FIVE WORDS WRITTEN IN BLACK INK

Luca stared at the cardboard box.

“What is it?” he asked.

Daniel set the box on the marble foyer table. It was wrapped in heavy packing tape, water-stained around the edges.

“It’s addressed to you, Boss,” Daniel said. “But it was hidden under the spare tire in Vanessa’s trunk. The postmark is from four years ago.”

Luca stepped closer. He pulled a pocket knife from his suit and sliced the tape.

Noah gripped my hand tighter. Chloe stood close behind me.

Luca opened the flaps.

He reached inside and pulled out a stack of letters, tied together with a blue ribbon.

Underneath the letters was a small, velvet jewelry box. And beneath that, a child’s drawing.

Luca picked up the drawing first.

His breath hitched.

It was a crayon drawing of three stick figures. A man, a woman, and a little boy. Above them, written in clumsy, backwards letters, were the words: I love you Mommy and Daddy.

“I drew that,” Noah whispered. “I made that for Mom the day she went away.”

Luca’s hands shook. He carefully set the drawing down and picked up the stack of letters.

He slid the top envelope out of the ribbon.

It was addressed to Luca. The handwriting was elegant. Familiar.

His wife’s handwriting.

“She wrote these,” Luca said, his voice cracking. “Before she died. How did Vanessa get them?”

“Vanessa must have raided her private safety deposit box after the crash,” Daniel suggested. “She hid them so you would never see what she had to say.”

Luca opened the letter.

He read it silently.

As he read, the anger in his face slowly melted into absolute devastation. A single tear rolled down his cheek, landing on the paper.

“What does it say?” Noah asked softly.

Luca knelt down so he was eye-level with his son.

“She says she loved us,” Luca whispered. “She says she knew something bad was coming. She was trying to protect us, Noah. She was leaving that night to meet a lawyer. To give him evidence against Vanessa’s family.”

I covered my mouth.

His wife hadn't just been running away from a stalker. She was trying to take down the Bellini crime family to keep her husband and son safe.

She died a hero.

Luca stood up and looked at me.

“Emma,” he said. “Take Chloe and Noah to the east wing guest suites. Lock the doors. Daniel will post guards outside.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

Luca looked at the velvet jewelry box left in the cardboard package.

He opened it.

Inside was a heavy, gold signet ring. The Bellini family crest.

“I’m going to finish the war my wife started,” Luca said.

His eyes were completely black. Cold. The eyes of a mafia boss.

“Daniel,” Luca commanded. “Call the men. Every single one. We hit the Bellini docks tonight.”

“Boss,” Daniel warned. “The Commission will retaliate.”

“Let them,” Luca said. He slipped the Bellini ring into his pocket. “By morning, there won't be a Bellini left in Chicago.”

Luca walked past us, his long coat sweeping behind him.

He stopped at the door and looked back at me.

“Keep my son safe, Emma,” he said.

“I will,” I promised.

He walked out into the storm.

I took Noah and Chloe upstairs to the safest room in the house. The east wing master suite. It had steel-reinforced doors and bulletproof glass.

Daniel stood outside in the hallway with an assault rifle.

Inside, it was quiet. The rain pounded against the thick glass.

Chloe sat on the bed, wrapping a blanket around herself. “Emma, what is happening? Are we safe here?”

“We’re safe,” I told her, though my heart was beating out of my chest.

Noah sat on the edge of the large sofa. He looked exhausted. He had been through too much tonight.

I sat next to him and put my arm around his shoulders.

“You were very brave today, Noah,” I said softly.

He leaned his head against my arm. “I missed my mom. But I’m glad you’re here, Emma.”

My heart broke. I kissed the top of his head. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetie.”

We sat in silence for an hour.

Then, two hours.

The storm outside raged on.

Around 3:00 AM, my phone buzzed in my apron pocket.

I pulled it out.

It was an unknown number.

My blood ran cold. Was it the man from the phone call? Marcus?

I hesitated, then answered it.

“Hello?” I whispered so I wouldn't wake Chloe and Noah, who had finally fallen asleep.

“Emma.”

It was Vanessa’s voice.

She sounded panicked. Breathless. Sirens wailed in the background.

“Vanessa? Where are you?”

“Listen to me carefully,” she hissed through the phone. “Luca is destroying my family. He’s burning it all down. But he doesn't know the whole truth.”

“What truth?” I asked, gripping the phone tight.

“Our mother,” Vanessa said, crying now. “Mary Anne. She didn't die of cancer, Emma.”

I froze. “What are you talking about? I was at the hospital! I watched her die!”

“You watched her organs fail,” Vanessa said. “But you don't know why. Check the bottom of the blue coat. Chloe’s coat. The one Salvatore brought.”

“Why?”

“Rip open the lining, Emma. Look inside. If you want to know who really killed our mother… look inside the coat.”