Stuck in a Mafia Romance

NO ONE’S POV

Lily watched her young lady step into the luxury car and leave for the evening party. The moment the car drove out of the main gates, Lily turned around and looked at the other maids standing in the foyer. She noticed that a heavy wave of relief immediately washed over their faces. They all seemed to relax their shoulders and breathe easier the exact moment Viella left the estate.

Lily did not say a word. She turned on her heel and walked off toward her own private room to change out of her traveling clothes.

Throughout the entire day, Lily had noticed a lot of strange things about the estate. The first thing was the overall aesthetic of the mansion. Everything had completely changed. The gloomy color the decorations, and the bright sets were all gone. Nothing seemed to be the same as what she had heard in the brief update reports over the last five years.

Even worse, when Lily had quietly questioned the other maids in the kitchen earlier, she got to know that their lady had suddenly started acting very strange a few weeks ago. The wild tantrums had become different, and her daily habits were completely flipped.

And today, Lily had seen it with her own eyes. Her lady had willingly chosen to wear a very simple, plain gown to the party. There were no feathers, no bright colors, and none of the extreme luxury items she used to demand. It was completely unlike the spoiled Viella she knew. What in the world had happened to her lady during her long absence?

Reaching the small balcony of her bedroom, Lily stepped out into the cool night air. She stared across the dark gardens at the large mansion built right beside their property line. As her eyes scanned the lit windows of the neighboring estate, she suddenly noticed a tall figure standing perfectly still behind the glass, watching her. The exact moment Lily locked her eyes onto the shape, the figure quickly moved away into the shadows of the room.

Whoever it was... Lily felt a strange chill down her spine. She felt a deep feeling that she actually knew them from her dark past.

Something is indeed going on in this city without her knowing. The pieces of the puzzle did not fit together anymore. Lily’s eyes narrowed into a cold line. She knew she had to begin a private investigation immediately to find out the truth behind her lady’s change and the strange watcher next door.

Meanwhile, inside the dark room of the neighboring mansion, the figure who had just stepped away from the window stood in the shadows. A slow evil smile appeared across his face as he watched Lily remain on her balcony.

"You dared to completely ruin my perfect plan not once but twice," Enzo whispered into the dark room, his voice shaking with a mix of deep anger and mad joy. "But now, this world has somehow given me a second chance at life... and I will make absolutely sure to ruin your entire existence."

Enzo walked back to his desk and leaned downonto his chair, letting out a loud, mocking laugh that echoed against the walls.

His ultimate target was no longer Viella. Over the last few months, he had come to a shocking realization. He knew this was no longer just a simple plot inside a fictional book he could predict. This had become a living real world where everything changed. And in this new reality, his target was narrowed down to only one specific person who had single-handedly destroyed his future years ago.

And that person was none other than the quiet maid herself- Lily.

Lily waited the whole night in the dim foyer for her lady to return, her posture perfectly straight and alert. It was past midnight when the front doors finally swung open. Viella stepped inside, but she was not the radiant figure who had left earlier. Her beautiful, simple gown was completely ruined, drenched in dark red wine from the chest down, the scent of alcohol filling the quiet hallway.

Lily stepped forward immediately, taking her coat. "What happened, My Lady?"

"It is nothing," Viella said, huffing loudly as she crossed her arms in deep irritation. Her face was flushed with anger. "Just some completely annoying maid at the party who dared to do it. She was clumsy and useless."

Without waiting for Lily to say another word, Viella walked straight past her, her heels clicking against the floor as she headed directly up the stairs to her bedroom to change.

Lily stood at the bottom of the staircase, watching her lady’s retreating back. As Viella had reached for the banister, Lily’s eyes noticed something else missing. The bracelet. Where in the world was her lady’s favorite diamond bracelet? Didn’t she used to wear that specific piece of jewelry always, never taking it off for any social event?

Something indeed happened at that high-profile event tonight, and Lily was definitely going to find out exactly what it was before the sun came up.

She waited patiently for a few hours. As the entire mansion finally got completely quiet and every single light was turned off, Lily stepped out into the dark corridors.

