THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME CRAWL UNDER HIS ENGAGEMENT TABLE TO FIND HIS TEN-YEAR-OLD SON'S WHITE CANE—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “HE THREW IT AWAY BECAUSE HE WANTED ATTENTION,” BEFORE HE EVEN ASKED WHY THE BLIND LITTLE BOY WAS ON HIS KNEES, CRYING AND BEGGING ME NOT TO MAKE HIM WALK ALONE AGAIN

The wind whipped rain through the blown-out door of the boathouse.

Luca stood like a statue, his gun aimed perfectly at Marcus's heart.

"Daddy, please."

Noah let go of my hand and tapped his cane forward, stepping between his father and the man who had ruined his life.

"Noah, step back," Luca commanded, his voice tight with restrained violence.

"Mommy wouldn't want you to shoot him," Noah said, his sightless eyes looking up toward his father's face. "If you shoot him, the police will take you away. And then I really will be all alone."

Luca’s jaw clenched.

The muscle in his cheek feathered.

He looked at the man who had betrayed him, poisoned his child, and tried to steal his wife's legacy.

Marcus was shivering, pathetic, pressing himself against the damp stone wall.

"Listen to the boy, Luca," Marcus gasped. "You kill me, you trigger a war with the Commission. I control the accounts."

Luca slowly lowered his gun.

Marcus let out a ragged breath of relief.

But he didn't know Luca Moretti.

"You're right, Marcus," Luca said softly. "Killing you is too easy."

Luca looked over his shoulder at his head of security.

"Call Chief of Police Miller. Tell him I have a man here who just confessed to the attempted murder of a minor, corporate embezzlement, and the forgery of legal documents."

Marcus laughed nervously. "Miller is on my payroll, Luca. He won't arrest me."

"He was on your payroll," Luca corrected. "Until ten minutes ago, when my men delivered a briefcase containing two million dollars and the exact coordinates of Miller's offshore accounts to his front door."

Marcus’s face drained of color.

"You're ruined, Marcus," Luca said, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "I am taking the firm. I am taking every dollar you've hidden. And you are going to spend the rest of your miserable life in a maximum-security cell, looking over your shoulder for the men I pay to keep you awake."

Luca turned his back on him.

"Get him out of my sight."

Luca's guards dragged a screaming, pleading Marcus out into the storm.

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the rain.

Luca turned to me.

He looked at my soaked maid's uniform, my bruised arms, and the way I was instinctively shielding his son.

He took a step toward me.

Before I knew what was happening, he wrapped his arms around me.

"Thank you," he whispered into my hair. "You saved my world tonight, Hannah."

My heart did a strange, painful flutter.

"I just wanted to keep him safe," I murmured.

Luca pulled back, his dark eyes searching mine.

For a moment, the mafia boss was gone. There was only a man. A vulnerable, deeply grateful man.

Then, he looked down at Noah.

"Buddy."

Noah reached out.

Luca picked him up, lifting the ten-year-old boy into his arms as if he weighed nothing.

"Are the bad people gone, Daddy?"

"They're gone forever," Luca promised. "No one is ever going to take you away from me. No one is ever going to take your cane. This is your home."

We walked back to the mansion.

The flashing red and blue lights of police cruisers illuminated the driveway.

Vanessa was being led out in handcuffs, her red silk gown ruined, her makeup smeared.

She saw Luca walking toward the house, carrying Noah, with me by his side.

"Luca!" she shrieked, struggling against the officers. "Luca, I love you! I did it for us!"

Luca didn't even turn his head.

He walked past her like she was a ghost.

Inside, the house was a mess, but Mrs. Carter and the remaining staff were already cleaning the broken glass.

"Mrs. Carter," Luca said as we entered the foyer.

"Yes, Mr. Moretti. Thank God you're all safe."

"Prepare the master guest suite for Hannah," Luca said.

I blinked in surprise.

"Oh, no, sir," I stammered. "My room in the servant's quarters is fine. I just need to change."

Luca stopped.

He turned to me, his expression deadly serious.

"You are never sleeping in the servant's quarters again, Hannah. You are not a maid in this house anymore."

My stomach dropped.

"Are... are you firing me?" I asked, tears instantly springing to my eyes.

If I lost my wages, my mother would lose her home. The hospital would stop her treatments.

Luca's expression softened instantly.

He shifted Noah to his other hip and reached out, his hand gently touching my cheek.

"I'm not firing you, Hannah. I'm promoting you."

Noah smiled against his father's shoulder.

"You're going to be my family, Miss Hannah."

I couldn't speak. I just nodded, overwhelmed by exhaustion and emotion.

Mrs. Carter led me upstairs.

The guest suite was bigger than my parents' entire house.

A hot bath had been drawn. Thick, plush towels were waiting.

I stripped off my ruined uniform and sank into the hot water, letting the terror of the night finally wash away.

We had survived.

Noah was safe. The villains were caught.

But as I lay in the massive, luxurious bed an hour later, my cell phone vibrated on the nightstand.

It was 3:00 AM.

I picked it up.

It was the hospital.

"Hannah Brooks?" the nurse's voice sounded tight.

"Yes?"

"It's your mother. Her condition has rapidly deteriorated. The insurance company denied the experimental surgery. We need fifty thousand dollars by tomorrow morning to proceed, or... we have to move her to palliative care."

My phone slipped from my fingers.

Fifty thousand dollars.