Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MASK
Vivien kissed my cheek that evening as if she hadn't threatened to make a three-year-old disappear.
I smiled because men like me learned early that anger was most useful when nobody could see it.
"You're awfully quiet tonight, Lorenzo."
"I'm thinking about our future."
Her smile widened. "So am I, darling."
Across the dining room, Elena served dinner with trembling hands. Mia wasn't with her. I'd ordered Rocco to keep the little girl in my study, where two trusted guards could watch over her without frightening her.
Vivien followed my gaze.
"Your housekeeper seems distracted," she remarked. "Perhaps motherhood makes women unreliable employees."
I set down my wineglass.
"Perhaps threatening their children makes employers unreliable human beings."
For half a second, her expression cracked.
Then she laughed.
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Of course you don't."
She leaned closer, her perfume sweet enough to conceal something rotten.
"There's something important we need to discuss before the wedding."
"Is there?"
"My lawyer says we should finalize the prenuptial agreement immediately. And your mother left certain documents that require your signature."
My mother's documents?
She had been dead for eleven years. Vivien had never mentioned an inheritance issue before.
I watched her carefully.
"What documents?"
"The ones concerning the family trust."
Before I could answer, Rocco entered and whispered into my ear.
"Boss, we checked Vivien's visitor records. Someone entered your mother's old wing three nights ago."
"Who?"
Rocco hesitated.
Then he placed a photograph beside my plate.
It showed Vivien standing outside a locked door.
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The man beside her was my father's former attorney, a man officially declared dead six years earlier.
And in his hand was a key to my mother's private safe.
