Chapter 9 - THE LIGHT WE FOUND IN THE DARK
Luca took the red mitten from her hand, his fingers brushing against her warm skin.
He didn't put it in his pocket. He held it against his chest, leaning down to press his forehead against hers.
"You're never leaving me again," he whispered fiercely. "Do you understand me? Never."
Anna smiled, tears spilling over her eyelashes and soaking into the crisp hospital pillow. "I don't plan to. I'm too tired to run anymore."
"You don't have to," Luca promised. He shifted on the bed, pulling a folded piece of paper from inside his jacket.
Anna gasped softly when she saw it.
The marriage certificate.
"I found it in the coat," Luca said. He looked at her with a love so deep it made my chest ache. "Everyone thinks I'm Chicago’s most eligible bachelor. But I’ve been a married man for eight years."
Anna reached out, her fingers trembling as she touched the paper. "I kept it because... it was the only proof I had that someone loved me. That we were a real family, even just for a few days."
Luca put the paper down and reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a heavy gold signet ring. Not Marcus's. His own. The one that bore the Moretti crest.
He took Anna’s left hand.
"I never got to give you a wedding ring," Luca said softly. "But until I can buy you the diamond you deserve, I want you to wear this. So that every doctor, every nurse, and every person in this city knows exactly who you are."
He slid the heavy gold ring onto her thumb—the only finger it wouldn't fall off of. It looked massive and ridiculous on her delicate hand, but Anna looked at it like it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
"Mrs. Moretti," Luca smiled.
Lucy tugged on Luca’s sleeve.
"Does that mean you're really my daddy?" she asked, her brown eyes wide with hope.
Luca turned to her. He carefully lifted the little girl into his lap.
"Yes, sweetheart," Luca said, his voice thick. "I am your daddy. And we are going to go home. All of us."
He looked up at me.
"Elena."
I stepped forward. "Yes, sir?"
"You didn't just save my daughter tonight," Luca said, his eyes filled with immense gratitude. "You saved my wife. You saved my soul."
He paused. "I fired my estate manager this morning. He was loyal to Richard. I need someone I can trust to run my household. Someone who isn't afraid to break the rules to do the right thing."
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
"The job pays six figures," Luca continued, a small smile playing on his lips. "It comes with a guest cottage on the estate grounds. Your mother can move in with you. She’ll have the best doctors, and she will never have to scrub a floor again."
Tears streamed down my face. I nodded frantically. "Yes. Yes, Mr. Moretti. Thank you."
"No," Luca said firmly. "Thank you, Elena."
He turned back to his family.
For the first time in his life, the fearsome Mafia Boss didn't look dangerous. He looked whole.
The shadows that had haunted the Moretti family for fifteen years were finally gone, burned away by the light of a little girl who had hidden under a piano with a stuffed rabbit.
Everything was perfect. The villain was banished. The mother was saved. The child had her father. The maid was rewarded.
The ending was happy.
But as I turned to leave the room to let them have their privacy, Anna spoke.
"Elena, wait."
I stopped and looked back.
Anna was struggling to sit up slightly, her hand reaching for a small plastic hospital bag on the bedside table. It held the few personal belongings she had when she arrived.
"Before you go," Anna said, her voice dropping to a cautious whisper. "There’s something else. Something I didn't tell you."
Luca frowned, turning back to her. "Anna, what is it? We have no more secrets."
Anna pulled a small, tarnished brass key from the plastic bag.
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"Marcus didn't just want me dead because I heard him confess to the murder," Anna breathed, her eyes locking onto Luca's. "He wanted me dead because I stole something from his office before I ran away. Something he’s spent eight years looking for."
TITLE: THE BRASS KEY
