**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.

The revelation hung in the damp air of the wine cellar, suffocating and heavy.

Nora couldn’t breathe. David. Her sweet, quiet David wasn’t a mechanic. He was a Bellini. He had run away from the mafia to give her a normal life, and they had hunted him down.

And now, they were hunting her daughter.

“They know,” Nora whispered, her voice cracking. “Vanessa knew Maya’s name because she finally tracked David’s child down.”

“She hired you as a maid,” Luca realized, the puzzle pieces violently snapping together in his mind. “Nine months ago, my father insisted we hire new staff through Vanessa’s private agency. She brought you directly into my house so she could keep you close until she figured out how to eliminate you and the child without arousing suspicion.”

“And framing her for Salvatore’s murder solves everything,” Marco added grimly. “Vanessa kills two birds with one stone. She gets rid of the true heir, and blames her father’s death on the greedy maid.”

Luca’s eyes darkened to a terrifying, lethal pitch.

He had spent his entire life trying to legitimize his family’s empire, trying to clean up the blood his father had spilled. But tonight, there would be no diplomacy. There would be no mercy.

“Marco,” Luca said, his voice deadly calm. “Where are the police right now?”

“Still tearing apart the staff wing. Your father is upstairs playing the outraged host, keeping them occupied while his men search the grounds for Nora.”

“Good. Let them search.” Luca racked the slide of his pistol. “Go back to the guest suite. Barricade the door. Do not let Maya out of your sight. If anyone tries to enter, shoot to kill.”

“Yes, Boss.” Marco turned and sprinted back up the stairs.

Luca turned to Nora. “I need you to stay down here. It’s the safest place in the house right now.”

“No.” Nora stepped forward, grabbing his arm. Her fear was gone, replaced by a fierce, maternal rage. “I am not hiding in the dark while that woman is in the same house as my daughter. I’m going with you.”

Luca looked at her. He saw the fire in her eyes, the sheer, unyielding willpower of a mother defending her child. He didn’t argue.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

They moved up the stairs, bypassing the main floor where the police were shouting, and took the servant’s passage up to the second floor. The engagement party was officially over. The guests had fled when the police arrived. The mansion was eerily quiet up here.

Luca and Nora reached the top of the grand staircase overlooking the foyer.

Suddenly, the lights in the entire estate went dead.

Pitch blackness swallowed the house. The hum of the air conditioning stopped. The police radios downstairs crackled with confusion.

Someone had cut the main breaker.

“Stay close,” Luca whispered, gripping Nora’s hand tightly.

They moved slowly down the hallway toward Vanessa’s master suite. If they could get the gold pocket watch and the diamond necklace to the police commander downstairs, they could expose the frame job before Vanessa could finish it.

But as they passed the library, a figure stepped out from the shadows, blocking their path.

It was Vittorio Moretti.

He was holding a suppressed handgun, aimed directly at Luca’s chest.

“It’s over, Luca,” Vittorio said quietly in the dark. “Give me the girl.”

Luca didn’t raise his weapon. He stepped cleanly in front of Nora, shielding her entirely.

“You killed David Bellini,” Luca stated, his voice devoid of any familial warmth. “You conspired with Vanessa to slaughter a child so she could take the Bellini throne, and in exchange, she would merge her family’s assets with ours through this engagement.”

“It was for the family,” Vittorio growled. “Salvatore was weak. David was a coward who ran away. Vanessa is ruthless. She was the perfect ally.”

“And you were going to let her kill Nora and Maya tonight.”

“It was the cost of doing business!” Vittorio hissed. “Now step aside, Luca. The police are downstairs. I hand them the maid, they find the watch in her room, and we walk away clean.”

“No,” Luca said. He raised his gun, pointing it at his own father. “You’re not touching her.”

Vittorio’s finger tightened on the trigger.

Behind Vittorio, a shadow detached itself from the wall.

It was an assassin dressed in tactical black, holding a garrote wire, creeping up directly behind Luca’s father. One of Vanessa’s private guards.

“Papa, behind you!” Luca yelled.

Vittorio spun around just as the assassin lunged.

The older Moretti didn’t hesitate. He raised his gun and fired twice into the assassin’s chest. The man dropped dead to the carpet.

Vittorio stood panting, staring at the dead man. “Vanessa’s men,” he realized, horror dawning in his voice. “She sent him to kill me.”

“She’s cleaning house,” Luca said coldly. “She doesn’t need you anymore.”

Before Vittorio could respond, the smell of gasoline wafted up from the grand foyer below.

Luca rushed to the balcony overlooking the staircase. Nora followed.

Standing at the bottom of the curved marble stairs, illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the skylight, was Vanessa.

She had dragged a heavy gasoline canister from the garage. She was pouring it over the antique Persian rugs that lined the foyer, splashing it onto the wooden banisters.

“Vanessa!” Luca shouted.

She looked up, her red dress stained with dark streaks of fuel. She smiled, pulling a gold lighter from her pocket.

“If I can’t have the empire,” Vanessa called up, her voice echoing in the cavernous foyer, “neither can the rat.”