Chapter 3 - THE ENGAGEMENT THAT STARTED CRACKING
The next morning, the Marchetti mansion felt different.
For years, the house had been filled with expensive music, powerful guests, and people pretending everything was perfect.
But now there was tension in every hallway.
Everyone knew something had changed.
Enzo Marchetti had questioned Camilla Ashford.
And nobody questioned Camilla.
Not because they respected her.
Because they feared what happened when she was angry.
Adeline stood in the servants' kitchen, staring at the cup of coffee in her hands.
She had barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the riding crop coming toward her.
She heard the guests watching.
She remembered nobody moving.
Nobody except him.
“Are you always this quiet?”
Adeline looked up.
Enzo stood in the doorway.
She immediately stood.
“Sir.”
“Sit.”
She hesitated.
Then she sat.
Enzo placed a folder on the table.
“What happened twelve years ago?”
Adeline looked at the folder.
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
Her fingers tightened.
“I know something.”
“Tell me.”
She looked away.
“I was not hired as a maid because I needed a job.”
That caught his attention.
“Then why were you hired?”
Adeline took a deep breath.
“My grandmother used to work for your family.”
Enzo froze.
“My grandmother’s name was Margaret Croft.”
The name hit him.
His father’s old household manager.
A woman who disappeared shortly after his father died.
“She told me something before she passed away.”
“What?”
Adeline looked at him.
“She said your father was trying to expose someone inside this family.”
Enzo’s expression hardened.
“Who?”
Adeline hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
Enzo stood immediately.
“No.”
Adeline flinched.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
His voice was colder.
“My mother loved my father.”
Adeline looked at him sadly.
“Maybe she did.”
A pause.
“But people can love someone and still destroy them.”
That sentence stayed between them.
Because Enzo knew something about his mother.
She had always been obsessed with control.
Even as a child, he remembered.
Every decision.
Every friendship.
Every relationship.
Camilla was not the first person she tried to control.
She was just the person who had learned from her.
Later that afternoon, Enzo confronted Camilla.
She was sitting in the mansion library drinking tea as if nothing had happened.
“You knew Eleanor Bell.”
Camilla did not look up.
“Yes.”
“And you knew she worked for my father.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Camilla placed the cup down.
“Because it was irrelevant.”
“My father’s death is irrelevant?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Careful, Enzo.”
There it was.
The warning.
The same tone she used when she wanted people afraid.
But Enzo was no longer afraid.
“You attacked my employee.”
“She embarrassed me.”
“She was injured.”
“She deserved it.”
The words came out too quickly.
And Camilla realized her mistake.
Enzo stared at her.
For the first time, he saw her clearly.
Not the elegant woman everyone admired.
The woman underneath.
“You actually believe that.”
Camilla stood.
“I believe people need to know their place.”
Enzo’s face changed.
Because those words sounded familiar.
Almost identical to something his mother used to say.
And suddenly he understood.
Camilla was not just becoming like Victoria Marchetti.
She had been taught by her.
The engagement that once represented power...
Now represented a mistake.
That night, Enzo removed the engagement ring from Camilla’s hand.
She stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
May you like
His answer was quiet.
“Finding out who I’m really engaged to.”
