Chapter 2 - The Clearing of the House
The kitchen of the Rossi mansion felt like the waiting room of hell.
Victoria was dragged down the cellar stairs by Mateo, her expensive designer heels clicking clumsily against the stone steps. Her mascara was smeared down her cheeks, her platinum hair disheveled, her hands bound behind her back with heavy plastic zip-ties.
When she reached the bottom of the cellar and saw Lily sitting safely on a crate, wrapped in Leo’s heavy wool coat, clutching Beatrice’s hand, Victoria’s face drained of every drop of color.
"Leo... please," Victoria whimpered, falling to her knees on the damp stone. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to lock her in! The door jammed! I was scared! You know how unstable I get when I drink—"
"Silence," Leo said.
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't scream. The single word hit the stone walls like a slab of falling iron.
Leo handed Lily to Mateo. "Take her upstairs to her bedroom, Mateo. Have the family physician meet you there immediately. No one enters that room except you and the doctor."
"Understood, Don Rossi," Mateo said respectfully. He gently carried the sleepy, recovering child up the stairs, leaving Leo, Beatrice, Victoria, and two armed guards in the cellar.
Leo stepped toward Victoria. Every step he took was slow, measured, and terrifying.
"You tore her drawings," Leo said softly, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his coat pocket—a torn fragment of Lily’s drawing that he had picked up from the living room rug on his way down. It showed the crayon drawing of the big, round woman holding the little girl’s hand. "You denied her food. You called her pathetic. You told her I wished she was dead."
"I was jealous!" Victoria sobbed, weeping hysterically. "She never accepted me! She always ran to her!" Victoria pointed a sharp, shaking finger at Beatrice. "That fat, pathetic maid turned your daughter against me! She’s been manipulating Lily for months!"
SLAP.
The backhand was so fast and sharp that Victoria was knocked flat onto her side against the stone floor. She gasped, holding her bloodied lip, staring up at Leo in absolute terror.
"Do not speak her name with your filthy mouth," Leo spat, his eyes blazing with disgust. "Beatrice broke through a reinforced door, used her own body to shield my child, and gave my daughter life while you locked her in a tomb."
Leo looked at his two guards.
"Remove her from my sight," Leo commanded coldly. "Strip her of every piece of jewelry, every asset, and every contract associated with the Rossi name. Dump her at the city border with nothing but the clothes on her back. If she ever steps foot within fifty miles of Chicago again... bury her."
"No! Leo! Please! You can't do this to me! I'm a Kensington!" Victoria shrieked as the two massive guards hauled her off the floor by her arms, dragging her kicking and screaming up the cellar stairs. "Leo! LEO!"
Her desperate screams faded into the distance as the heavy iron door swung shut above, leaving only silence in the cool, dimly lit wine cellar.
Beatrice stood leaning against a wooden storage rack, her body trembling as the adrenaline finally began to fade. The room spun slightly around her. Her bruised hand throbbed with white-hot pain, and the cut on her cheek was sticky with dried blood.
Suddenly, she felt a large, warm hand rest gently on her uninjured shoulder.
She looked up. Leo was standing right in front of her. The cold, terrifying mob boss was gone; in his place was a man whose eyes were filled with an overwhelming, almost painful intensity of gratitude.
"Mr. Rossi..." Beatrice whispered weakly, trying to straighten her apron. "I... I should clean up the living room... the torn papers—"
"Stop," Leo said softly. He reached out with his bare hand and gently touched the edge of her cut cheek. His calloused thumb was impossibly tender as he wiped away a stray tear. "You are done working for tonight, Beatrice."
"But my job—"
"Your job as a maid is over," Leo interrupted smoothly, his deep voice wrapping around her like velvet.
Beatrice blinked, her heart sinking into her stomach. A cold spike of fear shot through her chest. "Are... are you firing me, sir? Please... don't send me away from Lily..."
Leo let out a low, breathy sigh, shaking his head. "Fire you? Beatrice, you are the only person in this city who bled for my daughter without asking for a single dollar in return. I am not firing you. I am promoting you."
He took her bruised hand, holding it carefully between both of his large palms.
"From this moment on, you are the head of this household," Leo declared, his dark eyes locking onto hers with unshakeable sincerity. "You will no longer scrub floors. You will no longer take orders from anyone. You will reside in the guest suite on the second floor, right next to Lily's room. You are her guardian, her protector... and my most trusted confidante."
Beatrice stared at him, completely speechless. "Mr. Rossi... I'm just a maid. I'm broad, I'm clumsy, I don't fit into your world—"
"You fit right where you belong," Leo said softly, his dark eyes sweeping over her face, seeing past her torn uniform, past her insecurity, straight into her beautiful, resilient heart. "You saved my soul tonight, Beatrice. This house belongs to you now."
Before Beatrice could process his extraordinary words, her knees gave way from exhaustion and blood loss.
May you like
She began to fall, but she never hit the cold stone floor.
Leo caught her effortlessly in his massive arms, scooping her up against his chest as if she weighed nothing at all. He held her securely against his heart, feeling her warm, steady breathing, and carried her up the cellar stairs into the light.
