FIVE WORDS WRITTEN IN BLACK INK

“That’s impossible.”

I dropped the paper. It fluttered to the marble floor.

Chloe picked it up. She read it and gasped, staring at Vanessa.

“My mother only had two daughters,” I said, my voice rising. “Me and Chloe! She worked as a nurse her whole life. She was a good person!”

Vanessa laughed. It was a harsh, ugly sound that scraped against the high ceilings of the mansion.

“A good person?” Vanessa mocked. “She gave me away when I was four days old. She dropped me at a fire station in Chicago because she couldn't afford me. Then, three years later, she kept you.”

I shook my head. “No. No, Mom would never—”

“She did,” Salvatore said quietly. “My investigators pulled the adoption records. Vanessa was adopted by the Bellini family. A minor crime family in New York. They raised her. But she always knew where she came from. And she always hated you for being the one your mother kept.”

I stared at the woman in the beautiful white dress.

My half-sister.

The woman who had just ordered a hit on our younger sister.

“You tried to kill Chloe,” I whispered.

“Chloe is nothing to me!” Vanessa spat. “Neither are you! I spent my whole life watching from a distance while Mary Anne played house with you two! And then I found out she used to work for Luca’s wife.”

Luca stepped in. “What?”

Salvatore nodded. “Emma’s mother was a private hospice nurse. She cared for your wife’s grandfather before he passed. Your wife loved Mary Anne. When Mary Anne died, your wife quietly kept an eye on Emma and Chloe to make sure they were okay.”

Tears blurred my vision. I remembered receiving mysterious envelopes of cash in the mail during my hardest college semesters. I thought it was a charity.

It was Luca’s wife.

“That’s why I was hired here,” I realized aloud. “The agency didn't just place me. You arranged it.”

Luca nodded slowly. “My wife left a list of people to look out for. Your name was on it. I made sure my estate manager hired you.”

Vanessa sneered. “Isn't that sweet? A little charity case. I hated seeing you in this house. I hated watching Noah follow you around like a lost puppy while he treated me like poison!”

“Noah treats you like poison because you are poison,” Luca said.

He walked over to Vanessa.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, velvet box.

The ring box.

He opened it, took out the three-carat diamond engagement ring, and dropped it on the floor.

He crushed it beneath his leather shoe.

“The wedding is off,” Luca said.

Vanessa’s face crumpled. “Luca, please. I did it for us. She didn't love you the way I do! She was going to leave you!”

“She was pregnant!” Luca roared, his voice finally breaking.

The room went dead silent.

Vanessa froze.

I covered my mouth.

Noah looked up at his father. “Dad?”

Luca fell to his knees in front of Noah. He pulled the boy into his chest, burying his face in his son’s shoulder. His massive shoulders shook as he wept.

“She was pregnant with our second child,” Luca cried. “She told me the morning she died.”

Vanessa stepped back, shaking her head. “No. No, Frank didn't tell me that. Frank just said—”

“Frank is a dead man,” Salvatore said coldly.

Frank, still pinned to the floor, started begging. “Don Salvatore! I swear, I didn't know about the baby! She paid me to just scare her! The truck hit the ice, it was an accident—”

“Take him to the basement,” Salvatore told his men.

They dragged Frank away. His screams echoed down the hallway until a heavy door shut.

Luca stood up. He wiped his face. He looked at Vanessa.

“You took my wife. You took my unborn child. You tormented my son. And you tried to kill the only family Emma has left.”

Vanessa backed toward the door. “Luca, my adopted family… the Bellinis… they won't let you touch me. It’ll start a war.”

“Let them come,” Luca said.

He nodded at Daniel.

“Take her,” Luca ordered.

Daniel grabbed Vanessa by the hair. She screamed, kicking and scratching, as he dragged her out the front door into the pouring rain.

The heavy doors shut behind them.

The silence that followed was heavy, but it wasn't toxic anymore.

It felt like a poison had finally been sucked out of the room.

Noah looked at his father. “Is she gone, Dad?”

Luca knelt and kissed his son’s forehead. “She’s gone forever, buddy. I promise.”

Then, Luca looked at me.

“I’m sorry, Emma,” he said quietly. “I brought you into a war zone.”

“You protected us,” I said, squeezing Chloe’s hand. “Thank you.”

Salvatore cleared his throat. He picked up his umbrella.

“I will handle the Bellinis,” the old man said. He looked at me, a strange glint of respect in his dark eyes. “You are a brave girl, Emma. You protected my grandson tonight.”

“He didn't need protecting,” I said softly. “He just needed someone to listen to him.”

Salvatore nodded, turned, and walked out into the night.

Luca looked at the mess in the dining room. The broken glass. The crushed ring.

“Emma,” he said. “You don't have to clean this up. You never have to clean anything in this house again.”

I frowned. “Am I fired?”

Luca actually smiled. A real, tired smile.

“No. But you’re not a maid anymore.”

Before he could explain, Daniel walked back into the foyer. He was drenched in rain, holding a small, brown cardboard box.