“MY MOM IS SICK, SO I CAME TO CLEAN FOR HER,” THE MAID’S SIX-YEAR-OLD WHISPERED—THEN THE FEARED MAFIA CEO CLAIMED THEM BOTH BEFORE HIS ENEMIES COULD TAKE HER CHILD

Two days passed peacefully inside the fortress on Mercer Island.

For Amy, the estate was a wonderland. She spent her mornings playing in the vast indoor gardens, eating hot pancakes prepared by Mrs. Vance, and drawing pictures at the massive mahogany dining table.

For Sophie, those two days brought a quiet, deep transformation. She was given fine cashmere clothes, warm leather boots, and three fresh meals a day. Her health returned completely, her pale skin regaining its healthy, warm glow.

However, the quiet peace was shattered on the third afternoon.

Ethan was sitting in his ground-floor library, surrounded by four senior capos and his chief legal counsel, going over military intelligence reports regarding Moretti’s movements.

Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the library were pushed open without a knock.

A tall, arrogant woman in a tailored red designer suit stepped into the room, followed by two stern-looking men in grey suits.

It was Victoria Sterling—the daughter of Seattle’s most powerful corrupt judge, and the woman whom the mafia council had been trying to force Ethan to marry for two years to consolidate political power over the courts.

“Ethan,” Victoria announced smoothly, her voice cold and commanding as she clicked her high heels across the hardwood floor. “I came as soon as I heard the ridiculous rumors.”

Ethan didn't stand up. He slowly closed his leather folder, his eyes narrowing into slits of ice.

“You’re trespassing, Victoria,” Ethan stated coldly.

“I’m protecting our political alliance!” Victoria snapped, waving her hand dismissively at the capos in the room, who quickly bowed and stepped out. “The entire council is talking, Ethan! They say you canceled the dock expansion because you’re hiding a destitute custodial worker and her illegitimate brat in your private estate!”

From the upper balcony overlooking the library foyer, Sophie was walking down the hallway with Amy when she heard the loud, angry voices echoing from below.

Sophie stopped near the railing, her heart sinking as she listened.

“She is an employee who needed protection,” Ethan’s voice boomed coldly from the library.

“She is a nobody!” Victoria sneered loudly. “She has no family, no money, and no standing in this city! The council will never respect a boss who lowers himself to parade around with a street beggar! If you don't throw her out by tonight, my father will pull his judicial protection from your shipping lines!”

Sophie shrank back against the wall, her eyes filling with painful tears.

Victoria was right. Sophie was just a maid with a dying bank account, working eighteen-hour shifts to afford rent in a rat-infested apartment. What right did she have to stand beside a man who owned the city?

Sophie turned to take Amy back to their room—

Suddenly, Ethan’s deep voice echoed through the vast house like thunder, freezing everyone in their tracks.

“Are you finished, Victoria?”

Ethan walked out of the library into the grand foyer, stopping directly beneath the balcony. He looked up, his sharp eyes instantly finding Sophie standing near the railing, tear tracks shining on her cheeks.

Ethan’s face darkened with an apocalyptic fury that made even Victoria step back in sudden fear.

“Listen to me very carefully,” Ethan said, his voice dropping into a low, lethal cadence that rattled the crystal chandelier above. “Sophie Miller is not a nobody. She possesses more courage, dignity, and honor in her little finger than your entire corrupt family has possessed in three generations.”

Victoria gasped in outrage. “Ethan! How dare you—”

“If your father pulls his judicial protection,” Ethan stepped right into Victoria’s face, looming over her like an absolute god of death, “I will publish the federal wiretaps of his offshore bribery accounts by five o'clock today. He will be in a federal penitentiary before dinner.”

Victoria turned pale, her mouth hanging open in absolute horror.

“Now get out of my house,” Ethan commanded quietly. “And if you ever speak her name with disrespect again... I will ruin you personally.”

Victoria backed away in sheer panic, turning on her heels and sprinting out of the grand entrance doors with her guards trailing behind her.

Ethan stood in the quiet foyer, taking a deep, steadying breath.

He slowly looked back up at the balcony.

Sophie was staring down at him, her hands trembling against the marble railing, her hazel eyes wide with profound, overwhelming emotion.