Chapter 3 - The Offer on the DeskTessa looked down at the heavy cream paper. It was a formal contract, typed in elegant black script, bearing the official seal of the Costa Estate Holdings.
She scanned the first few lines, her eyes widening as she read.
CONTRACT OF EXCLUSIVE EMPLOYMENT
Employee: Tessa Miller
Position: Primary Companion & Personal Caregiver to Beatrice Costa
Compensation: €120,000 per annum, paid monthly.
Additional Provisions: Full debt settlement of all existing financial obligations (€42,800) executed immediately upon signing. Full medical coverage, private housing on the estate grounds, and legal protection under Costa Estate security protocols.
Tessa’s breath caught in her throat. She read the numbers twice, three times, her mind refusing to compute the figures.
One hundred and twenty thousand euros a year. Immediate liquidation of her debt. Private housing.
“This... this is a mistake,” she whispered, looking up at Damian. “I’m not a nurse. I don't have a medical degree. I just clean rooms.”
“The nurses with medical degrees made my mother scream,” Damian said, his voice flat and unyielding. “They treated her like a task to be completed, a problem to be managed. You treated her like a human being.”
“Mr. Costa, I can't accept this,” Tessa stammered, stepping back. “This is... this is too much money. People don't just give away this kind of money.”
“I am not giving it away,” Damian said, standing up from his chair.
He was a tall man, broad-shouldered and imposing, wearing a perfectly tailored charcoal suit. But as he stepped around the massive desk, he did not project the terrifying aura he usually used to dominate Syndicate meetings. He simply looked like a man who was deeply, terribly tired.
“My mother built this family,” Damian said quietly, turning to look out the high arched window at the gray sea below. “She protected me when I was young. She bled for this estate. And now, in her final years, she is trapped in a prison inside her own mind. The doctors cannot help her. My money cannot cure her.”
He turned back to face Tessa.
“You gave her peace for forty-five minutes yesterday,” Damian continued, his eyes locking onto hers with an intensity that made her breath hitch. “You gave her a moment of clarity in a world of terrifying fog. To me, Miss Miller, that forty-five minutes is worth more than every ship, every contract, and every euro I own.”
Tessa stared at him, the heavy paper fluttering in her grasp. “And what do I have to do?”
“You resign from housekeeping immediately,” Damian commanded. “You move into the guest cottage on the east lawn today. Your sole responsibility from this moment on is my mother's comfort and emotional well-being. You answer to no one on this estate except me.”
“And my debt?” she asked softly.
Damian flicked a glance toward Paul.
Paul pulled a sleek black tablet from his jacket pocket, tapped the screen twice, and turned it toward Tessa.
On the screen was a bank transfer confirmation from the Costa Central Account. Three separate wire transfers—totaling forty-two thousand eight hundred euros—had been sent directly to the three collection agencies and private lenders listed in her file. Beside each transfer was a digital receipt marked: PAID IN FULL - ACCOUNT CLOSED.
Tessa covered her mouth with her hand. A single tear escaped her eye, trailing down her pale cheek.
The weight that had been crushing her chest for three years—the late-night phone calls, the threats from loan sharks at her door, the constant terror of ending up on the street—vanished in a single second.
“It’s already done?” she gasped, her voice cracking.
“The Costa family does not make conditional offers,” Damian said smoothly. “Your debt is paid regardless of whether you sign that contract. You are a free woman, Miss Miller. You can walk out of that gate right now and never return.”
Tessa looked at the paid receipts on the tablet, then down at the contract in her hands, and finally back at Damian Costa.
May you like
She saw the ruthless mob boss the city feared. But beneath the tailored suit and cold demeanor, she saw something else—a son desperately trying to save a mother he was losing day by day.
“Where do I sign?” Tessa asked quietly.
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