A short while later, Lily arrived at the hotel’s off-site private security building where the grand party had taken place. Inside the main security monitoring room, the guards yawned heavily, their eyes half-closed. The men were already incredibly sleepy, barely paying attention to the walls of glowing monitors.

Suddenly, a dark, slender figure flitted across the corner of the main CCTV footage.

One of the guards blinked, rubbing his tired eyes as he tried to focus on the specific camera footage. "Hey, did you see that?" he muttered to his partner. But before he could even turn his head, the freezing cold barrel of a suppressed gun was pressed firmly against the back of his neck.

The guard instantly shivered, his entire body going completely rigid with fear. His partner slowly raised his hands in the air, staring in shock at the masked woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Do not make a single sound," Lily commanded, her voice dropping into a low whisper that made their blood run cold. "Pull up the recorded security footage of today’s private ball room."

"W-We are not allowed to give away private ball footage to anyone," the guard stumbled over his words wildly, shivering as the cold metal pressed harder into his skin. "Besides... this event was hosted by the Moretti family! Once Mr. Dante Moretti finds out that someone broke in here, you will be a dead woman!"

Lily was not fazed at all by the heavy name. Her expression beneath her dark mask remained perfectly detached. "Before he ever finds me, you will be long dead," she replied flatly. "So do exactly like I just said."

Knowing he had absolutely no choice if he wanted to live, the trembling guard quickly hit a few buttons on the digital keyboard. The monitor shifted, playing the clear video recording of the main ballroom from a few hours ago.

Lily watched the screen closely. In the video, it could be clearly seen that a young girl, dressed as a serving maid, had intentionally bumped hard into Lady Viella. The girl had immediately dropped to her knees, crying and trying to act completely pitiful to draw the crowd’s attention while the red wine soaked Viella’s dress.

So this was the girl who spilled the wine, Lily mentally noted, her eyes narrowing. It looked entirely planned, a cheap setup to make Viella look like a cruel bully in front of the high society guests.

But as the video continued to play, something else entirely caught her attention.

"Stop it right there," Lily ordered sharply, tapping the top of the monitor. "Zoom in on the bottom left corner."

The guard quickly paused the video and zoomed in on the dark floor near the edge of the crowd. Lily focused her gaze on the screen. Lucian was standing there in his suit. In the middle of the sudden chaos and shouting, he had quietly stepped forward, bent down, and seemed to pick up a small, glittering object from the floor before slipping it into his pocket.

It was the missing diamond bracelet.

Lily stared at Lucian’s calm face on the screen. Why did he secretly take Viella’s bracelet instead of giving it back to his own sister? A deep sense of suspicion filled her chest. The game in this city was getting much more complicated than she thought

As soon as Lily stepped out into the quiet night air and vanished into the shadows, another tall figure walked slowly into the security room.

The trembling guard turned his head, and the moment his eyes landed on Dante Moretti, his face drained of all color. He immediately dropped down onto his knees on the cold floor, his hands shaking violently as he started begging for his life. "Mr. Moretti! Please, mercy! A masked woman forced me to show her the files! I had no choice!"

Dante didn’t care about the guard’s pathetic whining. He stepped past the kneeling man and stared at the glowing CCTV screen. A small cold smirk played on his lips as he watched the recorded scene of the party once again.

He had known all along that Viella was not at fault for the wine incident. Yet, he had deliberately played along with the scene in front of the guests just to find out who that strange girl, Alina, was truly working for behind the scenes.

Looking at the footage of the masked woman who had just threatened his guards, Dante raised an eyebrow. It seemed like this mysterious intruder and he shared the exact same motive. An enemy’s enemy is a friend, indeed.

Curious, Dante leaned closer to the main console and zoomed in on the recording of the woman as she had first entered the building. The camera captured her dark gaze perfectly under her mask.

His eyes narrowed as a sudden realization hit him. It was those exact same freezing eyes he had seen years ago at the luxury shopping mall and the same freezing eyes that followed him.

"Lily..." Dante muttered softly under his breathing.

She was the very same maid who worked for the Viella family and now, she was moving in the dark like a highly trained assassin. Hmm... things in this city were about to get very interesting.

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TO BE CONTINUED