CHAPTER 3 — THE MAN WHO NEVER SLEPT
During the first three nights, Matteo did not sleep.
Whenever Nico made a sound, Matteo appeared in the nursery.
Sometimes he stood in the doorway without speaking. Sometimes he checked the windows or questioned the guard outside. Once, he picked up the same blanket three times, folded it, and placed it back down.
Liana finally confronted him.
“You’re making him nervous.”
Matteo glanced at the sleeping baby.
“He’s asleep.”
“He feels you pacing.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Then keep doing it and see how long he stays asleep.”
Matteo stopped.
Liana hid a smile.
She had discovered something no one in Valecroft would have believed.
The most feared man in the city could be controlled by a five-month-old baby.
On the fourth morning, Liana carried Nico downstairs.
Conversations stopped as she entered the dining room.
Six men in dark suits sat around a long table covered with maps, ledgers, and photographs. Matteo stood at the head.
A broad-shouldered man with silver at his temples leaned back in his chair.
“So this is the miracle woman.”
Liana did not like the way he said it.
Matteo closed a folder.
“Liana, this is my uncle, Carlo DeLuca.”
Carlo smiled without warmth.
“The entire house has been whispering about you.”
“I’ve been too busy working to whisper about myself.”
One of the younger men coughed to hide his amusement.
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
Liana turned to Matteo.
“Nico needs fresh air.”
“He doesn’t leave the property.”
“I didn’t say he needed to leave.”
She walked toward the glass doors overlooking the garden.
Matteo followed.
Behind them, Carlo spoke quietly.
“Careful, nephew. Desperate people often arrive carrying more than suitcases.”
Matteo stopped.
Liana felt the warning before she understood it.
She turned around.
“My suitcase was searched before it reached my room.”
Carlo lifted his eyebrows.
“And did that offend you?”
“No. What offends me is a man discussing me as though I’m not standing in front of him.”
The younger men looked down at the table.
Carlo rose.
He was nearly as tall as Matteo, but something about him felt colder.
“You don’t know where you are.”
Liana tightened her hold on Nico.
“I know exactly where I am. I’m in a house where grown men fear one another so much that a baby can’t sleep.”
Carlo’s face darkened.
Matteo stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Carlo looked at his nephew.
“From her or from me?”
“From you.”
Silence filled the room.
Carlo adjusted his jacket.
“Your judgment has suffered since Elena died.”
The moment her name was spoken, Matteo’s entire body changed.
“Leave my wife out of this.”
“Your wife is the reason strangers are now being carried through our gates.”
Liana looked down at Nico.
The baby had opened his eyes.
Carlo walked toward the hallway.
Before leaving, he paused beside her.
“Nothing enters this family without a cost.”
After he was gone, Matteo dismissed the others.
Liana waited until the doors closed.
“He hates me.”
“He hates anything he cannot control.”
“Does that include you?”
Matteo did not answer.
Liana looked toward the hallway where Carlo had disappeared.
May you like
For the first time since arriving, she wondered whether the greatest danger in the mansion came from the man who owned it.
Or from the family standing behind him.
