Chapter 13 - Truth Written in Lace
The announcement of Luca Moretti’s engagement to Hannah Cole sent shockwaves through high society.
The tabloids and socialite gossip columns were in a frenzy.
“The Mafia Don Who Married His Housekeeper!”
“From Maid to Donna: The Cinderella of the Moretti Empire!”
Snobbish heiresses and old-money socialites whispered in their country clubs that a former housemaid could never handle the immense pressure and cutthroat politics of ruling the city’s most powerful family.
They were dead wrong.
With Salvatore acting as my personal mentor and Luca standing fiercely at my side, I took command of the estate with grace, intelligence, and unwavering poise.
I didn't fire the household staff; I doubled their wages, instituted full healthcare benefits for their families, and treated every maid, cook, and driver with the dignity and respect they had always deserved.
The staff’s loyalty to our household became an impenetrable fortress. Not a single spy or corrupt influencer could get within a mile of our gates.
My brother, Leo, fully recovered and bursting with energy, moved into the estate’s east wing. Luca enrolled him in the city’s most prestigious preparatory academy, where he excelled in mathematics and science, finally living the healthy, carefree life he had been denied for so long.
Two weeks before the wedding, Mrs. Carter came to my private chambers with tears in her eyes, carrying a silver tray with a golden needle and silk thread.
“Miss Hannah... the master seamstresses have completed the final fitting of Donna Clara’s gown.”
I stepped in front of the full-length gilded mirror.
The forty-one-year-old gown fit my body like a second skin.
The antique Sicilian lace cascaded down from my shoulders, the fitted bodice accentuating my waist, while the long, sweeping train pooled around my feet like liquid moonlight.
May you like
Salvatore stood in the doorway, wiping a tear from his rugged, scarred cheek.
“Clara is smiling down on this room right now,” Salvatore said softly. “You wear it better than anyone ever could, my dear.”
