Chapter 4 - A Dangerous Secret Revealed
By morning, the high fever that had threatened Hannah’s pregnancy had broken. She awoke in the lavish guest wing, sunlight streaming through the arched floor-to-ceiling windows.
Ethan was sitting in an armchair across the room, a cup of untouched coffee resting on the table beside him.
Hannah pulled the blanket up to her chin, her eyes darting nervously toward the door. "Mr. Moretti... I... I should return to my duties in the kitchen. Miss Vanessa—"
"Vanessa will not touch you again," Ethan said firmly, standing up and walking over to the side of the bed. He pulled a small, silver locket from his pocket and held it out.
Hannah gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Where did you get that?"
"It was in the wooden box beneath your mattress," Ethan said gently. "The box someone searched last night." He opened the locket, revealing a photograph of a smiling young man with light brown hair and a crescent-shaped scar near his shoulder. "This is my brother, Owen."
Tears spilled over Hannah’s lashes. "You... you know."
"I know," Ethan said. "Owen was my brother. Which means the child you are carrying is my niece or nephew. You are family, Hannah. You will never clean another floor in this house."
Hannah broke down, her shoulders shaking as months of fear and isolation caught up to her. "Owen told me to hide if anything happened to him. He said your world was full of monsters. He told me never to trust anyone named Moretti or Caruso. But after he died in that explosion... I had no money, no place to go. I took the job here under my maiden name's records just to be close to his memory... to understand who he really was."
Ethan sat on the edge of the mattress, taking her cold hand in his strong grip. "Owen was trying to protect you from the war between our families. But hiding in the shadows almost got you killed. From this moment on, you don't hide. I will protect you and Owen's child with everything I have."
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Before Hannah could answer, Marco knocked sharply on the door and stepped inside, his face grave.
"Boss," Marco reported softly. "We traced the security footage from the servant quarters last night. The person who entered Hannah’s room didn't break in from the outside. They used a master key issued directly to the main staff manager."
