Chapter 2 - The Moretti estate was a fortress disguised as a mansion.
Located in Lake Forest, it occupied 10 acres behind 12-ft stone walls topped with electrified fencing. Armed men patrolled the grounds with German shepherds.
Sophie watched them through the car window.
“Is this necessary?”
“I have many enemies.”
Lorenzo’s answer was matter-of-fact.
“Safety is an illusion unless you enforce it.”
The Maybach stopped outside a Gothic Revival mansion built of gray stone.
Silas opened the door.
“We’re here, boss.”
Lorenzo helped Isabella from the car.
She looked around sleepily.
“Are we in Rome, Enzo?”
“No, Mama. We’re home.”
Nurse Hopkins was waiting at the entrance.
Her face tightened when she saw Lorenzo.
“Sir, I am so sorry I lost her at the gala. I—”
“We will discuss your incompetence later.”
Lorenzo’s voice stopped her.
“Take her to bed. If she wakes up distressed tonight, you are fired before sunrise.”
Hopkins went pale.
She led Isabella inside.
Lorenzo turned to Sophie.
“Come. Silas will fetch your brother in the morning. Tonight, you stay here.”
“I can’t leave Toby alone tonight. He’ll worry.”
“He has already been contacted.”
Lorenzo started toward the front entrance.
“One of my men went to your apartment. He gave Toby a phone to call you. He is safe. There is a guard outside your door right now.”
Sophie stopped.
“You sent men to my house without asking me?”
Lorenzo turned.
“I am a thorough man, Sophie. I needed to verify your story, and I needed to ensure my new investment wasn’t going to run away.”
“I’m not an investment.”
Her exhaustion sharpened into anger.
“I’m a person.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“In this house, you are what I say you are.”
Then his tone shifted slightly.
“Now come inside. It’s freezing.”
Sophie followed him.
The interior of the mansion was magnificent and almost completely without warmth.
Marble floors stretched beneath high ceilings. Expensive paintings hung on the walls, but there were almost no family photographs. The house felt more like a mausoleum for the living than a home.
Lorenzo led her into a library.
A fire burned in the hearth.
“Sit.”
Sophie lowered herself into a leather armchair.
Lorenzo poured 2 glasses of brandy and handed her one.
“It will help with the shock.”
She held the glass but did not drink.
“So what now? Do I sign a contract in blood?”
Lorenzo gave a low laugh.
He took a manila folder from his desk and dropped it into her lap.
“Open it.”
Sophie did.
Her breath stopped.
The folder contained her life.
There were photographs of her walking to work and Toby outside school. Copies of overdue utility bills. Her father’s death certificate from the construction accident that had killed him 5 years earlier. Records showing that the company responsible had never paid the family compensation.
Sophie looked up.
“How do you have all this? We’ve known each other for an hour.”
“I have analysts who can find the history of a ghost in 10 minutes.”
Lorenzo leaned against his desk.
“I know you dropped out of nursing school to take care of Toby after your father died. I know you have $42,000 in debt. I know your landlord, Mr. Russo, has been threatening to evict you by Friday.”
He took a drink.
“You are drowning, Sophie.”
His eyes remained on her.
“I am the lifeboat.”
For Sophie, every humiliation and private struggle of the last 5 years had been reduced to pages in a folder.
“Why are you doing this?”
Her voice cracked.
“You could hire anyone. Why go to this trouble for a maid?”
Lorenzo put down his glass and came toward her.
He lifted her chin.
“Because when Beatrice Vain threw that champagne, you didn’t flinch. You didn’t look for an exit.”
His thumb moved lightly against her lower lip.
“You stood your ground.”
Sophie stopped breathing.
“Loyalty like that is rare. It cannot be taught. It has to be born.”
He withdrew his hand.
“I need someone I can trust with my mother’s life. My enemies would love to use her against me. They would hurt her to get to me.”
He looked at Sophie.
“I need a guard dog that looks like a lamb but bites like a wolf.”
A trace of amusement touched his expression.
“I think that’s you.”
He placed a contract beside her with a pen.
“It covers your salary, benefits, and confidentiality. It also states that if you betray me, the consequences will be severe.”
