Chapter 5 - THE CAR AT THE KITCHEN DOOR
The black sedan arrived at six thirty-seven.
Rosa saw it from the kitchen window.
She had come downstairs for warm milk because Lily refused to drink it cold, even in a room with silk curtains and a fireplace.
Two men stepped out.
Both wore suits.
Neither belonged to Alessandro’s regular security team.
One showed a document to the guard at the kitchen entrance.
The door opened.
Rosa set the milk down.
Her body remembered fear before her mind caught up.
She backed toward the pantry.
“Ms. Mendes?” the first man asked. “Mr. Moretti requested a transfer.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“It’s already arranged.”
“Then he can tell me himself.”
The second man moved to block the corridor.
Rosa reached into her pocket for her phone.
The first man caught her wrist.
She slammed the milk pitcher into his face.
It shattered against the tile.
He cursed and grabbed for her.
“Lily!” Rosa screamed.
Her daughter wasn’t there.
But the name brought Alessandro running.
Nico reached the kitchen half a step behind him.
The second man turned.
Nico drove him against the refrigerator while Alessandro pulled the first away from Rosa.
A chair hit the floor.
Bruno appeared in the doorway, pale but steady.
“Lily is upstairs.”
Only then did Rosa breathe.
Alessandro pinned the man against the counter.
“Who sent you?”
The man spat blood into the sink.
“Your father.”
Alessandro’s grip tightened.
Nico spoke sharply.
“Boss.”
Rosa watched Alessandro’s face.
She saw the man people whispered about.
She also saw the exact moment he chose not to become him.
He stepped back.
“Call the police.”
Both intruders looked at him.
So did Nico.
“The real ones,” Alessandro added.
By eight, the men were gone in patrol cars.
Maya was on her way.
Rosa sat at the kitchen table with a bandage around her wrist.
Alessandro stood across from her.
“I should have told you about the forged order last night.”
“Yes.”
“I thought canceling it and changing the guards was enough.”
“It wasn’t.”
“No.”
He didn’t defend himself.
That made her anger harder to hold, but she held it anyway.
Upstairs, Lily refused breakfast until she saw her mother.
Rosa gathered her close.
“Mommy dropped something,” she explained.
Lily touched the bandage.
“Did the house bite you?”
Rosa closed her eyes.
Downstairs, the kitchen guard finally admitted who had told him to honor the transfer.
Not Vittorio.
May you like
Not a stranger.
“Miss Romano said you approved it.”
