SERVE HER AN EMPTY PLATE! MAYBE THEN SHE'LL LEARN SHE CAN'T KEEP LIVING OFF MY FUTURE HUSBAND!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE HUMILIATED HIS 25-YEAR-OLD MAID FOR FEEDING HIS ESTRANGED SISTER AT THEIR ENGAGEMENT DINNER

“Well, this is a mess,” Uncle Marco said, stepping into the dining room.

Marco Moretti was in his sixties, wearing a sharp grey suit and a superficial smile that never reached his cold, dead eyes. His men fanned out, raising their assault rifles. Luca’s bodyguards immediately drew their weapons.

A deadly standoff in a dining room filled with Chicago’s elite.

But all I could look at was the little boy in Marco’s grip. Leo. He was pale, struggling to breathe, his chest heaving without the aid of his inhaler.

Gianna let out a guttural sob and tried to run toward her son, but Daniel grabbed her waist, holding her back. For once, her cowardly husband did the right thing—running at Marco's men would mean instant death.

“Let the boy go, Marco,” Luca said. Blood was dripping down his sleeve, pooling onto the marble floor, but he didn't even flinch. He stood perfectly straight, shielding me behind his broad back.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, nephew,” Marco sighed, tightening his grip on the terrified child. “Not until Vanessa gives me the claim ticket.”

Vanessa was backing away, her silver handgun trembling in her grip. She looked at Marco, the man she had trusted, the man who had secretly murdered Luca’s mother and framed her father.

“You lied to me,” Vanessa hissed, tears ruining her makeup. “You killed my father.”

“Your father was a drunk and a liability, Vanessa,” Marco said dismissively. “I did the world a favor. Now, be a good girl and hand over the ticket. We both know you don't have the stomach to shoot me.”

Answer one: Marco held all the cards, controlling Leo to extort the physical evidence of his past crimes.

Open two: What was actually inside the locker? And how could they save Leo before his asthma took his life?

I realized, with a sickening jolt, that Vanessa didn't have the ticket.

I did.

It was crumpled in my sweaty palm, hidden behind Luca’s back.

Vanessa looked at me. Her eyes darted to my clenched fist. She knew I had it. All she had to do was point at me, and Marco’s men would riddle me with bullets to get it.

I held my breath, waiting for her to betray me.

But a profound reversal happened. Vanessa looked at Leo, struggling to breathe. She looked at Luca, bleeding for a maid. She looked at Marco, the monster who destroyed her family.

Vanessa raised her gun and pointed it directly at Marco.

“The ticket is gone, Marco,” Vanessa lied, her voice shockingly steady. “I burned it in the kitchen fireplace before I walked in here.”

Marco’s fake smile vanished. “You’re lying.”

“Go check the ashes,” Vanessa taunted. “You’ll never get the ledger. The Commission will find out you killed the boss's wife. You’re a dead man walking.”

Marco’s face twisted into pure, ugly rage. He raised his free hand, signaling his men to execute her.

“Get down!” Luca roared, tackling me to the floor just as the room erupted into deafening gunfire.

Screams filled the air. Crystal shattered. The heavy mahogany table was splintered by a hail of bullets. I covered my head, curling into a ball as Luca used his own body as a human shield over me.

The shootout lasted less than ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

When the gunfire stopped, the silence that followed was agonizing.

I slowly opened my eyes, coughing through the thick haze of gunpowder smoke.

Luca’s men had taken down Marco’s guards. But the cost was devastating.

Vanessa lay on the floor near the serving cart. Her red silk gown was stained a deep, dark crimson. She had taken three bullets to the chest to buy us time.

I scrambled out from under Luca. “Leo! Where is Leo?!”

Gianna was screaming hysterically near the doorway.

Marco was gone. In the chaos of the firefight, he had slipped out the front doors, dragging Leo with him into the night.

“He took him!” Gianna sobbed, dropping to her knees. “He’s going to kill my baby!”

Luca forced himself up, clutching his bleeding arm. His face was a mask of pure, lethal fury. He looked at the dying woman on the floor.

Vanessa was coughing blood, her eyes wide and terrified.

Luca walked over to her. He didn't gloat. He knelt beside the woman who had betrayed him, lied to him, and ultimately saved me.

“Vanessa,” Luca said softly.

She looked up at him, her breathing shallow. “I... I didn't burn it...” she gasped.

“I know,” Luca said.

She reached up with a bloody, shaking hand, and pressed a small, golden key into Luca’s palm.

“The locker...” she whispered. “Don't... don't let Marco win.”

Her hand fell limp. The woman who had caused so much pain, driven by a legacy of lies, was gone.

Luca closed his fist around the golden key. He turned to me.

“Emma,” he said, his voice hard. “Give me the ticket.”

I uncurled my fingers, handing him the crumpled yellow paper.

“Sir, Marco has a head start. He’ll realize she lied. He’ll go to the station.”

Luca stood up. “I know. Daniel!”

Daniel looked up from the floor, pale and trembling.

“Get my sister to the hospital,” Luca ordered. “If she gets a single scratch on her, I will finish what Marco started with you. Do you understand?”

Daniel nodded frantically.

Luca looked at me. “Emma, you’re coming with me.”

“Me? Sir, I’m just a maid—”

“You’re the only person in this room I trust,” Luca said fiercely. “Now run.”

We ran to the garage and jumped into Luca’s black armored SUV. He drove like a madman through the neon-lit streets of Chicago, his bleeding arm barely slowing him down.

When we reached the central train station, it was eerily deserted. It was past midnight. We ran through the echoing terminal to the banks of storage lockers.

Locker 402.

Luca inserted the yellow ticket. He slid Vanessa’s golden key into the lock.

Click.

He pulled the heavy metal door open.

Inside was a beautiful, ornate wooden box. The Moretti family heirloom.

Luca pulled it out and set it on a bench. He opened the brass latch.

Inside wasn't a ledger. There was no paper proving Marco’s guilt.

Inside the box was a worn, silver pocket watch. And resting next to it was a woman’s diamond necklace.

Luca stared at the necklace, his face turning an ash-grey color I had never seen before.

“Mr. Moretti?” I whispered, terrified by his silence. “What’s wrong?”

Luca picked up the necklace. His hand was shaking violently.

“This wasn't my mother’s necklace,” Luca whispered, a tear slipping down his hardened face. “This is the necklace I gave Gianna on her sixteenth birthday.”

A shadow fell over us.

We turned around to see a man standing at the end of the aisle.