THE MAN AT THE END OF THE TABLE

Six months later.

The transition from housemaid to a permanent member of the Moretti household hadn't been seamless. The staff still sometimes deferred to me with an awkward formality, and I often found myself instinctively reaching for a dust cloth when I saw a smudge on the grand piano.

But as I sat on a wrought-iron bench in the estate’s sprawling rose garden, watching Leo chase a golden retriever puppy across the lawn, I felt a profound sense of belonging.

"He's getting faster," Luca said, sitting down beside me and handing me a steaming mug of coffee.

"Or you're getting slower," I teased, taking the mug.

Luca laughed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close against his side. The early autumn air was crisp, turning the leaves on the ancient oak trees a brilliant gold.

We had been dating quietly for six months. There were no grand galas, no society announcements. Just quiet dinners, long walks, and the slow, beautiful process of building a life together.

"I received a phone call this morning," Luca said, his tone shifting slightly. The relaxed posture remained, but his eyes grew serious.

I looked at him. "From New York?"

"No. Marcus died in prison last week. A fight in the yard. The cartel tied up their loose end." Luca said it without emotion. The mourning for his uncle had ended the night he read Dominic's letter.

"Then who called?"

"David Reynolds," Luca replied.

I frowned. David hadn't spoken to Luca since the night of the engagement dinner. The revelation that Vanessa had used him, and that the child he thought was his actually belonged to Dominic, had broken him.

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to apologize," Luca said, staring out at Leo. "He realized he let his grief blind him to who Vanessa really was. He asked if he could contribute to a college fund for Leo. Anonymously."

"Are you going to let him?"

"I told him Leo’s college is already paid for," Luca said softly. "But I told him he's welcome to come to Sunday dinner. He loved my brother, too. He deserves a chance to heal."

I smiled, resting my head against his shoulder. "You're a good man, Luca."

"I'm learning to be," he murmured, kissing the top of my head.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

It wasn't my old phone—Luca had replaced it with a top-of-the-line secure device the day after the shootout.

I pulled it out and looked at the screen.

It was a text from my mother.

Natalie, honey. There's a woman sitting in the lobby of my building. She's been here for two hours. She says she knows you.

My stomach tightened. My mother managed the apartment building Luca had bought for her on the South Side. It was a secure building with a doorman, but the message still sent a chill down my spine.

Did she give a name? I texted back.

A moment later, the reply came.

She said her name is Vanessa. She looks terrible, Natalie. She’s asking for money.

I sat up straight, the coffee splashing slightly over the rim of my mug.

"What's wrong?" Luca asked instantly, sensing the shift in my posture.

I handed him the phone.

Luca read the message. His jaw clenched, a familiar, dangerous shadow falling over his eyes.

"She came back," he growled.

"She has nothing, Luca," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "She's desperate. Desperate people do stupid things."

"She knows your mother is your weak point," Luca said, standing up abruptly. "She can't get to me. She can't get to Leo. So she went to the one place she knew would force a reaction."

He pulled out his phone and dialed Thomas.

"Get the car ready," Luca ordered. "We're going to the South Side."

"I'm coming with you," I said, standing up.

Luca hesitated. "Natalie, it might not be safe."

"She's my mother," I said firmly. "I'm not sitting here while Vanessa is in her lobby."

Luca nodded once. "Let's go."

We told Margaret we had an errand to run in the city. Within ten minutes, Thomas was driving us toward the South Side in the armored SUV.

When we pulled up to my mother's brick apartment building, the doorman, a retired cop named Sal, opened the glass door for us.

"She's still over there, Mr. Moretti," Sal said quietly, pointing toward a small sitting area in the corner of the lobby.

I turned.

I barely recognized her.

Vanessa was sitting on a cheap floral sofa. The radiant, untouchable socialite was gone. Her hair was unwashed, pulled into a messy knot. She was wearing a faded trench coat over cheap clothes. She looked hollow, aged ten years in six months.

When she saw us walk in, she didn't run. She didn't scream.

She just stood up slowly, her hands trembling.

"Natalie," Vanessa whispered, her voice raspy.

I stopped a few feet away from her. Luca stood right beside me, his presence an immovable wall of protection.

"What are you doing here, Vanessa?" I asked coldly.

"I need help," she pleaded, tears immediately filling her eyes. "I have no money. Nobody will hire me. The people I used to know won't even take my calls."

"And you thought coming to my mother was a good idea?" I asked.

"I knew you'd come if I came here," Vanessa sobbed. "Please, Natalie. Tell him to give me something. Just enough to leave the state. Just enough to start over."

She looked at Luca, dropping to her knees on the lobby floor.

"Luca, please. I'm begging you. I'm starving."

Luca looked down at the woman he had almost married. The woman who had murdered his brother.

He didn't show an ounce of pity.

"You killed Dominic," Luca said, his voice flat. "You abandoned his son. You manipulated David, and you blackmailed Marcus."

He reached into his wallet and pulled out a crisp hundred-dollar bill.

He dropped it on the floor in front of her knees.

"That's for a bus ticket out of Chicago," Luca said. "If I ever see your face in this city again, I won't call the police. I'll handle it myself."

Vanessa stared at the money. Then she slowly reached out and took it, her shoulders shaking with pathetic, broken sobs.

"Let's go, Natalie," Luca said, turning away from her.

I turned to follow him.

But as I did, my eyes caught something resting on the floral sofa where Vanessa had been sitting.