Chapter 2 - The Girl in the Greenhouse
I did not scream.
Fear sometimes steals your voice before it steals anything else.
I stared at the messages until the words blurred.
Your daughter should have stayed in the ballroom.
Next time, there won’t be a cake between us.
Lily shifted in her sleep.
That tiny movement broke something inside me.
I grabbed her from the bed and pulled her into my arms.
She woke with a soft whimper.
“Mommy?”
“It’s okay,” I whispered.
But it was not okay.
Nothing in that house was okay anymore.
I carried her into the bathroom, locked that door too, and sat on the cold tile with her pressed against my chest. My phone shook in my hand.
I wanted to call the police.
I wanted to run.
I wanted to disappear with my daughter before dawn touched the windows.
But this was the Moretti estate.
The gates were locked.
The phones were monitored.
And whoever sent that message knew exactly where we were.
A knock sounded at my bedroom door.
I froze.
“Anna.”
Dominic’s voice.
I opened the bathroom door but kept Lily in my arms.
“What happened?” he asked from the hall.
I unlocked the bedroom door with trembling fingers.
The second Dominic saw my face, his expression changed.
I handed him the phone.
He read both messages.
Then he went very still.
Not angry.
Not loud.
Still.
That frightened me more.
“Marco,” he said into his radio. “Staff wing. Now.”
Lily rubbed her eyes.
“Where’s Ethan?”
Dominic looked at her, and for one moment the coldness in him cracked.
“He’s safe upstairs.”
“Can I see him?”
“Soon.”
She nodded like she trusted him completely.
I envied her.
Marco arrived with two guards. Dominic handed him my phone.
“Trace it.”
Marco glanced at the screen.
“Burner.”
“Trace it anyway.”
He left.
Dominic looked at me.
“Pack what Lily needs for two days.”
My heart lurched.
“Are you sending us away?”
“No.”
“Then why—”
“You’re moving into the family wing.”
I stared at him.
“Sir, I’m staff.”
“Tonight you’re the mother of the only witness.”
His tone left no room for argument.
I packed with one hand because Lily refused to let go of my neck. Pajamas. Her blue sweater. Her stuffed rabbit. Toothbrush. Socks. The little pink shoes she liked because they flashed when she walked.
Dominic watched the hallway while I moved.
I hated needing his protection.
I hated needing anyone.
For years, I had built my life on staying quiet, doing my job, and keeping my daughter safe. My husband had walked out before Lily’s first birthday. My parents were gone. I had no rich relatives, no powerful name, no locked gates of my own.
I had work.
I had Lily.
That was it.
And now even that felt fragile.
Dominic led us through the mansion.
The birthday decorations still hung in the hall.
Silver balloons.
White ribbons.
A banner that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN.
One balloon had drifted low and brushed my shoulder as we passed.
Lily whispered, “His cake got dirty.”
I kissed her hair.
“You did the right thing.”
“Will Ethan be mad?”
Dominic answered before I could.
“No.”
Lily looked at him.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
We reached the family wing, a part of the mansion where staff only entered for cleaning or emergencies. Dominic opened a bedroom across from Ethan’s suite.
It was bigger than my entire staff apartment.
Soft cream walls.
A window facing the gardens.
A bed with white blankets.
Lily saw the bed and whispered, “Princess room.”
Dominic’s mouth moved like he almost smiled.
“You can sleep here tonight.”
I lowered her onto the bed.
She clutched her rabbit and curled under the blanket.
“Mommy stays?”
“Always,” I said.
Dominic stepped back toward the door.
“Two guards will be outside.”
I followed him into the hallway.
“What about Emily?” I asked.
His face hardened.
“She’s alive. Dr. Harris is treating her.”
“What happened to her?”
“Drugged.”
My knees weakened.
“She called me upstairs.”
“Yes.”
“You think she helped them?”
“I think someone used her.”
“Or threatened her,” I whispered.
Dominic looked at me carefully.
“You know something.”
I hesitated.
Then I told him what I had noticed over the last few weeks.
Emily had been jumpy.
She had checked her phone too often.
Once, I found her crying in the laundry room. She said it was nothing. Another time, I saw bruises on her wrist. She laughed and told me she slipped carrying linens.
I had not pushed.
I hated myself for that now.
Dominic listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he said, “You should rest.”
I almost laughed.
“Rest?”
“For Lily.”
That silenced me.
Because he was right.
I went back into the bedroom and lay beside my daughter.
But sleep did not come.
Near dawn, Lily woke crying.
“He had shiny shoes,” she sobbed.
I sat up fast.
“Who, baby?”
“The man in the cold room.”
The door opened.
Dominic stepped in, already alert.
Lily hid against me.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “Tell Mommy.”
Dominic stayed near the doorway, giving her space.
Lily sniffled.
“He had shiny shoes. Black. And he smelled bad.”
“Bad how?” I asked.
“Like smoke and lemons.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
I looked at him.
“What?”
He did not answer Lily. He spoke to me.
“Stay here.”
Then he left.
I hated those two words already.
Stay here.
Like the world outside the door was filling with knives.
An hour later, Dr. Harris came to check on Lily.
She was physically fine.
I was not.
Ethan appeared behind him in blue pajamas, pale but standing.
“Lily?”
She sat up.
“Ethan!”
Before anyone could stop them, she climbed off the bed and ran to him.
He wrapped his arms around her.
I had seen Ethan Moretti at parties, in hallways, at breakfast tables. A quiet child with careful manners and lonely eyes.
But when he hugged Lily, he looked like any scared little boy clinging to someone who had pulled him back from the edge.
“You saved me,” he whispered.
Lily patted his shoulder.
“You can’t eat bad cake.”
He laughed.
Then he cried.
Lily looked alarmed.
“I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“I’m not sad,” he said. “I’m scared.”
She nodded seriously.
“Me too.”
I turned away because my own tears came fast.
Dominic stood in the hall watching them.
His face looked carved from stone, but his eyes were wet.
Marco came up beside him and whispered something.
Dominic looked at me.
“We found where the text came from.”
“Who sent it?”
“Phone was dumped outside the south gate.”
My stomach sank.
“That’s all?”
“No.” His voice lowered. “There was a note with it.”
I did not want to ask.
But I did.
“What note?”
Dominic held out a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
Only one line was written on it.
The Carter girl saw too much.
My knees nearly gave out.
Ethan grabbed Lily’s hand.
Dominic stepped between us and the hallway.
“Anna,” he said quietly, “from this moment on, your daughter is under my protection.”
I looked at the little boy who had almost died.
Then at the man everyone feared.
“Protection from who?” I asked.
May you like
Dominic’s answer chilled me.
“Maybe from my own family.”
