Chapter 5 - Secrets in the DarkMy heart slammed against my ribs so hard I was terrified Leo would feel the violent thud.
Elena’s face drained of what little color she had left. She looked around the cavernous nursery like a trapped animal looking for a nonexistent exit. The main door handle began to turn.
"Hide," I hissed under my breath, pointing toward the heavy velvet drapes covering the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Without a second thought, Elena scrambled across the room and slipped behind the thick fabric just as the heavy oak door swung open.
Daniel Russo stood in the doorway, framed by the dim light of the upper hallway. He had shed his suit jacket; his white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing lean, corded muscle and faint scars that hinted at a very violent past. His dark hair was slightly tousled, making him look less like an untouchable mob boss and more like an exhausted father—though the lethal edge in his eyes remained entirely unblunted.
He stepped inside, his gaze locking instantly onto me sitting in the rocking chair.
"Why aren't you asleep?" Daniel asked, his voice dropping to a low, resonant register that vibrated through the quiet room.
"I could ask you the same thing," I replied, keeping my voice steady while my palms grew slick with sweat, knowing Elena was standing only a few feet away, trembling behind the velvet curtains. "Most multi-millionaire crime lords don't usually conduct midnight check-ins on their son's nurses."
Daniel let out a slow breath, walking over toward the center of the room. He didn't approach too close—he had already learned that sudden, uninvited proximities startled both me and the baby. He stopped a few feet away, his dark eyes scanning Leo’s peaceful, sleeping face.
"He hasn't stirred in hours," Daniel noted quietly, a strange, unreadable softness flickering across his harsh features for a split second before vanishing behind his usual mask of iron. "In the last two weeks, the longest he ever slept continuously was twenty minutes. Before he woke up screaming."
"Because people kept treating him like a machine that needed fixing instead of a human being that needed holding," I said bluntly.
Daniel didn't snap at my tone. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest, studying me with an intensity that felt like a physical weight.
"You're remarkably unimpressed by who I am, Miss Jenkins," Daniel observed, his lips twitching with the ghost of a wry smile. "Most people cower when I walk into a room. You talk to me like we're business partners."
"We're not partners, Mr. Russo. I'm a hostage with a baby, and you're a jailer with a sick son. Let's not romanticize the arrangement."
Daniel’s smile vanished, replaced by a sharp, assessing look. "You think I'm going to kill your brother regardless of what happens, don't you?"
The question hung in the air, sudden and razor-sharp. My breath caught. I didn't answer immediately, acutely aware of the velvet drapes behind him and the terrified girl hiding behind them.
"Does it matter what I think?" I asked carefully. "You already made up your mind when you locked that door."
"I made a deal," Daniel said, stepping a fraction closer. "And in my world, a deal is absolute law. If you deliver thirty days of uninterrupted health for my son, your brother walks out of that container a free man. I don't break my word, Miss Jenkins. But I also don't tolerate failure."
He paused, his dark eyes boring into mine. "Which brings me to why I'm here."
My stomach tightened. "Why are you here?"
"My security system logged a low-frequency ambient disturbance on this floor three minutes ago," Daniel said smoothly, his eyes darting just slightly toward the shadows near the windows. "A subtle shift in air pressure. Like someone opened a service stairwell door that hasn't been used in six months."
My blood turned to ice.
"I checked the hallway cameras," Daniel continued, his voice dropping into a dangerous, silken whisper. "And I noticed that my head housekeeper, Mrs. Vance, locked your door from the outside. Yet, thermal imaging shows a second heat signature currently active inside this room."
Silence descended upon the nursery, so heavy and absolute that I could hear the faint, steady ticking of the wall clock.
Behind the velvet drapes, a soft, involuntary hitch of breath echoed through the quiet.
May you like
Daniel didn't flinch. He didn't draw a weapon. He simply turned his head slowly toward the heavy curtains, his gaze locking onto the exact spot where Elena was hiding.
"You can come out now, Elena," Daniel called out, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. "Before I save you the trouble and shoot through the fabric."
