Chapter 3 - The Cold Basement
Victoria stumbled backward, her red evening gown rustling as she hit the edge of the grand dining table.
"Leo, darling, please!" Victoria stammered, her voice pitching up in sheer panic. "She's... she's just confused! You know her memory is slipping! She has the master suite in the east wing!"
Leo didn't even blink. His dark eyes remained locked onto Victoria with a merciless intensity. He slowly turned his head to look at Anna, the young maid who was still protectively holding his mother's blanket.
"Anna," Leo commanded softly, the quietness of his voice infinitely more terrifying than a shout. "Tell me the truth."
Anna swallowed hard. She looked at Victoria, who was desperately glaring daggers at her, silently mouthing the word 'fired.'
But Anna looked down at the weeping elderly woman and made her choice.
"She hasn't been in the east wing for three months, sir," Anna whispered, her voice shaking but her words clear. "Miss Victoria moved her into the unfinished basement storeroom. She said Mrs. Moretti's medical equipment was ruining the decor of the upstairs hallway."
The wealthy guests in the background gasped collectively, murmuring in utter disgust.
Leo’s chest stopped moving. He felt a physical, agonizing ache in his ribs.
"The basement," Leo repeated, the word tasting like ash in his mouth. He knew that room. It had concrete floors, no heating vents, and no windows.
"I tried to bring her a space heater," Anna cried softly, tears spilling down her own cheeks. "But Miss Victoria took it away. She said it was a fire hazard. That's why I knitted the blanket."
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Leo looked at the light blue blanket resting on his mother's shoulders. It wasn't designer fabric. It was cheap, hand-spun yarn, carefully knitted by a maid who made minimum wage to keep a billionaire's mother from freezing to death.
👉 How will the mafia boss react to the ultimate betrayal under his own roof?
