THE INKs ON THE PAPER WAS STILL WET

“Please,” the little girl whispered, her teeth chattering. “My daddy said to come here.”

I dropped the box of uniforms I was holding.

I knelt down immediately, pulling her out of the freezing rain and into the warmth of the kitchen hallway.

“Sweetheart, you’re freezing,” I said, grabbing a dry towel from the rack and wrapping it around her small shoulders.

She had dark, curly hair and striking blue eyes. The resemblance to Vanessa was undeniable, but her eyes held a terror Vanessa had never shown.

“What’s your name?” I asked gently, rubbing her arms to warm her up.

“Lily,” she sniffled.

“Who is your daddy, Lily?”

She reached into the pocket of her soaked pink coat and pulled out a crumpled, waterlogged piece of paper.

She handed it to me.

It was a photograph.

David Mercer holding a baby.

My heart stopped.

Vanessa and David didn’t just have a sham marriage seven years ago. They had a child. A child Vanessa had completely hidden from Luca, the public, and her own family.

“Emma? Who’s at the door?”

Luca walked into the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.

He stopped dead when he saw the little girl.

He looked at her face. Then he looked at me.

I handed him the wet photograph.

Luca stared at it. The realization hit him like a physical blow.

“Vanessa’s daughter,” Luca murmured.

Lily shrank back, clutching her teddy bear tighter. “Are you angry?” she asked in a tiny voice.

“No,” Luca said quickly, his voice softening instantly. He knelt down beside me, making himself level with her. “No, sweetheart, I’m not angry. You’re safe here.”

“Where is your dad, Lily?” I asked.

“He told me to hide,” she cried, tears spilling down her cold cheeks. “Bad men were chasing us. He put me in a taxi and gave the driver money to bring me here. He said Mr. Moretti protects people.”

Luca and I exchanged a horrified look.

David Mercer was on the run. The Bellini syndicate was crumbling, but Dominic’s loyalists were still out there, hunting down anyone who had betrayed them.

Vanessa must have left the child with David when she got arrested.

And now, David had sacrificed himself to get her to the only safe place left in Chicago.

“Marco!” Luca shouted toward the hallway.

His head of security rushed into the kitchen.

“Boss?”

“Lock down the estate,” Luca ordered. “Double the perimeter guards. Nobody gets through the gates.”

“Got it.” Marco ran out.

I picked Lily up. She was so light, and she clung to my neck instantly.

“Let’s get you into some dry clothes and get you some hot chocolate, okay?” I whispered.

She nodded against my shoulder.

For the next two hours, the mansion went into a fortress lockdown.

I bathed Lily, dressed her in one of my oversized t-shirts, and sat with her in the library by the fire.

My father sat nearby in his wheelchair, watching the little girl with soft, grandfatherly eyes.

Lily fell asleep on the sofa, exhausted by the trauma.

Luca walked into the library, his face dark.

“I just got off the phone with my uncle,” Luca said quietly, making sure not to wake her.

“Did they find David?” I asked.

Luca shook his head slowly.

“They found his car by the docks. It was shot up. Blood inside. No body.”

I covered my mouth. “Oh my god. They killed him.”

“Dominic’s second-in-command, a guy named Rossi, is still on the street,” Luca said. “He knows David sent the girl here. He knows she’s the only leverage they have left to force me to drop the federal charges.”

“They want to use a seven-year-old girl as a bargaining chip?” I felt sick.

“They’re desperate, Emma. The feds are seizing their entire empire tomorrow morning. Tonight is their last chance.”

Suddenly, the lights in the mansion flickered.

Then, they went completely black.

The backup generators didn’t kick on.

The fire in the hearth was the only source of light.

My father let out a panicked groan.

Luca pulled his gun from his holster. The loud click of the safety coming off echoed in the dark room.

“Stay down,” Luca ordered, moving toward the heavy oak doors of the library.

Outside the window, I heard the faint, terrifying sound of the iron perimeter gates screeching open.