"She thought she could easily silence a helpless nanny, until the terrifying footsteps of the mafia boss echoed from the shadows behind her." THE MAFIA BOSS WALKED IN EARLY AND FOUND HIS FIANCÉE HURTING HIS BABY—THEN THE NANNY’S TESTIMONY EXPOSED EVERYTHING “Stop it, please. You’re breaking his arm.” Lily’s scream tore through the marble foyer of the Blackwood mansion. Baby Ethan was on the floor, crying so hard his little body could barely breathe, while Serena Montigue dragged him by the arm like he was nothing more than a rag doll. His face had gone from red to a frightening purple. His cries were getting weaker. And Lily knew, with a terror that swallowed every thought in her head, that the 14-month-old boy she had loved like her own for six months was slipping into shock. She threw herself forward. Bare feet sliding on the cold marble. Hands reaching for Serena. Heart pounding one single prayer. Save him. But Serena was faster. Her heel drove into Lily’s stomach with brutal force, knocking the air from her lungs and sending her crashing backward onto the stone floor. Pain exploded through her body. But Lily did not care about the pain. She only cared about Ethan. The baby’s arm hung at an unnatural angle. His little face was crumpled in agony. His sobs were fading into small, broken sounds no child should ever make. Serena stood over Lily with cold, perfect eyes. The same woman who smiled at charity galas. The same woman who played the elegant fiancée. The same woman who was about to marry Victor Blackwood, the most feared mafia boss in Chicago. “Touch him again,” Serena said calmly, pressing her heel into Lily’s abdomen, “and I’ll make you disappear. Nobody cares about a nobody like you. You think anyone will believe some cheap nanny?” Lily could barely breathe. But she crawled. One inch. Then another. Her hands shook. Her stomach burned. Her knees scraped against the marble / Chapter 4 / 30

Chapter 4 - THE TRUST

The attorney’s name was Warren Price.

For twenty-two years, he had handled the Blackwood family’s contracts, trusts, and private settlements. He had attended Victor’s wedding to Ethan’s mother. He had stood beside Victor at her funeral.

And now his voice was on a recording discussing how badly a baby should be hurt.

Detective Quinn ordered officers to secure every office in the house.

Serena folded her arms. “A voice can be faked.”

“Maybe,” Quinn said. “But phone records are harder.”

At the hospital, doctors confirmed Ethan had a fractured upper arm. The break was painful but treatable. What concerned them more were older bruises in different stages of healing.

Lily sat in the next room with two bruised ribs and a swollen wrist. She refused medication until a nurse promised Ethan was safe.

Victor stood at the foot of her bed.

“You protected him while my own staff ignored it.”

“Some of them were scared,” Lily said.

“And you weren’t?”

“I was terrified.” She looked him in the eye. “I just cared about him more than I cared about what Serena could do to me.”

Victor had no answer for that.

Detective Quinn arrived with a copy of Ethan’s trust documents. Under normal terms, Victor remained trustee until Ethan turned twenty-five. But an amendment had been drafted three weeks earlier.

If Victor was declared unfit, imprisoned, or medically incapacitated, control would pass to his legal spouse.

Serena was supposed to become that spouse on Saturday.

“She needed the marriage,” Quinn said. “Then she needed you removed.”

Victor read the final page twice.

“My signature is already here.”

“It’s forged,” Lily said from the bed.

Victor looked at her.

She pointed to the bottom. “You sign your V with a sharp first stroke. That one is rounded. I’ve seen you sign school forms.”

Quinn smiled without humor. “Good eye.”

A nurse entered carrying a sealed evidence bag. Inside was a bottle found in Ethan’s diaper bag.

The label said infant fever medicine.