's scream shattered the silence inside the marble foyer of Blackwood Mansion.
Fourteen-month-old Ethan lay helpless on the cold floor, crying so violently that every breath sounded weaker than the last.
His tiny face had turned from bright red to a terrifying shade of purple.
One small arm hung at an unnatural angle.
Serena Montigue stood over him, gripping him by the wrist as if he were nothing more than an object.
The harder Ethan struggled...
The tighter she pulled.
Lily's heart stopped.
For six months, she had cared for Ethan every day.
She had fed him.
Comforted him.
Stayed awake through his fevers.
Loved him like he was her own.
And now...
She could see the life draining from his frightened little body.
Without thinking, Lily threw herself forward.
Her bare feet slid across the polished marble.
Her trembling hands reached for the child.
She had only one thought.
Save Ethan.
But Serena reacted first.
Her designer heel slammed into Lily's stomach with brutal force.
The impact hurled Lily backward across the floor.
The air exploded from her lungs.
Pain ripped through every muscle in her body.
Still...
She tried to crawl.
Because Ethan needed her.
The little boy's cries were no longer loud.
They had become weak...
Broken...
The heartbreaking sounds of a child running out of strength.
Serena looked down at Lily without the slightest hint of emotion.
This was the same woman who smiled for cameras at charity galas.
The same elegant socialite everyone admired.
The same fiancée who would soon marry Victor Blackwood—
The most feared mafia boss in Chicago.
Serena slowly pressed the sharp heel of her shoe onto Lily's abdomen.
"You touch him again..."
"I'll make sure no one ever finds your body."
Her voice was calm.
Almost gentle.
"You really think Victor would believe a cheap nanny over me?"
"You're nothing."
"And nobodies disappear every day."
Lily couldn't answer.
She could barely breathe.
But she dragged herself forward anyway.
One painful inch.
Then another.
Her scraped knees left faint streaks across the white marble.
May you like
Her shaking fingers reached toward Ethan...
Just as the slow, heavy footsteps behind Serena finally stopped.