Sophie stared at the document.
It offered Toby security.
It offered her a future.
It also required her to surrender a significant part of her freedom.
She picked up the pen.
“I have 1 condition.”
Lorenzo raised an eyebrow.
“You are in no position to bargain. But go ahead. Amuse me.”
“I want to finish my nursing degree. Online, at night, when Isabella is asleep. You pay the tuition.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
Not the cold expression she had seen before.
A genuine smile changed his entire face.
“Done.”
Sophie signed.
“Welcome to the family.”
Lorenzo locked the contract in a drawer.
“Now sleep. Your room is on the 3rd floor, 2nd door on the left. Do not wander. The motion sensors are active.”
Sophie stood and went toward the door.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Lorenzo.”
His back was to her as he poured another drink.
“Call me Lorenzo.”
She tried the name.
“Lorenzo.”
He looked over his shoulder.
“Thank you for the jacket.”
“Good night, Sophie.”
She left the library and climbed the stairs.
She did not see the security personnel moving through the shadows.
She did not yet understand that by signing Lorenzo’s contract, she had also become a potential target.
Inside the library, Lorenzo watched a security monitor until Sophie entered her room and locked the door.
Then he made a call.
“It’s done. She’s in.”
He watched the fire.
“Dig deeper into her background. I want ex-boyfriends, distant relatives, anyone who could be used as leverage against her.”
His expression hardened.
“If there is anyone, remove them.”
He ended the call.
For the first time in years, Lorenzo Moretti was no longer certain whether he was controlling the game or had become one of its pieces.
3 weeks passed.
Sophie gradually learned the rhythm of the Moretti estate.
Most of her days belonged to Isabella.
The older woman responded to Sophie in a way nobody had expected. They spent mornings in the heated conservatory pruning orchids. Sophie found old Italian records in the attic and played them for her.
Sometimes the music brought Isabella into periods of startling clarity.
She would talk for hours about the Amalfi Coast, lemon groves, and a young man named Mateo who had stolen her heart.
Toby adjusted less easily.
He lived in the guest wing and had every video game console he could have wanted, all purchased by Lorenzo, but the luxury did not make him comfortable.
“This isn’t normal, Soph.”
He spoke quietly during one of their dinners.
“These guys have guns under their coats. I saw the gardener cleaning a pistol in the shed.”
“We’re safe, Toby.”
Sophie tried to sound certain.
“Just focus on school. The tutors Mr. Moretti hired cost more than anything we could have afforded.”
Lorenzo himself was almost absent.
He often left before dawn and returned after the house was asleep.
Yet Sophie felt his presence everywhere.
Fresh flowers appeared in her room.
Nursing textbooks arrived by courier.
The guards who had initially viewed her as temporary household staff now treated her with growing respect.
One stormy Tuesday evening, Sophie was in the kitchen preparing herbal tea for Isabella when she turned and found Lorenzo sitting at the island.
She gasped.
His jacket was gone.
The collar of his white shirt was open, revealing part of a tattoo across his chest.
He looked exhausted.
“I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I know how to move quietly.”
His voice was rough.
“It’s a survival skill.”
He looked toward the teapot.
“Is there enough for 2?”
Sophie poured a second cup and pushed it across the counter.
Their fingers touched briefly.
The contact sent a sharp sensation through her hand.
“How is she?”
Lorenzo watched the steam rising from the cup.
“She’s having a good week.”
Sophie smiled.
“She remembered your birthday is coming. She wants to bake a cake. She keeps asking if you like lemon.”
Lorenzo looked up.
“She remembers my birthday?”
“She says you were always serious. That you carried the world on your shoulders even when you were 10.”
A bitter laugh escaped him.
“She isn’t wrong. My father died when I was 10.”
He looked at Sophie.
“I became the man of the house that day.”
For several seconds, he studied her.
She wore leggings and an oversized sweater. Her hair was gathered into an untidy bun.
She looked warm and ordinary in a house that was neither.
“You look tired, Sophie. Is my mother too much trouble?”
“No.”
Her answer was immediate.
“I love her. She’s the grandmother I wish I still had.”
Lorenzo continued watching.
“But?”
Sophie hesitated.
