SMILE, SWEETHEART. HE'S AN IMPORTANT GUEST

I stared at the woman in the doorway.

Donata Moretti.

She hadn't been seen in Chicago for years. The official story was that she retired to Sicily after her husband died.

Yet here she was, standing in her son’s study at dawn, demanding the micro-SD card in my hand.

“How did you get in here?” I asked, instinctively closing my fist around the locket.

Donata smiled. It was a cold, aristocratic smile.

“I own this house, Emma. My son merely occupies it.”

She took a step closer. Two massive guards stepped into the hallway behind her. They weren't Luca’s men. They wore different crests on their lapels.

“Your father was a clever man,” Donata said smoothly. “Arthur knew the Commission was coming for the money. He encrypted the accounts to protect my husband. When my husband died, Arthur refused to give the codes to Richard and Vanessa. So, they killed him.”

My breath caught.

“They killed my father?”

“A staged heart attack,” Donata nodded. “Very clean. But they didn't find the drives. And they didn't know he hid the key with his naive little daughter.”

She held out her hand.

“Give it to me. With those accounts, I can rebuild the family to its former glory. I will ensure you and your sister are well compensated.”

I looked at her outstretched hand.

“If you knew Richard and Vanessa killed your husband and my father... why didn't you stop them?”

Donata’s smile faded.

“Because Richard had the money, and Vanessa had the connections. I needed them to keep the empire stable until I could find the drives. Sacrifices had to be made.”

She sacrificed her own husband. She let her son marry a traitor.

She was the true mastermind.

“I'm not giving this to you,” I said fiercely.

Donata sighed.

“Take it from her,” she ordered her guards.

The two men stepped into the study.

I backed up against the mahogany desk, gripping the heavy bronze paperweight I had used earlier.

Before the guards could cross the room, the heavy oak doors were violently kicked open the rest of the way.

Luca stood there.

He didn't look exhausted anymore. He looked like a king defending his castle.

“Step away from her,” Luca roared.

The two guards hesitated, looking at Donata.

Donata didn't flinch.

“Luca, darling. You look terrible.”

“What are you doing here, Mother?” Luca demanded, stepping between me and the guards.

“I'm fixing your mess,” Donata said coldly. “That girl holds the keys to the kingdom. We need it.”

Luca looked back at me. He saw the locket in my hand.

He understood instantly.

He turned back to his mother.

“The kingdom is mine,” Luca stated. “And the girl is under my protection.”

“Don't be a fool, Luca,” Donata snapped. “She’s a maid. Take the card and throw her out.”

Luca slowly raised his weapon, aiming it not at the guards, but directly at his mother’s feet.

“Leave my house,” Luca ordered.

Donata’s eyes widened in genuine shock.

“You would point a gun at your own mother over a servant?”

“She is not a servant!” Luca yelled, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. “She saved my nephew! She stood up to the people who murdered my father! She has more honor in her little finger than you have in your entire body!”

Donata’s face hardened into a mask of pure fury.

“You will regret this, Luca. The Commission will hear about this.”

“Let them hear,” Luca said. “Tell them I have the drives. Tell them if they ever step foot in Chicago again, I will bankrupt every single one of them.”

Donata stared at him for a long, tense moment.

Then, she turned sharply.

“Let’s go,” she ordered her men.

They left the study. The front doors of the mansion slammed shut a minute later.

Luca lowered his gun. He leaned heavily against the desk, letting out a long, ragged breath.

I walked over to him.

I held out the tiny micro-SD card.

“Take it,” I said softly.

Luca looked at the card. Then he looked at me.

He reached out and gently closed my fingers over it.

“Keep it,” he said.

I blinked in surprise. “But... it’s your empire.”