Chapter 4
Jamie finally broke. The heavy dam holding back four months of terrifying, isolating silence shattered completely. The seven-year-old boy let out a ragged sob, the tears he had been fighting spilling over his eyelashes and streaming down his pale, rosy cheeks. He nodded frantically, his small hands reaching out to grab the heavy lapels of Matthias’s expensive dark suit.
“She said she would stop giving Mommy water!” Jamie cried, his voice hoarse and echoing in the grand dining hall. “She said if I told you, Mommy would go to sleep forever and it would be all my fault! I was scared, Dad! I’m sorry!”
Matthias closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. It was the only crack in his otherwise impenetrable armor, a microscopic display of the agony tearing through his chest. He pulled his son into a tight, fiercely protective embrace, pressing the boy’s face into his broad shoulder. His heavily tattooed hand gently stroked the back of Jamie’s head, his signet ring cold against the boy's hair.
He stood up, lifting the boy effortlessly into his arms. He turned to the housemaid.
“Will you accompany us to the kitchen quarters, Lorna? Will you stay close to Jamie while I handle this matter?”
“Yes, sir. Right away,” Lorna replied. She quickly smoothed down her white apron, stepping out from behind the champagne velvet chair, preparing to navigate the massive house alongside the enraged boss.
Clarice panicked. Seeing Matthias physically shield the boy and invite the maid into his inner circle meant she was losing her grip on the situation entirely. She stepped in front of the heavy mahogany doors leading out to the hallway, blocking their path, her diamond earrings shaking as she spread her arms wide.
“Matthias, stop! You are letting a child’s nightmare destroy our lives! Helen left you! She packed her bags, emptied the safe, and walked out the front door four months ago! You saw the security footage of her car leaving! Why are you listening to this absolute madness?”
Matthias stopped. He held his sobbing son tightly against his chest. His cold, observant eyes bored into Clarice, stripping away the layers of her beautiful, sculpted facade to look at the monster hiding underneath the satin.
“Do you expect me to value a grainy security video over the desperate tears of my own flesh and blood? Do you truly believe my wealth and resources cannot uncover a forged exit?”
Clarice blinked, her mouth falling open slightly. “Are you... are you saying you never believed she left voluntarily? Matthias, if you knew she didn't leave, why did you let me move in?”
“Did you mistake my patience for ignorance, Clarice? Did you assume I brought you into my home for love, rather than to keep my enemies where I could see them?”
Clarice’s breath hitched. A profound, paralyzing chill swept through her body as the horrific realization dawned on her. The mafia boss had never fully believed his wife’s sudden disappearance. He had been playing a long, calculated game of observation, and she had walked right into his trap.
“Step aside, Miss Voss,” Lorna said firmly, stepping up beside Matthias. The housemaid’s softly oval face was hardened with unwavering determination. “You are blocking Mr. Rook’s path.”
Clarice sneered, raising her hand as if to strike the maid across the face. “Don't you dare speak to me, you filthy little—”
Matthias shifted his weight, his voice dropping to a lethal, vibrating baritone that shook the very air in the room.
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“Will you move away from those doors immediately, Clarice, or must I instruct my men to break your legs to clear the path?”
Clarice slowly lowered her hand, her face completely drained of color. She stepped aside, pressing her back against the ivory wall panels as Matthias, Jamie, and Lorna walked past her, leaving the glow of the crystal chandeliers behind as they stepped into the dark, echoing hallway of the mansion.
