HE WAS READY TO FIRE HIS DAUGHTER'S MAID — UNTIL THE MAFIA BOSS OVERHEARD A SECRET HE NEVER EXPECTED

I stood up, Bria’s small arms still wrapped around my neck. I looked past her shoulder at Nora. She didn't flinch. She didn't look like a woman who had been caught stealing; she looked like a woman who had just finished a hard day of protecting the most precious thing in my life.

"Bria," I said, my voice hoarse. "It’s past your bedtime, sweetheart. Go upstairs. Nora will be up in a minute."

"You're not leaving again?" Bria asked, pulling back to look at me with those piercing eyes that looked exactly like Maren’s.

"No," I promised, and for the first time in two years, the word felt like a physical weight I was finally ready to carry. "I’m not going anywhere."

Once she was gone, the silence in the kitchen wasn't heavy anymore—it was charged. I looked at Nora. She was tidying the table, her movements fluid and calm. "You didn't have to listen to that, Mr. Vane," she said quietly. "It’s a child’s imagination."

"Don't," I snapped, then softened my tone. "I heard her. I heard you. I know about the 'thief' you're supposed to be. And I know about the woman I’ve been letting poison my home."

Nora froze, a dish towel in her hand. "Paige is... she's very protective of you, sir."

"She’s a viper," I said, the venom in my own voice surprising me. "And I’ve been the one holding the door open for her. I’m going to need you to stay, Nora. Not as a housekeeper. As someone I owe my life to. But you need to tell me everything. Every lie, every cruel word she’s spoken to my daughter when I wasn't looking."

"You don't want to know," she whispered.

"I’m the man who makes people disappear for a living, Nora. I think I can handle the truth."

That night, I didn't sleep. I sat in my study, the room where I conducted my business, and began to map out the web Paige had spun. I wasn't just a Mafia boss looking for a mole; I was a father waking up from a two-year coma. I called Owen, my right hand.

"Damon? You’re supposed to be at 30,000 feet," he said, his voice sleepy.

"Check the security footage from the master bedroom for the last six months," I commanded. "And pull every transaction Paige has made on the secondary accounts. Then find out who she’s been calling when she tells me she’s 'out with friends.'"