THE NOTE THAT BROKE THE ENGAGEMENT

The dining room of the Moretti mansion felt like a tomb.

Vanessa’s whisper barely reached my ears, but the venom in her voice made my blood run cold. Your mother was supposed to destroy that necklace.

I stared at the woman in the champagne gown. She wasn't just a cruel fiancée trying to humiliate a maid. She knew my mother. She knew the necklace.

Luca did not hear Vanessa’s whisper. His dark eyes were locked entirely on his uncle Frank. The silence stretched, heavy and dangerous, until the clinking of a dropped fork from a guest sounded like a gunshot.

“I asked you a question, Uncle,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm register. “Why is my father’s handwriting hidden inside a maid’s necklace?”

Frank Moretti stood rigid at the table. He swallowed hard, looking desperately around the room at the forty engagement guests who were now witnessing the collapse of the Moretti family.

“Luca, this is not the time or the place,” Frank pleaded, his voice trembling. “Give me the paper. We will go to the study.”

“No.” Luca took a step toward his uncle. “You just said my father died protecting this girl. For sixteen years, you told me my father was killed in a random robbery in the South Loop. You looked me in the eye at his funeral and swore you didn't know who pulled the trigger.”

Luca held up the yellowed, folded piece of paper.

“But according to this note,” Luca continued, his voice echoing off the marble walls, “my father knew exactly who was coming for him.”

Vanessa lunged forward, grabbing Luca’s arm. “Darling, please! She’s a grifter. She probably forged that note to extort you. Send her away and let’s finish our dinner.”

Luca didn't even look at Vanessa. He simply shrugged off her hand with such cold indifference that she stumbled backward.

“Read it, Frank,” Luca commanded, holding the note out. “Read my father’s last words to the room. Or I will.”

Frank’s face drained of all color. He refused to look at the paper.

Luca turned his gaze to the crowd, then back to the note.

“‘If you are reading this,’” Luca read aloud, his voice thick with a grief he had buried decades ago, “‘it means Frank has betrayed me to the Bellini family. They are coming for my life tonight. Margaret Carter is the only witness. She holds the key to the legitimate accounts. Protect her daughter, Emily. She is innocent.’”

A collective gasp swept through the dining room.

My heart stopped. My mother had been a witness to a mafia assassination? And the Bellini family—Vanessa’s family—had ordered it?

Luca slowly lowered the paper. He turned his head and finally looked at his fiancée.

Vanessa was trembling, backing away toward the grand staircase.

“Your father ordered the hit on mine,” Luca whispered, the realization locking into place. “And my uncle orchestrated it from the inside.”

“Luca, I didn't know!” Vanessa cried, tears spilling over her mascara. “I swear to you, I didn't know!”

“You just told Emily her mother was supposed to destroy the necklace,” Luca said, his memory sharp and unforgiving. “You knew exactly who she was. You’ve known since the day I hired her.”

Frank suddenly reached inside his tailored suit jacket.

“Luca, listen to reason,” Frank shouted, pulling a silver handgun from his holster and aiming it directly at my chest. “The girl is a loose end! She’s the only one who can unlock the offshore accounts her mother hid. She has to die!”

Before Frank could pull the trigger, Luca moved. He didn't reach for his own weapon. He threw his entire body in front of me.

The gunshot deafened the room.

The crystal chandelier above us shattered, raining glass onto the marble floor. Women screamed. Men dove under the tables.

I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting to feel the bullet.

But when I opened them, Luca was standing perfectly upright. His head of security, Marcus, had tackled Frank from behind, driving the older man into the floor and wrestling the gun from his grip.

Luca didn't check to see if he was shot. He turned around, his large hands gripping my shoulders, his dark eyes scanning my face with frantic intensity.

“Are you hurt?” he demanded.

“N-no,” I stammered, shaking violently.

Luca turned back to the room. He looked at Vanessa, who was sobbing against the banister, and at his uncle, who was pinned to the floor by Marcus.

“The engagement is over,” Luca announced to the terrified crowd. “The Bellini alliance is dead. Everyone get out of my house.”

He grabbed my hand, his grip warm and absolute.

“Marcus, lock Frank in the basement,” Luca ordered. “Emily is coming with me.”

“Where are we going?” I gasped as he pulled me toward the back of the house.

“To find out what else your mother hid,” Luca said grimly.

But as we reached the heavy oak doors of his private study, my cheap cell phone buzzed in my apron pocket.

I pulled it out. It was a text from my younger brother, Sam.