Page 27 of Mafia Pregnancy

I grab my phone immediately, pulling up the security interface while my mind shifts into crisis mode. Every camera feed shows error messages, and every motion sensor reports as disconnected. The timing, with the storm approaching and Luca’s recent activities, might not be coincidental.

“What’s wrong?” Danielle’s voice carries genuine concern as she watches my expression change.

Before I can answer, Andrei appears in the doorway, his face grim. “Complete system failure,” he says without preamble. “IT’s on the line, but they can’t identify the source remotely.”

“Weather-related?”

“Possibly, but the timing feels suspicious given recent activity. We should assume hostile intent until proven otherwise.”

I turn to Danielle, who’s standing frozen beside my desk with her cleaning supplies still in her hands. “I need you to stay in this office until I return. Don’t leave for any reason.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Probably not, but I don’t take chances with security.” I move toward the door, then pause. “This room has reinforced walls and a secure lock. You’ll be safer here than anywhere else in the house. Stay here,” I repeat firmly, making sure she understands this isn’t a suggestion.

Andrei and I head directly to the security center, a reinforced room in the estate’s basement that houses our surveillance equipment and communication systems. Two guards meet us there, along with our head of IT, who’s frantically working at multiple computer terminals.

“System went down simultaneously across all zones,” says Annie, the IT specialist, without looking up from her screens. “There’s no indication of external intrusion, but the failure pattern is too clean to be accidental.”

“How long to restore?” I ask.

“Working on it. Could be minutes or hours, depending on whether this is hardware or software-related.”

Andrei and I exchange glances. In fifteen years of business, we’ve learned coincidences are usually anything but coincidental. “We need to do a perimeter sweep,” I order. “Take two guards and check the fence line, camera positions, and sensor arrays. Look for signs of tampering.”

Andrei arches a brow. “In this weather?”

The wind outside has intensified significantly, and I can hear rain beginning to hit the building. “Especially in this weather. If someone wanted to disable our systems, they’d choose conditions that make detection and response more difficult.”

We head outside into the storm, rain immediately soaking through our clothes despite the covered walkways.

The wind is stronger than I expected, bending the palm trees at dangerous angles and sending debris skittering across the grounds.

Lightning flashes in the distance, followed by thunder that makes conversation difficult.

The perimeter sweep takes twenty minutes and reveals no obvious signs of tampering, but the weather makes thorough inspection nearly impossible.

Visibility is poor, and the rain turns everything slippery and treacherous.

We’re heading back toward the main building when Andrei’s radio crackles to life.

“System’s back online,” comes the report from the security center. “It appears to be weather-related interference after all.” Annie sounds relieved.

“Appears to be,” Andrei mutters, his skepticism obvious even over the sound of rain and wind.

“Keep monitoring. If it happens again, we’ll know it’s not the weather.”

As we reach the covered terrace, I spot Carmen and Danielle collecting outdoor furniture cushions and linens. They’re both soaked despite working quickly, and I feel a flash of irritation that Danielle didn’t stay in my office where I’d explicitly told her to remain.

“Thought you told her to stay put,” Andrei says, following my line of sight.

“I did.” I watch Danielle wringing water from a tablecloth, her work uniform clinging to her frame in ways that make concentration difficult. “Apparently, she prioritizes laundry over security protocols.”

“Or she doesn’t understand that when you give security instructions, they’re not suggestions.”

The irritation isn’t entirely rational. She works as a maid, and her job involves maintaining the household whether there’s a security alert or not.

I didn’t explain the lockdown procedures or show her how to secure the office, so from her perspective, helping Carmen might have seemed like the responsible choice.

Still, the fact that she’s out here in a potential security situation when I specifically told her to stay safe bothers me more than it should.

We wait under the covered area until the women finish their work and head inside. Danielle catches sight of me and approaches with hesitant steps, water dripping from her hair and clothes.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Vetrov. Carmen needed help before everything got ruined by the rain. I thought?—”

“The security alert meant stay where I told you to stay.” My voice comes out harshly. “When I give you instructions related to safety, they’re not suggestions.”

She flinches slightly, suddenly tugging at her polo shirt to peel it away from her body. “I understand. I’m sorry.”

The apology is sincere, but she clearly doesn’t fully grasp why her safety might be important to me. How could she when she doesn’t know that I know her well-being affects more than just her own life? “Go back to my office. We’ll continue our conversation from before.”

“Of course.”

As she heads inside, Andrei receives a call on his secure phone. I listen to his side of the conversation, full of short responses and grim acknowledgments that suggest business complications.

