Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Time seemed to stop inside the luxurious nursery.

Damien remained frozen in the doorway, his tall figure clad in a loose dark shirt that he had deliberately chosen to wear. His face, still covered in bluish bruises and scratches, hardened in the silence. His breathing suddenly became heavier, not because of the pain from his gunshot wound that had yet to fully heal, but because of the shockwave that struck his consciousness head-on.

His eyes were locked on the plus-size woman sitting in the velvet chair.

The baby in her arms had now fallen into a deep sleep, breathing steadily after becoming full from consuming the high-quality breast milk. Ameena, still unaware of anyone behind her, carefully straightened her clothes. She tucked her full breasts back into her supportive bra, then buttoned her blouse one button at a time.

The trembling movements of Ameena’s hands as she straightened the fabric of her clothes were clearly caught by Damien’s sharp eyes. Without realizing it, Damien’s throat felt dry. An unfamiliar heat spread through his chest, triggering wild memories from the deepest darkness of his mind in the forest yesterday.

That sweet taste... that warmth...

The image of himself dying, lying on the wet ground with cracked lips longing for water, flashed rapidly through his mind. The sensation of warm liquid flowing down his throat as he desperately sucked it now collided with what he had just witnessed. Unconsciously, Damien swallowed his own saliva with difficulty. His heart beat wildly, demanding an answer to the strange pounding he had never experienced in his entire life.

Before he could step forward or utter a single word to interrogate the woman, the sound of soft footsteps approached from the corridor. Damien immediately retreated into the shadows of the hallway, avoiding anyone’s gaze, then walked quickly toward his study with a limp he desperately tried to conceal.

As soon as he reached his spacious, dimly lit private study, Damien immediately collapsed into his office chair and massaged his throbbing temples.

“Luky,” Damien called in a cold, hoarse voice, summoning his trusted confidant and loyal head of security, who was standing outside the door.

The door opened silently, and Luky—a neatly dressed man with hawk-like eyes—immediately bowed respectfully.

“Yes, Boss. How can I help you?”

Damien raised his head and stared sharply at his assistant.

“The investigation report on the woman who saved me in the forest yesterday. What are the results?”

Luky frowned, his expression turning serious.

“We’ve searched the entire area within a one-kilometer radius of where you were found, Boss. There were no human traces left behind, except for one important clue.”

Luky reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small transparent plastic bag containing a tiny object, then placed it on Damien’s desk.

“Our men found this caught in the bushes near the spot where you were lying. It seems the object accidentally fell off when she... was helping you.”

Damien lowered his head and stared at the contents of the plastic bag. Inside was a small silver earring with a unique design, engraved with a tiny rose that had become somewhat dull. It showed that the item was not high-end luxury jewelry, but rather an inexpensive piece of jewelry that had been worn for a long time.

“This earring...” Damien murmured softly, narrowing his eyes.

“That’s right, Boss. The investigation team has checked the markets and jewelry stores throughout the entire district. This earring design is extremely rare. It was handmade by a local artisan on the outskirts of the city who closed his shop ten years ago. That means its owner must have come from a lower-class background or someone who lives in a slum district,” Luky explained analytically. “But as of this moment, we still haven’t been able to identify the owner. We’re still tracing the population records in that area.”

Damien clenched his fist on the desk, staring intently at the silver earring. A strong urge grew inside his chest to find that woman immediately. Not merely because of curiosity, but because of the pride of a Mafia King.

“Find her, Luky,” Damien said coldly, his voice carrying absolute authority that could not be challenged. “I owe her my life. In this world, I have never liked owing anyone anything, especially someone who held control over my life and death.”

“Yes, Boss. I’ll mobilize all our people to expand the search,” Luky replied firmly before turning around and leaving the room.

Meanwhile, in the nursery, Ameena had just finished transferring her employer’s baby into a safe crib. She took a deep breath, relaxing her tense shoulders. Although her work was exhausting, her thoughts immediately drifted to her own biological son, Alby, who had been left at home with her mother.

She knew the strict rules of this mansion: servants accepted as wet nurses had to live there permanently and were not allowed to leave freely for security reasons concerning the heir of the Leonardo family. However, on this first day, Sunny had given her special permission because she was a new mother who still needed to express breast milk as a reserve supply for her son at home.

Ameena immediately went to Sunny and Hugo to ask for permission to go home briefly.

“Sunny, please... let me go home tonight. I need to make sure my expressed breast milk supply for my son at home is sufficient, and I want to see how he’s doing after his fever yesterday,” Ameena pleaded, her eyes glistening with tears as she begged for mercy.

Sunny, the stern middle-aged woman who was usually harsh toward new servants, looked at Ameena for a moment. Seeing the sincerity and genuine worry on the plus-size woman’s face, the icy wall around Sunny’s heart softened slightly. She knew what it felt like to be a mother.

“All right. You may go home tonight, but remember our family’s strict rules,” Sunny replied firmly. “You will be taken there and picked up using a family car, escorted closely by more than a dozen personal guards. Do not even think about stopping anywhere else or revealing anything about this place. Understood?”

“Thank you, Sunny! Thank you so much!” Ameena said repeatedly, bowing gratefully.

Not long afterward, a luxurious black sedan accompanied by two escort vehicles carrying heavily built guards sped through the city night. Ameena sat in the back seat with her heart pounding. When they arrived at her crowded and run-down apartment complex, the arrival of the luxurious convoy immediately attracted the attention of all the neighbors. Residents came out of their small apartments, whispering nervously as they watched the line of men in black suits tightly guarding the area.

Ameena paid no attention to their stares. The moment she stepped out, she half-ran toward the door of her home.

Inside the cramped yet warm room, her mother welcomed her with a tight embrace. On a folding bed in the corner of the room, Alby appeared to be sleeping soundly, with a fever-reducing patch still attached to his tiny forehead. His fever had gradually gone down thanks to the medication from the hospital the previous day.

Without wasting any time, Ameena opened her wallet. She took out a thick wad of cash from the loan she had received from the street loan shark the previous day, along with the advance payment from her first salary from the Leonardo family, which Sunny had given her early. She handed most of the money to her mother.

“Mom, here... use this to pay off the remaining hospital bill for Alby from yesterday, and use the rest to buy household necessities for the next few weeks,” Ameena said, breathing heavily.

Her mother stared at the banknotes with tear-filled eyes, then looked at her daughter anxiously.

“Ameena... where did you get this much money overnight? Don’t tell me you did something dangerous, dear...”

“No, Mom. I’m working... I was hired as a wet nurse for a prominent family,” Ameena lied, hiding the truth that she was working for the most dangerous Mafia family in the city. She did not want her mother to live in fear every second.

However, when she looked at her son’s sleeping face, his breathing steady and peaceful, Ameena’s mental strength finally collapsed.

The strict rules of the Leonardo mansion had a cruel impact on her: she had to live there permanently starting tomorrow morning, which meant she could only see Alby occasionally at certain intervals, far away from his embrace every night.

Ameena walked toward Alby’s small bed. She knelt beside it, lifted her tiny son into her arms, then hugged him tightly as if she never wanted to let him go again. Her tears poured down, soaking Alby’s small pajamas. Her sobs remained trapped in her throat as she tried not to wake her son.

“Forgive me, Alby... Forgive Mommy for having to leave you for the sake of our survival...” she whispered through her heartbreaking tears, burying her face in her son’s warm neck, feeling the immense pain of a mother who had to part from her own flesh and blood just to put food on the table.