The Billionaire Mafia Boss Hated His Former Maid for Six Months Until He Found Her Dying in the Trash and Realized the Traitor Had Been Calling Him Brother

Six months later.

Spring had arrived in Chicago. The ice along Lake Michigan had melted, replaced by green parks, blooming cherry blossoms, and warm lake breezes.

At the Cavallaro estate in Lake Forest—a seventy-acre property of stone, gardens, and ancient oak trees north of the city—the heavy iron gates stood wide open.

In the rear gardens, where dark stone walls had once been patrolled by armed guards in black suits, a massive glass conservatory had been constructed, filled with rare orchids, Mediterranean lemon trees, and winding stone paths.

Sophie stood inside the conservatory, wearing a simple white sundress, her honey-blond hair falling in soft, healthy waves over her shoulders. The burn mark on her arm had been faded by laser treatments, leaving only a faint, silvery line that she no longer hid beneath long sleeves.

She was kneeling in the soil, helping Dr. Evans’s ten-year-old daughter plant a bed of blue hydrangeas.

"You're getting dirt on your dress, Mrs. Cavallaro," a deep, amused voice called out from the glass doorway.

Sophie looked up, wiping her brow with the back of her wrist, leaving a smudge of dark soil on her forehead.

Dante stood in the doorway, wearing a tailored navy suit without a tie, holding two glasses of fresh lemonade. He looked younger, healthier, the cold severity of his face softened by a quiet, unshakeable contentment.

"It’s just dirt, Dante," Sophie laughed, standing up and brushing off her knees. "It washes out."

Dante walked over, handing her a glass of lemonade, before reaching out with his thumb to gently wipe the soil from her forehead.

"The architects from the children's hospital arrived," Dante said, watching her drink. "They have the final blueprints for the Sophie Cavallaro Pediatric Pavilion."

Sophie’s eyes lit up with joy. "Are they keeping the rooftop garden from the original design?"

"They're keeping everything you requested," Dante smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her close to his side. "Including the free housing unit for the nurses and staff."