Matteo’s tiny fingers curled around Ella’s hand, holding it tightly as if he never wanted to let go. “I want to stay with Nanny.”
Carmen’s chest tightened painfully. She knelt down beside him, forcing a smile. “Sweetheart, come sit with Mama for a bit.”
Matteo didn’t even look at her.
“No,” he mumbled, gripping Ella’s hand tighter. “I want to stay with Nanny.”
Carmen swallowed the lump in her throat. This had been happening more and more lately. At breakfast, he chose to sit beside Ella instead of her. At lunch, he ate only when Ella fed him. At bedtime, he wanted Ella to tuck him in.
It was as if she no longer existed. Ella smiled softly, patting Matteo’s hair. “It’s alright, dear,” she said in that gentle, patient tone. “He’s just feeling attached right now.”
Carmen forced a nod, but inside, she was crumbling. She wasn’t losing Matteo—she had already lost him.
The words wouldn’t leave her mind.
“Everything is going according to plan.”Carmen couldn’t breathe.
She had spent the entire night tossing and turning, her mind racing. Who had Ella been talking to? What plan was she referring to? And worst of all—was she talking about her?
Carmen felt like she was going insane.
Every time she tried to talk to Marco, he was too distracted, too buried in his own problems. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to shake him and scream, “Something is wrong with the nanny!”
But every time she opened her mouth, Marco was already on a call, already rushing out the door, already too busy to listen. “It’s just attachment, Carmen,” he had said when she first mentioned it. “Matteo loves her. That’s a good thing.”
A good thing. Carmen felt sick. She was completely, utterly alone.
Marco was losing everything. One by one, his allies turned against him. One by one, his businesses crumbled. His phone never stopped ringing. His men never stopped bringing him bad news. And because of that, he never noticed.
Never noticed Matteo reaching for Ella instead of Carmen. Never noticed the way Carmen sat at the dinner table silent, isolated, her eyes hollow. Never noticed the way Matteo’s drawings no longer included his parents. He was too busy fighting a war to see the one happening inside his own home.
***
Luca needed a concrete proof. Otherwise, Marco wouldn’t believe the nanny’s been the person behind all this. And as much as he wanted to tell Carmen about all that he’d found so far, it will just make the situation worse. She would panic and Ella would be able to hide her true intentions again. His responsibility is to keep this family safe. And he couldn’t digest the fact that he’s the one who brought Ella to this home.
Luca wasn’t an idiot. If her records were deleted, that meant one thing. She had hidden it somewhere else. For some reasons, all the peopl who recommended her before has all been unreachable.
Which was why, at exactly 1:00 AM, Luca picked the lock to Ella’s room while she’s asleep at Matteo’s.
The house was silent. Everyone was asleep. Everyone except him. He slipped inside, closing the door without a sound. The room was neat. Too neat.
Not a single thing was out of place. Like she had nothing to hide. Luca didn’t believe that for a second.
He moved quickly, opening drawers, flipping through notebooks, searching for anything that felt out of place.
He found it.
A small wooden box, tucked away deep inside her closet. Luca’s pulse quickened. He pulled it out, carefully prying it open. Inside were old letters, faded photographs—
And then—
His heart stopped.
Because right there, staring back at him, was a picture of Rafael Moretti. Luca’s blood ran cold.
Rafael.
The man Marco had killed years ago. The man Marco had erased.
And Ella?
She had his picture.