“Rodriguez situation?” I ask when he hangs up.

“More updates from Annie in IT. They think the system failure might have been a test run, possibly to see how we respond to infrastructure attacks.” His expression is carefully neutral, but I see the concern underneath.

“Meanwhile, our contact at customs believes one of Luca’s shell companies has successfully rerouted a shipment that should have come through Rodriguez’s port. ”

I curse. “They’re testing our systems to see how we respond to pressure.”

“Exactly. If today’s security failure was connected to that, they know we can be compromised temporarily.”

I consider this as we walk back inside, shaking rain from our jackets. The timing of everything that makes me uneasy. “Shelve any retaliation plans for now. I want to see how bold Luca’s willing to get before we respond, but make sure Annie knows to harden our systems so this can’t happen again.”

“That’s risky.”

I nod. “Everything we do is risky. The question is whether the risk serves our long-term interests.”

He tilts his head slightly. “Does it?”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” I smooth my damp hair and straighten my shirt before heading back to my office.

Danielle is there, carefully organizing papers that got scattered during our hurried exit earlier.

She looks up when I enter, her expression apologetic and still slightly nervous.

“I really am sorry about not staying put. I wasn’t thinking about security.

I was just trying to help Carmen before the storm got worse. ”

“In the future, when I give you instructions related to safety, follow them exactly. No improvisation and no exceptions. Neither of you should have been outside when the alarm system was down.”

She nods. “Understood.”

I settle back into my chair, watching her work.

The rain has made her hair curl slightly around her face, and despite the professional uniform, she looks younger than her twenty-seven years.

Young enough to have been overwhelmed by an unexpected pregnancy and to have made decisions based on fear rather than logic.

“You mentioned you might have other commitments tonight,” I say, returning to our interrupted conversation. “Did you manage to sort that out?”

“Let me make a call and see if I can figure out something.”

She pulls out her phone and dials, turning away slightly for privacy. I can hear fragments of her conversation—something about delaying a pickup and working a few extra hours. The way she speaks suggests she’s talking to family, so possibly whoever watches Leo when she’s working.

When she hangs up, she looks relieved but still uncertain. “I can stay a little longer. Not all night, but a few extra hours should be fine.”

“Excellent.” I lean forward, resting my forearms on the desk. The rain is falling heavily now, drumming against the windows and creating an intimate atmosphere that encourages honest conversation. “Why do you always seem like you’re holding back when we talk?”

She stops organizing papers and looks at me directly, something vulnerable flickering across her face before she rebuilds her walls. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You watch me sometimes when you think I’m not looking, like you’re trying to solve a puzzle.”

“Maybe you’re the one doing the watching.” Her response surprises both of us with its boldness, and I see color rise in her cheeks. “You seem to pay a lot of attention to what I’m doing.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

The question hangs between us. For a moment, she looks like she might give me an honest answer and drop the professional distance to tell me what she’s really thinking. “No,” she says quietly.

Before I can respond to that admission, Andrei appears in the doorway again. He takes in the scene of Danielle and I leaning toward each other across the desk, and his expression shifts to professional neutrality.

“I have updates on the customs situation,” he says simply.

Danielle immediately steps back from the desk, the moment broken. “I should finish this and let you handle your business.”

She gathers her supplies efficiently. I watch her work, noting the way she avoids looking at either Andrei or me directly, as if she can disappear simply by not drawing attention to herself.

“I’ll just finish dusting and get out of your way,” she murmurs, straightening the documents on my desk with careful precision before reaching for a feather duster from her caddy.

Within minutes, she’s completed her tasks and moved toward the door.

She pauses briefly, glancing back at me with an expression I can’t quite read, but it’s something between disappointment and relief.

She quietly slips out of the office, closing the door behind her with barely a sound. Andrei waits until her footsteps fade down the hallway before speaking.

Andrei gives me a quick update. The shipment change definitely seems linked to one of Luca’s corporations, and Rodriguez has agreed to a meeting later that night with Andrei.

After he leaves, I remain at my desk, listening to the rain and thinking about the conversation business interrupted, as conversations with Danielle always seem to be.

For a moment, she’d seemed ready to drop her guard, to engage with me as something more than just an employer.

The way she’d admitted she didn’t want me to stop watching her suggested a connection she’s been trying to hide, but every time we get close to real, something pulls us back to our assigned roles, allowing her once again to keep her secrets.

The question is whether those secrets include more about Leo, and if I’m prepared to wait for her to volunteer that information. Or do I need to confront her directly with what I suspect?

For now, I’ll wait, but not much longer.