For three days after Mrs. Gable was removed from the estate, I almost believed the worst was over.
I should have known better.
The house became warmer.
Literally.
Lorenzo ordered inspections of every room.
Half the staff were dismissed.
Several stayed only after Giovanni signaled that they had treated him decently.
His physician returned.
A physical therapist came twice daily.
And Giovanni began improving.
Slowly.
Tiny movements.
A finger.
A wrist.
The ability to turn his head farther.
Then sounds.
Not words yet.
But effort.
Every improvement seemed to restore something inside Lorenzo too.
He spent more time with his father.
Sometimes I walked in and found them looking at old photographs.
Sometimes Lorenzo read aloud from the newspaper.
Once, I heard him apologize.
“I thought paying people meant I was taking care of you.”
Giovanni looked at him.
Lorenzo swallowed.
“I was wrong.”
I quietly closed the door.
I wasn't meant to hear that.
Lorenzo changed toward me too.
He stopped calling me “Miss Harper.”
“Elena.”
That should not have mattered.
It did.
One morning, I found a chair beside every hallway I regularly cleaned.
“For breaks,” Marco explained.
I stared at him.
“Lorenzo did this?”
Marco smiled slightly.
“He'll deny it.”
I also stopped carrying heavy buckets.
Nobody touched my schedule without approval.
And a doctor from Manhattan arrived to check my pregnancy.
I protested.
“I can't pay for this.”
Lorenzo stood in the doorway.
“You aren't.”
“I don't want charity.”
“Neither did my father.”
That silenced me.
He added, “Consider it repayment.”
“For soup?”
“For dignity.”
I looked at him.
“That's not something you pay for.”
His eyes held mine.
“No.”
He said quietly.
“It isn't.”
Something started growing between us.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing spoken.
A pause in the kitchen.
His hand steadying my elbow on the stairs.
The way he listened when I talked about Lily.
The way Giovanni watched both of us.
I ignored it.
A man like Lorenzo Moretti did not belong in the same world as me.
Then Brody arrived.
It was after midnight.
The storm had finally broken.
I was asleep when someone pounded on the staff entrance.
Marco woke me.
“Elena.”
I sat up.
“What happened?”
“There's a man at the gate.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“He says he's Lily's father.”
The floor disappeared beneath me.
“Brody.”
Marco's expression changed.
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
He waited.
“Do you want him allowed in?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Then Brody started shouting outside.
Even from upstairs, I heard him.
“Elena!”
I closed my eyes.
Lorenzo appeared in the hallway.
Black shirt.
No jacket.
“What is this?”
I whispered, “My ex.”
His expression cooled.
“The gambler?”
Mrs. Gable had told him.
I felt humiliated.
“Yes.”
Brody kept shouting.
“I know you're in there!”
Lorenzo looked at Marco.
“Bring him to the foyer.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“He's already here.”
“I don't want him inside.”
“You won't be alone.”
Something in his voice made me trust him.
Five minutes later, Brody stood beneath the chandelier.
He looked worse than I remembered.
Unshaven.
Thin.
Eyes restless.
Then he saw my stomach.
For one second, emotion crossed his face.
“Wow.”
I hated him for that word.
“Why are you here?”
He smiled.
“Missed you.”
“No, you didn't.”
His smile faded.
“I heard where you were working.”
There it was.
Money.
“What do you want?”
He glanced at Lorenzo.
Then back at me.
“We should talk privately.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Brody sighed.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Make everything harder.”
I almost laughed.
“You disappeared.”
“I panicked.”
“You left me with your debts.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“You never contacted me.”
“I am now.”
My hands started shaking.
He stepped closer.
“I want another chance.”
“No.”
His eyes dropped to my stomach.
“That's my daughter.”
“Biologically.”
His face hardened.
“I have rights.”
Lorenzo spoke for the first time.
“Then exercise them through an attorney.”
Brody looked at him.
“And you are?”
“Someone asking you to leave.”
Brody laughed.
“Oh, I get it.”
He looked at me.
“You upgraded.”
My face burned.
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
I stepped forward.
“This has nothing to do with him.”
“Sure.”
Brody moved closer.
“You think rich people care about you?”
That sentence hit a wound Mrs. Gable had already opened.
I hated that.
He saw it.
“They'll use you, Elena.”
“Leave.”
“You belong with me.”
“No.”
His face changed.
The charm disappeared.
“You don't get to decide that.”
He grabbed my wrist.
The same bruised wrist Mrs. Gable had hurt.
I cried out.
Everything happened fast.
Lorenzo moved.
Marco moved faster.
Brody's hand was torn away.
He was pushed against the wall.
I backed up, protecting my stomach.
Lorenzo stood between us.
His voice was ice.
“You will never touch her again.”
Brody laughed nervously.
“Who are you, her boyfriend?”
Lorenzo didn't answer.
Brody looked around.
Recognition finally entered his face.
“Moretti.”
Marco held him still.
Brody swallowed.
Then something ugly appeared in his expression.
“You don't know her.”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
Brody looked at me.
“Tell him.”
My heart stopped.
“Tell him what?”
“That you signed the loan.”
I stared.
“What loan?”
He smiled.
“The one for thirty grand.”
My blood went cold.
“I never signed anything.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“You don't remember?”
“I would remember thirty thousand dollars.”
Brody looked at Lorenzo.
“She helped fund my gambling.”
“That's a lie.”
“Elena—”
“That's a lie!”
Lily kicked hard.
Pain tightened across my abdomen.
I gasped.
Lorenzo turned immediately.
“Elena?”
Another pain.
Sharp.
I grabbed the banister.
Marco released Brody and reached for his phone.
Lorenzo caught me before my knees buckled.
“What's wrong?”
“I don't know.”
A warm sensation spread down my leg.
I looked down.
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Lorenzo's face changed.
“Call the doctor.”
Marco was already moving.
I clutched Lorenzo's shirt.
“It's too early.”
“I know.”
“She's only—”
“I know.”
His hand covered mine.
“Stay with me.”
I started crying.
Not because of Brody.
Not because of the loan.
Because Lily was coming too soon.
And as Lorenzo lifted me into his arms and carried me toward the waiting SUV, Giovanni watched from the upper landing.
His face was filled with terror.
And for the first time since I had met him, he forced out a sound that almost became my name.
“E…le…”