CHAPTER 1 — The Maid No One Remembered
The first bullet was never meant for Dominic Rossi.
It was meant for the future of the Rossi empire.
By the time the mansion lights flickered back to life...
half the guards were dead.
The security cameras had gone dark.
And every exit had already been sealed from the inside.
Sarah Jenkins should have been running.
Every instinct screamed at her to disappear before the killers noticed another witness.
Instead...
she dragged the unconscious heir through a hidden servant's tunnel while blood soaked through her gloves.
Snow swallowed the world outside.
Each step through the blizzard felt like walking against death itself.
When they finally reached the abandoned groundskeeper's cabin, Sarah collapsed beside him, unable to feel her own hands.
The old lantern barely lit the tiny room.
Its trembling light revealed the terrible truth.
Dominic had lost far more blood than she first believed.
The bullet had torn through muscle only inches from an artery.
Another fifteen minutes...
and he would have died.
Sarah ripped apart old linen curtains to create fresh bandages.
She boiled snow over a rusted stove.
She sterilized every tool she could find.
The procedure lasted nearly two hours.
Dominic never screamed.
He only clenched his jaw until blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
When it was over...
he drifted into unconsciousness again.
Sarah finally allowed herself to cry.
She wasn't crying because she was afraid.
She was crying because she suddenly realized there was no way back.
Even if Dominic survived...
Lorenzo Rossi would never allow the only witness to live.
Morning finally arrived beneath a sky the color of steel.
The storm had buried every road.
No rescue could reach them.
Sarah searched the cabin for food.
One can of beans.
Half a loaf of stale bread.
Some dried venison left by hunters months ago.
Enough for perhaps two days.
Not enough if Dominic couldn't walk.
As she returned inside...
she found him sitting upright despite the pain.
He had somehow pulled himself against the wall.
His pistol rested in trembling hands.
Pointed directly at her.
"I don't know you," Dominic said quietly.
"I don't know whether you saved me...
or whether you're waiting to finish the job."
Sarah stared at the gun.
"If I wanted you dead..."
she answered,
"I would've left you on the library floor."
For nearly thirty seconds...
neither of them moved.
Then Dominic slowly lowered the pistol.
"I've trusted the wrong people my entire life."
His voice became almost hollow.
"My uncle raised me after my father died."
"He taught me how to shoot."
"How to negotiate."
"How to survive."
"And yesterday...
he murdered everyone who still believed in my father."
Sarah remained silent.
Dominic looked older than his thirty-two years.
Not because of the wound.
Because betrayal aged people faster than time ever could.
Suddenly...
the old radio sitting on the shelf crackled to life.
Static filled the room.
Then a calm male voice spoke.
"...Authorities have confirmed the deaths of Carmine Rossi and his son Dominic Rossi following last night's violent attack..."
Sarah's eyes widened.
Dominic froze.
"...Police believe no survivors remain..."
The announcer continued reading prepared statements.
Business leaders offered condolences.
The mayor promised justice.
Television reporters called it a tragic home invasion.
Dominic laughed.
A cold...
broken laugh.
"They buried me before my body's even cold."
Sarah slowly looked toward him.
"No..."
she whispered.
"Someone wanted the world to believe you're dead."
Dominic's face turned pale.
"Because dead men don't fight back."
Outside...
snow continued falling.
But fifty miles away...
inside Rossi headquarters...
Lorenzo Rossi was already sitting in Dominic's office.
Signing documents.
Replacing executives.
Taking control.
The coup had already begun.
And nobody alive knew the rightful heir was still breathing.
May you like
Except...
the maid everyone had forgotten.
