THE MAFIA BOSS DISCOVERS HIS FIANCÉE'S SICK SECRET

Silence suffocated the study.

The piece of paper sitting on the mahogany desk felt like a bomb waiting to detonate.

Luca stared at the Child Protective Services seal stamped at the top of the page. The veins in his neck were thick with rage, but his voice was terrifyingly calm when he finally spoke.

“You filed a false abuse report against me to force a wedding?”

Vanessa casually brushed a piece of lint off her white blazer. “I didn’t file anything false, darling. Sophie does have a bruised wrist. Your mother is incompetent. And you are a dangerous man. The social workers will see exactly what I want them to see.”

She smiled, a cold, empty expression.

“They arrive at nine in the morning. We can either greet them as a united, happily married couple ready to provide a stable home for that little girl... or you can watch them put your daughter in the back of a state vehicle.”

I felt physically sick.

She was weaponizing the very injury her brother had caused.

Luca didn’t blink. “You think a judge is going to let you take my daughter?”

“I think a judge will look at your background, Luca, and see exactly what the media sees. A mobster who can’t keep his own family safe.” Vanessa stepped closer, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. “My family needs your money. You need my clean public image. The wedding is happening tomorrow at noon. Tell your staff to prepare the gardens.”

She turned on her heel and walked out of the study, the sharp click of her heels echoing down the corridor.

As soon as she was gone, Luca slammed his fist into the mahogany desk with such force the wood splintered.

I flinched backward.

“Marco,” Luca barked, pointing at his security chief. “Get the family lawyers on the phone. Wake them up. I want an injunction against this CPS order before sunrise.”

“Yes, boss,” Marco said, immediately pulling out his radio and hurrying down the hall.

Luca turned to me. His eyes were wild, desperate.

“Hannah. Go back to the safe room. Do not let Sophie out of your sight. If anyone tries to enter that room who isn’t me, you scream until my guards break their necks.”

“I will,” I promised, my voice shaking. “But Mr. Moretti… what about the wedding?”

Luca looked at the blood-stained cashmere coat resting on his father’s chair.

“Let her plan her wedding,” he whispered darkly. “I’m going to plan a funeral.”

I hurried back to the master suite.

When I unlocked the heavy steel door, Teresa was pacing at the foot of the bed, gripping her rosary tightly. Sophie was still asleep, but she was tossing fitfully, whimpering softly in her dreams.

“What happened?” Teresa asked, seeing the pale expression on my face.

“Vanessa blackmailed him,” I whispered, quickly explaining the CPS report.

Teresa slumped onto the edge of the mattress, burying her face in her hands. “She planned this. She planned all of it. If Dominic hadn’t hurt Sophie, she would have found another way to manufacture a crisis.”

I walked over to the bed to adjust Sophie’s blanket.

As I pulled the heavy wool up to her shoulders, the little girl turned over. Her left arm slipped out from under the covers.

I stopped.

I stared at her small wrist.

Something was wrong.

When Sophie had gone to sleep, her wrist had been bare, swollen, and bruised dark purple from Dominic’s vicious grip.

Now, fastened tightly around her tiny wrist, was a thick, heavy silver bracelet.

“Mrs. Moretti,” I said sharply. “Where did this come from?”

Teresa looked up, confused. She walked over to the bed and gasped. “I don’t know. She wasn’t wearing that when she fell asleep.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. I gently touched the metal. It was cold, clunky, and far too heavy for a child. It looked like an adult’s bangle, clamped tight to hide the bruising completely.

But I hadn’t put it there. And Teresa hadn’t put it there.

Which meant someone else had been in this room.

“You locked the door behind me, right?” I asked, panic rising in my throat.

“Of course I did!” Teresa said defensively. “I bolted the deadbolt myself.”

I looked at the heavy steel door. The deadbolt was still engaged.

There was no other way into the safe room. No windows. Only an air vent near the ceiling.

Then, my eyes drifted to the en-suite bathroom.

I slowly walked toward the open bathroom door.

“Hannah, what is it?” Teresa whispered nervously.

I didn’t answer. I stepped into the tiled bathroom.

There was a secondary door in the corner, a small, discreet panel disguised as part of the wainscoting. It was a laundry chute, designed for the maids to drop linens directly into the basement utility room.

The panel was slightly ajar.

I crouched down and pulled it open.

The chute was narrow, but just wide enough for a very small person to crawl up from the floor below.

Lying inside the aluminum shaft, just out of reach, was a torn piece of red silk.

Vanessa’s dress.

She hadn’t just threatened Luca in the study. She had sent someone up the chute while I was gone. Or worse... she had done it herself before confronting him.

But why just put a bracelet on her? Why not take the child?

I rushed back into the bedroom.

“We need to get this off her,” I said, gently grabbing Sophie’s wrist.

“Don’t wake her, she needs the rest,” Teresa pleaded.

“Mrs. Moretti, Vanessa wouldn’t sneak into a locked safe room just to give her a piece of jewelry.”

I tried to slide the silver bangle over Sophie’s hand, but it was clasped shut with a tiny, specialized lock. It wouldn't budge.

I twisted the heavy silver band around to inspect the clasp.

When I turned it over, my breath hitched.