The Mafia Boss Was Ready to Marry Another — Until His Maid Revealed the Secret She’d Hidden
Chapter 2
Luca locked the ballroom doors.
Elena stared at him.
“Why?”
“I don’t want anyone hearing this.”
“Good.”
He placed the photograph on the table.
“Tell me.”
Elena hesitated.
“Your father was poisoned.”
“I know.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You think you know.”
He stared.
“What do you mean?”
“The poison wasn’t the cause of death.”
“It was?”
“He survived it.”
Luca went still.
“What?”
“Elena—”
“Your father survived the first poisoning.”
Luca said nothing.
“Elena’s voice dropped.
“He was recovering.”
“When?”
“Two days before he died.”
Luca stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw him.”
His expression changed.
“You saw my father?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You were here?”
“Yes.”
“As a maid?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told anyone?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of who?”
She looked toward the doors.
“Everyone.”
He studied her.
“Start from the beginning.”
Elena explained.
Her mother had worked in the Delacroix mansion before her.
Her father had been a driver.
Both had died under mysterious circumstances.
Elena had remained in the mansion because her family had been deeply connected to the Delacroix household.
She had grown up hearing whispers.
Knowing things she wasn’t supposed to know.
Six years earlier, Luca’s father had been poisoned.
The doctor treated him.
He survived.
But then someone entered his room.
The next morning, he was dead.
The official report was changed.
Elena had seen the person enter.
She never forgot the face.
“Who?”
Luca’s voice was almost a whisper.
“Vanessa’s father.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“That isn’t possible.”
“I saw him.”
“He was out of the country.”
“No.”
“What proof?”
Elena reached into her apron again.
A second photograph.
A security camera still.
Luca’s father lying in bed.
A man standing beside him.
Vanessa’s father.
Luca stared.
The date was clear.
The night before his father died.
“Why didn’t the cameras catch this?”
“They did.”
“Then why wasn’t it in the records?”
“Someone erased the footage.”
“Who?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Luca stared at the photograph.
“Why have you kept this?”
“Because I promised your father.”
He looked at her.
“What promise?”
“He told me something before he died.”
“What?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“He said, ‘Protect Luca from the woman who smiles when everyone else cries.’”
Luca froze.
Vanessa.
He knew exactly what his father meant.
But there was more.
Elena had discovered bank records linking Vanessa’s family to a rival crime syndicate.
They weren’t simply planning to marry into the Delacroix family.
They were planning to take it.
The marriage would transfer control of several companies.
Money.
Ports.
Land.
Information.
And Luca would become a figurehead.
A dead one.
Luca looked at Elena.
“Why do you care?”
She hesitated.
Then answered softly:
“Because I loved your father.”
Luca stared.
“What?”
“As a daughter.”
She looked down.
“He was the first man in this house who ever treated me like family.”
Luca’s face softened.
“And he asked you to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you would have killed someone.”
He smiled bitterly.
“Probably.”
Elena took a breath.
“And there is something else.”
“What?”
She looked at him.
“Your father knew I wasn’t just a maid.”
Luca frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“My real name isn’t Elena Bennett.”
He stared.
She whispered:
“I’m Elena Delacroix.”
