Chapter 5 - The Heir's Awakening"You're shaking, Clara," Lorenzo noted softly.
"I thought... I thought I was going to be fired," she admitted, staring down at her worn-out sneakers.
Lorenzo let out a quiet, humorless chuckle. "Fired? For showing basic human decency when everyone else in this house acted like soulless ghouls?" He shook his head. "My father spent his entire life surrounded by killers, thieves, and liars who smiled to his face and plotted his ruin behind his back. The only person in this entire mansion who showed him genuine loyalty when he lost everything was a twenty-three-year-old pregnant girl working as a maid."
Clara looked up, her eyes wide. "He... he told you?"
"He didn't need to speak," Lorenzo said, walking over to the window to look out at the swirling blizzard. "My father’s mind is as sharp as a razor blade. He watches everything. And tonight... before you were even called down here, my father communicated a message to Marcus through his eye movements and a spelling board he had secretly mastered."
Clara’s breath hitched. "What did he say?"
Lorenzo turned back around, his gaze locking onto hers with intense emotion. "He said: ‘Protect Clara and her child. They are under the Moretti shield now. Forever.’"
Tears spilled freely down Clara’s cheeks. All the fear, all the exhaustion, all the crushing weight of the last six months seemed to fracture and wash away in a single instant.
"Mr. Moretti... I don't know what to say," she choked out.
"You don't need to say anything," Lorenzo replied, stepping closer. He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a sleek, gold-embossed card, placing it gently into her trembling hand. "Effective immediately, your employment as a maid is terminated."
Clara’s heart skipped a beat. "Sir?"
"You are now the Director of the Moretti Family Foundation’s Maternal Care and Child Welfare Division," Lorenzo stated firmly. "Your salary will be adjusted to reflect executive status, complete with full medical coverage for you and your daughter, and a lifetime residential suite on the estate grounds if you choose to stay."
Clara stared at the card in disbelief. "I... I can't accept this. I don't have a college degree, I don't know anything about running a foundation—"
"You know how to show compassion when the world is freezing," Lorenzo interrupted, his voice dropping into a gentle, commanding register. "That is a qualification no university can teach. Furthermore, my father requested it. And in this house, when the Don gives an order, we follow it."
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Before Clara could process the magnitude of what had just happened, Lorenzo gestured toward the door.
"Go on, Clara," he smiled softly. "Go tell my father the good news. I think he’s been waiting up for you."
