Chapter 1
“ARE YOU HAVING A REALLY BAD DAY?” THE BROKE NANNY ASKED THE MAFIA BOSS'S 2-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT LEFT EVERYONE SPEECHLESS.
“GO AWAY! I HATE YOU!”
The wooden train struck Rachel Jenkins hard against her collarbone.
“Miss Jenkins, get away from her!” a servant whispered.
But Rachel didn't move.
Instead, she knelt on the cold marble floor and looked into the furious eyes of the two-year-old girl.
“Sweetheart, are you having a really bad day?”
The little girl's raised hand suddenly froze.
And what happened next made even New York's most feared Mafia boss question everything he thought he knew about his daughter.
Her name was Ruby Romano.
She was a beautiful, innocent toddler with soft brown curls, enormous hazel eyes, rosy cheeks, and tiny hands that once reached eagerly for her mother's embrace.
But those hands now threw anything they could grab.
Toys.
Books.
Glass ornaments.
Nobody in the Romano mansion knew how to stop her.
Not even her father.
Vincent Romano was forty years old, six feet four, with broad muscular shoulders, powerful tattooed arms, and cold gray eyes that could silence dangerous men without a word.
His athletic bodyguards wore expensive black suits and rarely smiled.
Vincent controlled a criminal empire across New York.
Yet inside his own mansion, he was helpless.
Months earlier, a car bomb had killed his beloved wife.
Ruby had been too young to understand death.
She only knew that Mommy had disappeared.
And nobody could bring her back.
Every morning, she searched the hallways.
Every night, she cried until her little voice became hoarse.
Whenever someone approached, she screamed, kicked, and threw whatever was nearby.
Five experienced nannies had already resigned.
The last woman who tried restraining her had left the mansion in an ambulance.
Then Rachel Jenkins arrived.
She wasn't wealthy.
She had no impressive résumé.
No experience with powerful families.
She was drowning in debt and desperately needed a paycheck.
The Romano household was her last chance.
Now, only minutes into her first day, Ruby stood before her with another wooden toy raised above her head.
The servants backed away.
Rachel slowly lowered herself onto her knees.
Gasps filled the room.
“Miss Jenkins!” someone warned.
Rachel ignored them.
She didn't grab Ruby's wrists.
She didn't shout.
She didn't threaten punishment.
She simply met the little girl's frightened eyes.
“Are you having a really bad day?”
Ruby blinked.
Her tiny fingers tightened around the toy.
Then something changed.
The anger slowly disappeared from her face.
Her lower lip trembled.
And one heartbreaking word escaped her mouth.
“Mama...”
The toy slipped from her hand.
Rachel's heart tightened.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Suddenly, Ruby threw herself into Rachel's arms.
And began sobbing.
Not the furious screams everyone feared.
These were helpless, broken cries.
The cries of a little girl who couldn't understand why the person she loved most had gone away.
Rachel wrapped both arms around her.
“I know,” she whispered, gently rubbing her back. “You miss Mommy.”
Ruby clung tighter.
“I know, baby. I know.”
In the doorway, Vincent Romano stood completely motionless.
Doctors had failed.
Specialists had failed.
Five nannies had failed.
Yet this penniless young woman had reached his daughter with one gentle question.
Minutes passed.
Finally, Ruby lifted her tear-streaked face.
She placed a tiny kiss on Rachel's nose.
Then she curled against her chest.
And fell asleep.
The entire mansion fell silent.
Vincent stepped forward.
“Cancel every other interview.”
Rachel looked up nervously.
“Sir?”
His cold expression remained unreadable.
“You live here now.”
Her breath caught.
For the first time in months, Ruby was sleeping peacefully.
Then Vincent's phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed.
He answered.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then the color drained from his face.
Rachel instinctively held Ruby closer.
Vincent slowly turned toward the window.
A cold voice came through the phone.
“We know who the maid is.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
He turned back toward Rachel.
She was still holding his sleeping daughter.
But now his steel-gray eyes were filled with something far more frightening than anger.
May you like
Recognition.
And Rachel suddenly realized the danger inside the Romano mansion might have nothing to do with Ruby.
