**THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME SERVE HIS ENTIRE ENGAGEMENT DINNER WITH MY LEFT HAND—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “SHE BURNED IT IN THE KITCHEN,” BEFORE ANYONE HAD ASKED WHAT HAPPENED.** For three seconds, nobody at the table seemed to understand why Luca Moretti had stopped eating. I did.

Luca froze at the end of the hallway, the shadows concealing him.

Vanessa stood before the mahogany door of the guest suite, her red silk gown pooling around her ankles like blood. She knocked again, the sound unnaturally loud in the quiet corridor.

“Nora, darling,” Vanessa cooed. “I know you’re in there. Luca’s head of security told me he moved you here. I just want to apologize for the kitchen. And I brought a treat for little Maya.”

Luca’s blood ran cold. She knows Maya’s name.

Nora had kept her daughter a total secret from the household for nine months. If Vanessa knew Maya’s name, she had been watching Nora long before the incident in the kitchen.

Inside the room, there was dead silence. Nora was listening to his instructions. She wasn’t opening the door.

Vanessa’s sweet smile slowly evaporated into a look of absolute malice. She leaned close to the thick wood.

“You’re a very stupid girl, Nora,” Vanessa whispered, her voice no longer projecting, meant only for the woman on the other side. “Did you really think a locked door would save you? Enjoy your train ride tomorrow.”

Vanessa turned sharply on her heel and began walking back toward the main house.

Luca stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path.

Vanessa stopped. Her expression instantly smoothed out, the mask of the loving fiancée snapping back into place.

“Luca!” She smiled, though her eyes were tight. “There you are. I was just checking on the poor maid. I felt so terrible about her accident.”

“Did you?” Luca asked. His voice was a low, dangerous rumble. He didn’t move out of her way.

“Of course.” Vanessa lifted the tray of milk and cookies. “I even brought her daughter a snack. It’s a shame she wouldn’t open the door.”

“She’s resting,” Luca said, taking a slow step toward her. “And I’d prefer if you left her alone, Vanessa.”

Vanessa’s smile faltered. She tilted her head, studying him. “You’re acting very protective of the help, darling. People might talk.”

“Let them talk.” Luca reached out and took the silver tray from her hands. “I’ll make sure she gets this. Go back to the party. The guests are leaving.”

For a moment, they simply stared at each other. The air between them was electric with unspoken threats. Vanessa knew he was onto her, and Luca knew she knew. The game of pretend was over.

“Don’t stay up too late, Luca,” Vanessa said softly. “Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.”

She brushed past him, the scent of her expensive perfume lingering in the air like poison.

Luca waited until she disappeared around the corner before he turned back to the door. He knocked twice, quickly, then once more. The code he hadn’t explicitly established, but hoped Nora would understand.

A moment later, the lock clicked.

Nora pulled the door open. She was shaking so hard she could barely stand.

Luca stepped inside and locked the door behind him. He set the tray down on a side table.

“She was here,” Nora gasped, her good hand clutching the front of her sweater. “She knew Maya’s name. Luca, she knows everything.”

“I know.” Luca pulled the gold pocket watch out of his jacket, wrapped in his handkerchief. He walked over to the heavy oak armoire in the corner of the room, opened it, and tucked the watch beneath a stack of extra blankets on the top shelf.

“What did she mean by ‘enjoy the train ride’?” Nora asked, pacing the room. “She knows we aren’t leaving. She left the watch to frame us. Why is she pretending we’re taking the train?”

Luca turned around. He looked at Nora, truly looking at her. Beneath the fear and the exhaustion, he saw a razor-sharp intelligence. She was piecing it together just as fast as he was.

“Because the frame job requires you to disappear,” Luca explained quietly. “Tomorrow morning, my father’s men will find the watch in your room. They will announce that you stole it and fled to Montreal. And because you and Maya will be dead, you won’t be able to defend yourselves.”

Nora stopped pacing. She looked at the bed, where Maya was still asleep.

“I won’t let them touch her,” Nora said. Her voice wasn’t trembling anymore. It was cold. Absolute. “I will burn this entire house down before I let them touch my daughter.”

Luca felt a surge of profound respect for the woman standing in front of him. She wasn’t a mafia boss, she didn’t have guns or guards, but she was entirely lethal in her own right.

“You won’t have to burn it down,” Luca said softly. He stepped closer to her. He reached out, gently taking her bandaged right hand, careful not to press on the burn. “I’m going to protect you. Both of you. You have my word, Nora.”

Nora looked up into his eyes. For a fleeting second, the chaos of the night faded. The space between them shrank. Luca could feel the warmth radiating from her skin. He wanted to pull her against his chest and promise her that nothing would ever hurt her again.

But the moment shattered.

Nora’s eyes darted past Luca’s shoulder, looking at the bed.

She ripped her hand away from his.

“Where is it?” Nora gasped.

Luca spun around. “Where is what?”

“Maya’s rabbit.” Nora ran to the bed, frantically tearing the heavy duvet back. “She was holding it. She never sleeps without it.”

Luca moved to the bed. The little stuffed rabbit with the floppy ears was gone.

Instead, resting neatly on the empty pillow next to Maya’s head, was a small, square piece of white cardstock.

Luca grabbed it.

It was an engagement party RSVP card.

Written on the back, in elegant, looping cursive, were five words.

Let’s play a game, Luca.

Luca crushed the card in his fist.

Vanessa hadn’t just come to the door to taunt Nora. She had somehow bypassed the lock, slipped into the room while Nora was in the bathroom earlier, left the watch, and taken the toy. She had been inside the room.

She could have killed Maya then. But she didn’t.

She was playing with them.

“She was in here,” Nora whispered, horror washing over her face as she realized the same thing. “She was right next to my baby.”

“She won’t get close again,” Luca snarled. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Marco,” Luca barked as soon as his head of security answered. “Get to the east wing guest suite. Bring two men you trust with your life. No one else.”

He hung up.

He looked at Nora. “Pack the bag. We’re leaving.”