Chapter 1
Noah did not run when Dominic hit the floor.
That was the first thing Angelo noticed.
The three-year-old remained crouched beside the wheelchair, both hands covering the back of his head.
His small shoulders shook.
But when he saw Angelo’s overturned water cup rolling across the carpet, he lowered one hand.
He reached for it.
Emma rushed forward.
“Noah, leave it.”
The boy looked at Angelo instead.
“He still needs water.”
Something in Angelo’s face changed.
The child who had just been terrified into covering his head was still worried about whether Angelo had taken a drink.
Dominic shoved a therapy block off his chest and stood.
His lip was bleeding.
His arrogance was untouched.
“You’re letting a maid’s brat crawl all over you now?”
He straightened his capo pin.
“Paralysis really did lower your standards.”
Two bodyguards moved.
Angelo lifted one hand.
They stopped.
Dominic smiled.
He thought restraint meant hesitation.
Helena pushed herself upright beside the overturned supply cart.
She calmly brushed a folded towel from her shoulder.
Then she looked directly at Noah.
“Stop trembling.”
Her tone carried disgust.
“No one even hit you.”
Emma immediately pulled her son closer.
Helena’s mouth curved.
“There. That’s the problem.”
She looked at Angelo.
“The mother raises him to act pathetic, then everyone is supposed to reward him.”
Noah buried his face against Emma’s skirt.
Angelo’s fingers tightened around the wheel rim.
Helena saw it.
And kept going.
“If she can’t afford someone to watch her child, perhaps she shouldn’t bring him into rooms meant for people above her station.”
Emma’s breathing became uneven.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic laughed.
“Of course you are.”
He looked her up and down.
“You’ve spent months apologizing and still haven't learned how to disappear properly.”
Angelo’s eyes lifted.
Dominic met them without fear.
“That offend you?”
He spread his hands.
“Go ahead.”
His voice became mocking.
“Throw yourself out of the chair and hit me again.”
The room went completely silent.
Dominic smiled.
“There he is.”
“The old Angelo would already have broken something.”
His gaze dropped deliberately toward Angelo’s legs.
“Maybe that version of you stayed on the road after the ambush.”
Emma’s face changed.
Angelo noticed.
Not the insult.
Her reaction.
She looked toward Dominic’s jacket.
Then immediately away.
Angelo’s voice dropped.
“Emma.”
She froze.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
Dominic laughed softly.
“She's a maid. Thinking isn't part of the uniform.”
Emma flinched.
Angelo did not.
He simply watched her.
“Emma.”
Her hands trembled against Noah’s shoulders.
The little boy looked up.
Then pointed toward Dominic.
“Blue bottle.”
Dominic stopped smiling.
Only for a heartbeat.
Angelo saw it.
Helena did too.
Her eyes sharpened.
Dominic recovered immediately.
“What blue bottle?”
Noah looked toward Angelo’s untouched dinner tray.
“The sleepy one.”
Emma went pale.
“Noah.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“That child invents nonsense every time someone tells him no.”
Noah recoiled before Dominic even reached him.
Again.
Hands over his head.
Angelo’s expression became completely still.
“Don't move another inch.”
Dominic stopped.
Not because of the words.
Because every bodyguard behind Angelo had changed posture at once.
Angelo looked at Noah.
“What did you see?”
The boy’s lip trembled.
“Mr. Dominic puts blue drops in your water.”
The room went silent.
Helena slowly removed one pearl earring.
As though bored.
Dominic laughed again.
“You’re taking testimony from a three-year-old now?”
Angelo’s eyes never left Noah.
“When?”
Noah pointed toward the dark doorway leading to Angelo’s bedroom.
“When you sleep.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Angelo turned toward her.
“You knew.”
Her breath caught.
Before she could answer, Dominic cut in.
“She knows exactly enough to get herself fired.”
His voice sharpened.
“Pack your trash, Emma. Take the boy, and be grateful I’m not throwing you both through the servants’ gate myself.”
Emma lowered her eyes.
Then Angelo spoke.
“No.”
Dominic looked at him.
Angelo’s voice remained quiet.
“She stays.”
Dominic’s smile disappeared.
Power shifted.
Not completely.
Enough.
Angelo looked at Emma again.
“What were the drops?”
She swallowed.
“I don't know.”
Dominic scoffed.
“Liar.”
Emma’s eyes moved toward him.
For the first time, anger appeared beneath the fear.
“I only know what you told Helena.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Angelo noticed.
“What did he tell her?”
Emma’s breathing shook.
“He said…”
She looked toward Angelo.
“…if you stayed tired long enough, nobody would notice when Dominic stopped asking permission.”
Helena’s fingers froze around her pearl.
Dominic’s face hardened.
Then Noah whispered one more thing.
“He put the bottle in the lion room.”
Angelo slowly turned.
There had not been a “lion room” in the estate for twenty-two years.
May you like
Not since his father sealed the old underground council chamber.
And Dominic had just gone completely pale.
