**“STOP MAKING THOSE HAND SIGNS. YOU’RE EMBARRASSING HIS FAMILY!” THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE GRABBED MY WRIST IN FRONT OF THIRTY DINNER GUESTS—BUT WHEN HIS DEAF SISTER STARTED CRYING, I RISKED MY JOB TO TELL HIM WHAT SHE WAS REALLY SAYING.**

Luca stared at the canceled check. He didn’t scream. He didn’t throw anything. The absolute stillness of his body was more terrifying than any outburst could have been.

He slowly raised his eyes and locked them onto Vanessa.

Vanessa was already backing toward the hallway, her hands raised as if to ward off a physical blow.

“Luca, let me explain,” she choked out, tears of genuine panic streaming down her face. “It’s not what it looks like. That money was for… for a private consultation! I was trying to find a specialist to help her!”

“A week before she even got sick?” Luca asked. His voice was a flat, dead calm.

Vanessa swallowed hard, her back hitting the doorframe. “The date is wrong! The bank made a mistake!”

Audrey stepped forward, her eyes blazing. She snatched the toxicology report from her brother’s hand and read the chemical breakdown. I watched her read, saw the exact moment the realization hit her.

Audrey dropped the papers. She looked at Vanessa and signed frantically, her hands cutting through the air with furious, aggressive strikes.

“What is she saying, Emily?” Luca demanded, not taking his eyes off Vanessa.

I swallowed the lump of horror in my throat. “She says… five years ago, right before she got sick, Vanessa started coming over every afternoon. Vanessa brought her special herbal tea. She insisted Audrey drink it for her anxiety.”

Luca closed his eyes. A single, shuddering breath escaped his chest.

When he opened his eyes, the mafia boss of Chicago was staring at the woman he was supposed to marry in three weeks.

“You poisoned my sister,” Luca stated. It wasn’t a question.

“I didn’t want to hurt her permanently!” Vanessa screamed, sliding down the doorframe until she was on her knees. “I swear, Luca! I just needed her to be weak! I needed her to be dependent!”

“Why?” The word ripped from Luca’s throat like a physical weapon.

“Because you wouldn’t look at me!” Vanessa sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “Five years ago, I was nobody. I was just the daughter of a degenerate gambler. You were the king of this city. I needed a way into your inner circle. I knew if Audrey was sick, you would be desperate. You would need someone gentle, someone devoted, to take care of her.”

I felt physically sick. I looked at Audrey. She was staring at Vanessa with a look of absolute, shattering betrayal.

“You took her hearing,” Luca whispered, stepping toward her. “You destroyed her life, so you could play the devoted caretaker and secure a marriage proposal.”

“I saved your family from the Rossi syndicate!” Vanessa yelled, looking up with a twisted, desperate defiance. “My father owed them money. If they collected, they would have used me to get to you. I did this to secure my place! I am the only reason this family looks perfect to the outside world!”

“You are a monster,” Luca said softly.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

“Marco,” Luca said into the phone. “Bring two men to the third floor. We have trash to remove.”

Vanessa scrambled to her feet. The tears instantly vanished, replaced by a cold, cornered malice.

“You can’t throw me out, Luca,” Vanessa sneered, wiping her face. “You really think I’m that stupid? You think I’d poison your sister and not have an insurance policy?”

Luca lowered his phone. “You have nothing.”

“I have the mortgage to this estate,” Vanessa smiled, a dark, venomous curve of her lips.

Luca froze. “The estate is fully owned by the Moretti trust. It has been for eighty years.”

“Not since last month,” Vanessa countered, stepping back into the hallway. “You sign dozens of blank authorization forms for your accountants every week, Luca. You trust your people too much. I slipped a property transfer into your stack. You signed the estate over to a shell company. My shell company. If you kick me out, I evict you and your deaf sister tomorrow morning.”

My jaw dropped. The sheer, calculated evil of her plan was staggering.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Marco, Luca’s right-hand man, appeared at the end of the hallway, flanked by two massive men in dark suits.

“Boss?” Marco asked, assessing the tense scene.

“It doesn’t matter who owns the house if you’re dead, Vanessa,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper.

Vanessa didn’t flinch. She reached into the pocket of her expensive dress.

“If I die, the Rossi family gets the estate,” Vanessa said. “I already drafted the will. You kill me, and your worst enemies take your family home.”

Luca’s jaw clenched so tightly I thought his teeth would shatter. He was trapped.

Vanessa smiled triumphantly. Then, she looked at me.

“And you,” Vanessa spat, her eyes locking onto mine. “You thought you were a hero today, didn’t you, Emily? The little maid who speaks with her hands.”

She pulled something out of her pocket and threw it hard at my chest.

I gasped, catching the object before it hit the floor.

It was heavy. Cold metal.

I opened my hands and looked down. My breath caught in my throat.

It was a tarnished silver pocket watch. The glass face was cracked, and the back was engraved with a very specific, familiar inscription: To David. For always listening.

“Ask your maid where I got that,” Vanessa sneered at Luca.

Luca turned to me, his eyes narrowing. “Emily? What is that?”

My hands shook violently. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe.