THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME SLIP A SHIVERING KITTEN INTO HIS TEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER'S JACKET DURING HIS ENGAGEMENT DINNER—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “SHE STOLE IT FROM THE GARDEN,” BEFORE HE EVEN ASKED WHY THE LITTLE GIRL WAS CRYING, HER HANDS WERE COVERED IN SCRATCHES, AND SHE KEPT WHISPERING, “PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TAKE ITS MOTHER TOO.”**

The cold Chicago wind hit my face the moment I stepped out of the mansion.

I didn't have a coat. I didn't have my final paycheck. I just had the crushing weight of knowing I had abandoned a terrified ten-year-old girl.

I walked down the long, winding driveway, the gravel crunching beneath my thin shoes.

The name on that document burned in my mind.

Pine View Animal Services.

Vanessa had claimed she didn't remember the name of the rescue. She claimed the staff handled it.

But the paperwork was hidden in her private desk.

I pulled out my cell phone and typed the name into the search bar.

My heart sank.

Pine View Animal Services wasn't a rescue.

It was a commercial medical testing facility on the outskirts of the city. A place known for taking in strays and using them for unregulated chemical trials.

Vanessa hadn't just sent the mother cat and kittens away.

She had sold them to be tortured.

And if she was willing to do that to helpless animals just to clear a greenhouse, what was she planning to do to Emma?

I stopped at the massive wrought-iron gates of the estate.

The security guard, a massive man named Sal, stepped out of his booth.

"Sorry, Rachel," he grunted, unlocking the pedestrian gate. "Boss's orders. You're permanently barred from the property."

"Sal," I pleaded, grabbing the cold metal bars. "You have to tell Mr. Moretti. Vanessa sent those kittens to a testing lab. The mother cat too. They're going to die."

Sal sighed, looking away. "Not my problem, kid. I just watch the gate."

"But Emma—"

"Emma is a Moretti. She'll be fine. Now get out."

He shoved the gate closed behind me. The heavy magnetic lock clicked into place.

I stood on the dark, empty street, shivering violently.

I needed to go to my mother. I needed to pack our things and hide before Vanessa's men found us.

But as I turned to walk toward the bus stop, a sleek black town car pulled out of the shadows and blocked my path.

The back window slowly rolled down.

Sitting in the backseat was a man I had only seen in old photographs on Luca's desk.

Marco Moretti.

Luca's exiled older brother.

He looked older, tired, with gray creeping into his dark hair and a thick scar across his jaw.

"Get in, Rachel," Marco said, his voice a low rumble.

I took a step back. "How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things," Marco replied, opening the door. "I know Vanessa set you up. I know she threatened your mother. And I know you're the only person in that house who actually cares about my niece."

I hesitated, but the freezing wind and my desperation pushed me forward. I climbed into the warm leather interior.

The car immediately sped off.

"Why are you in Chicago?" I asked, trembling as the heat blasted over me. "Everyone thinks you're in Europe."

"Vanessa wanted everyone to think that," Marco said grimly. "She blackmailed me. She found out about a mistake I made ten years ago, a mistake that could have destroyed Luca. She used it to force me out of the family."

"Then why come back now?"

Marco looked out the window at the passing city lights.

"Because she's making her final move tonight. And it's not about the wedding."

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a heavy gold pocket watch.

I recognized it immediately. It was the watch Luca's father had worn. The watch that was supposed to be given to Luca on his wedding day.

Marco clicked it open.

Inside the lid, a small, modern microchip was taped to the gold.

"This is an audio transmitter," Marco explained quietly. "I planted it in the study before I left. I've been listening to everything happening in that house for six months."

My eyes widened. "You heard what happened tonight?"

"I heard Vanessa frame you. I heard Emma cry. But more importantly, I heard what Vanessa told her private security team an hour ago."

Marco turned to me, his eyes dead serious.

"Vanessa isn't marrying Luca tomorrow. She's going to have him killed tonight."

My stomach dropped. "What? Why?"

"Because of the trust," Marco explained. "If Luca dies before the wedding, the Moretti empire passes to Emma. But Emma is a minor. Vanessa has spent the last six months legally maneuvering herself to be named Emma's sole guardian in the event of Luca's death."

I felt sick. "She wants the money."

"She wants the power," Marco corrected. "She'll control the entire syndicate through Emma. And once Emma turns eighteen... Vanessa will make sure she has a tragic accident."

"We have to call the police!" I panicked.

"The police can't touch Vanessa inside that fortress," Marco said bitterly. "And if we tip them off, Vanessa's men will execute Luca immediately."

"Then what do we do?"

Marco closed the gold watch.

"We break in. But I can't get past the biometric locks on the servant entrances. My access was wiped."

He looked at me.

"But yours hasn't been wiped yet. It takes IT twenty-four hours to process a termination."

I stared at him. "You want me to go back in there?"

"I need you to open the south basement door," Marco said. "If you do, I can get my men inside to save my brother. And I will personally ensure your mother is protected for the rest of her life."

I thought about the gun Vanessa's men carried. I thought about the testing facility where those kittens were suffering.

But mostly, I thought about Emma, sitting in that massive house, entirely unaware that the woman downstairs was planning to murder her father.

I took a deep breath.

"Take me to the south gate," I said.

Marco nodded to the driver.

Twenty minutes later, we were parked in the alley behind the estate's massive stone walls.

The rain had started to fall, cold and heavy.

Marco handed me a small earpiece. "Keep this on. Once you open the door, my men will breach. You stay out of sight."

I nodded, slipping through the shadows toward the hidden basement door I used to take out the trash.

I pressed my thumb to the scanner.

A green light flashed. The heavy metal door clicked open.

I breathed a sigh of relief.