“I’m worried about Toby. He feels like a prisoner. He’s 16. He can’t leave the estate without an escort. He wants to go to movies. He wants to see friends.”
Lorenzo took a drink of tea.
“The Salvaro family has put a price on my head.”
Sophie stopped.
“$5 million.”
He set down the cup.
“If Toby leaves that gate alone, he can be taken within an hour. They could use him to get to me.”
His eyes shifted toward her.
“Or to get to you.”
Sophie’s face paled.
“To get to me?”
“You are important to my mother.”
Lorenzo stood.
“That makes you a weakness. My enemies exploit weaknesses.”
He walked around the island until he was close enough that Sophie had to look up at him.
“I told you. You’re in the spider’s web now. You can’t just fly away.”
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Her breathing changed.
“But don’t worry.”
He leaned closer.
“I am a very possessive spider.”
His lips were only inches from hers.
“I don’t let anyone touch what is mine.”
Sophie’s heart pounded.
Part of her wanted to step away.
Another part did not.
The kitchen door burst open.
“Sir.”
Silas had a gun in his hand.
“Perimeter breach. Sector 4.”
Lorenzo transformed immediately.
The exhaustion disappeared.
His expression became cold.
“Where?”
“The delivery entrance. They used a fake courier van.”
Lorenzo drew a black handgun from his waistband.
“Secure my mother.”
Then he caught Sophie by the arm.
“You come with me.”
“What about Toby?”
“Silas has Toby.”
Gunfire erupted somewhere in the house.
“Move.”
Alarms began screaming.
Lorenzo pulled Sophie into the library and locked the heavy oak door.
Then he forced a large bookshelf against it.
“Stay down.”
He pushed her behind the mahogany desk.
“What’s happening?”
“An assassination attempt.”
Lorenzo checked the magazine of his gun.
“The Salvaros.”
Another burst of gunfire sounded outside.
“They should never have been able to get through the gates.”
His expression darkened.
“Someone let them in.”
Bullets struck the library door.
Wood splintered across the room.
Sophie covered her head.
“Lorenzo!”
“Quiet.”
He took position beside the entrance.
The damaged door burst inward.
A man in tactical clothing and a balaclava entered.
Lorenzo caught the barrel of the man’s weapon, forced it upward, and fired twice into his chest.
The intruder fell.
2 more men rushed inside.
Lorenzo moved behind a leather chair and returned fire.
1 attacker dropped.
The other disappeared behind a sofa.
“Give it up, Moretti!”
The surviving gunman shouted from cover.
“We have the boy!”
Sophie felt the blood leave her face.
She stood.
“No, Sophie. Get down!”
Lorenzo’s voice filled the room.
“We have the kid!”
The attacker shouted again.
“Come out or we bleed him!”
Sophie looked around.
A heavy bronze bust of Julius Caesar sat on the desk.
She grabbed it with both hands.
While the gunman remained focused on Lorenzo, Sophie threw the sculpture over the sofa.
It struck the attacker in the head.
He collapsed.
Lorenzo stared at her.
“They have Toby.”
Sophie was breathing hard.
She took the fallen attacker’s gun even though she did not know how to use it.
Her hands were shaking, but fear had been replaced by rage.
“Where is he?”
Lorenzo looked at her for a moment.
Then he nodded.
“Follow me. Stay close.”
They entered the hallway.
Several of Lorenzo’s guards lay on the floor.
The air carried the smell of gunpowder and blood.
They reached the main staircase.
3 armed men were standing in the foyer below.
They had Toby.
One held a knife against his throat.
His face was bruised, and he was crying.
Isabella was also in the foyer, crouched near the stairs.
“Let him go!”
She shouted.
“Bad men! Go away!”
The leader looked up.
He had a scarred face.
Sophie recognized him from news reports.
Marco Salvaro, son of the rival Don.
“Drop the gun, Moretti.”
Lorenzo stopped at the top of the staircase.
He raised his hands.
“Let the boy go, Marco. This is between us.”
“The boy dies.”
Marco smiled.
“Then the maid.”
His eyes remained on Lorenzo.
May you like
“Then you.”
Sophie stepped forward.
Related Stories
