Chapter 2 - The Maid With the Silver Bird
Mia Bennett arrived at the Vale estate eighteen months earlier.
She carried one suitcase, a folder of references and the hand of a frightened four-year-old girl.
Harper hid behind her mother’s skirt during the interview.
Claire looked at the child with immediate disapproval.
“This is a private estate,” she said. “Not a daycare.”
Mia kept her voice calm.
“The agency said the position included family housing.”
“For the employee. Not an entire family.”
Dominic entered before Mia could answer.
He wore no tie and spoke little. His reputation reached far beyond New York. Some called him a businessman. Others used quieter words.
Mafia boss.
Crime-family heir.
The last Vale no one challenged twice.
But when Harper dropped a toy rabbit, Dominic picked it up and returned it without frightening her.
“Where is her father?” he asked.
Mia’s expression changed.
“Dead.”
Dominic did not press.
He studied her references.
Mia had worked in hotels, private homes and a hospital kitchen. Her late husband, Lucas Bennett, had once been an accountant for Vale Maritime.
Dominic looked up.
“Lucas worked for us?”
“Six years ago.”
Nathan, who had been standing beside the window, became suddenly interested.
“What department?”
“Internal accounts.”
Nathan smiled.
“I don’t remember him.”
Mia touched the silver bird pendant around her neck.
“He didn’t work there long.”
Dominic hired her.
Claire protested later.
“She brought a child into your house.”
“She was promised housing.”
“You cannot rescue every sad woman you meet.”
“I offered her a job.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
She had been engaged to Dominic for nine months. She expected the estate, the name and the influence that came with both.
Mia’s presence should not have mattered.
Yet it did.
Harper brought warmth into rooms designed to intimidate.
Mia treated every employee with respect.
She never flirted with Dominic or asked for favors.
That made Claire more suspicious, not less.
Nathan asked questions about Lucas whenever Mia was alone.
Did Lucas leave files?
Did he discuss Vale Maritime?
Did he own any unusual jewelry?
Mia always gave the same answer.
“My husband died in a car accident. He left debts, not secrets.”
Nathan pretended to lose interest.
May you like
But every time he saw the silver bird pendant, his eyes followed it.
👉 Nathan claimed he could not remember Lucas, yet Mia soon found her husband’s initials inside a restricted accounting ledger kept in Nathan’s office.
