HE THOUGHT THIS WAS A CORPORATE EVENT

The kitchen went dead silent.

Leo was busy examining a bowl of fruit, oblivious to the massive shift in gravity that had just occurred in the room.

Vincent stared at his mother, completely stunned. “Mom. What are you doing?”

“Securing our future,” Helen said simply, tapping the velvet box. “Caroline was a parasite. She wanted the money and the power, but she had no loyalty. Nora has proven she has loyalty to spare.”

I stared at the massive, glittering diamond. It felt like looking at a loaded weapon.

“Mrs. DeLuca,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’m an employee. I’m a nurse. I’m forty-six years old. You cannot be serious.”

“I am deadly serious,” Helen replied. “You saved my life. You saved the boy. You protected this family when it was under fire. In our world, Nora, that makes you one of us.”

She wheeled herself closer to me. “You accepted the house. You accepted the tuition for your daughter. You are already in the fold. Why not take the final step and ensure you and Maya are protected forever?”

I looked at Vincent. I expected him to laugh, to tell his mother she was being ridiculous.

But he wasn’t laughing. He was looking at me, studying me with those dark, calculating eyes.

“It’s an arrangement,” Vincent said slowly, as if testing the words on his tongue. “A marriage of convenience. It provides Leo with a mother he trusts. It gives you absolute financial security. And it signals to the other families that the DeLucas are united and impenetrable.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. “You’re actually considering this?”

“I’m pragmatic, Nora,” Vincent said, stepping closer. “My father always said you marry for loyalty, not love. Love is a liability. Look what it almost did to me with Caroline.”

He reached out and closed the velvet box, picking it up in his large hand.

“I am not asking you to love me,” Vincent said, his voice low and serious. “I am asking you to be my partner. To help me raise my brother’s son. To manage this estate. In exchange, you will never worry about a single thing for the rest of your life. Your daughter will have the best security money can buy.”

I looked down at Leo, who was quietly peeling a banana, completely unaware that his uncle and grandmother were negotiating my life away.

I thought about the house. I thought about Maya. I thought about the man who had broken into her dorm room yesterday, and the cold reality that even though Thomas was dead, the Morettis were still out there.

If I walked away now, I was just a former employee who knew too much.

If I stayed, I was untouchable.

“I have conditions,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

Helen smiled. It was a terrifying, beautiful smile. “Of course you do, my dear. Let’s hear them.”

“Maya stays out of the family business,” I said firmly. “She finishes nursing school. She lives a normal life. No bodyguards following her to class, no mafia money paying for her wedding someday.”

“Done,” Vincent agreed instantly.

“And Leo,” I pointed to the boy. “He goes to a normal school. He doesn’t get groomed to take over your empire. He gets a chance to just be a kid.”

Vincent hesitated. He looked at the boy, then at his mother.

“He is a DeLuca, Nora,” Helen warned gently. “You cannot change his blood.”

“But I can change his childhood,” I countered, standing my ground. “Those are my terms. Take them or I pack my bags right now.”

Vincent looked at me for a long, silent moment. I didn’t flinch. I had stood up to gunmen last night; I wasn’t going to back down from a boardroom negotiation.

Finally, Vincent nodded.

He opened the velvet box, took out the heavy diamond ring, and held it out to me.