“Mr. DeLuca is very busy,” I said, trying to sound indifferent.

“He is,” Dino agreed. “Too busy to notice things. Like a maid who spends too much time in rooms she doesn’t belong in.”

He leaned in closer, his shadow completely blocking the light from the hallway.

“Mrs. Higgins is a very particular woman,” Dino whispered. “She doesn’t like people touching her things.”

“I was only trying to help,” I said.

“Go back to the nursery,” Dino said, tilting his head toward the door. “And stay there.”

“Yes, sir.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

I walked past him, my shoulder brushing his sleeve.

The tension in the air was thick, almost suffocating.

I stepped out into the carpeted hallway and walked quickly toward the nursery.

My mind was spinning.

The letters in my pocket felt like hot coals against my skin.

*“If he loses his speech entirely, Matteo will break,”* Silvio had written.

They were deliberately destroying a child’s mind to take over the docks, the unions, and the millions of dollars flowing through the DeLuca empire.

I entered the nursery and closed the door softly behind me.