A DEBT HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT

My heart slammed against my ribs. I couldn’t breathe.

I ran forward and pulled Leo gently but firmly behind my legs.

“Mr. Moretti, I am so sorry,” I rushed out, my voice cracking. “He’s my nephew. My sister passed away. I had nowhere else to take him. I’ll pack our things immediately. We’ll be gone in ten minutes.”

Luca didn’t stand up. He just watched me, his expression unreadable.

“Is the ice cream good, Leo?” Luca asked softly.

Leo peered around my leg. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Take it to the kitchen. Ask Chef Louis for extra sprinkles.”

“I can’t let him—” I started.

“Emma,” Luca interrupted, his voice low but commanding. “Let him go to the kitchen.”

I swallowed hard and nodded at Leo. The boy scampered down the hall.

Luca finally stood. He was a tall man, imposing even when he wasn’t trying to be. He looked down at the child’s drawing in his hand—the picture of Leo and Vanessa.

“He’s a smart boy,” Luca said. “He told me the lady in the red dress gave him a butterscotch candy.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “She knows he’s here. She threatened to call CPS if I told you about the wine cellar.”

Luca’s jaw tightened visibly. A dangerous shadow crossed his face.

“She threatened the boy?”

“She threatened to have him taken from me.”

Luca stepped closer. “No one is taking that boy, Emma. And you’re not fired. But you are going to tell me exactly what else you found out about my fiancée today.”

I opened my eyes. The sheer authority in his voice left no room for lies.

“I was cleaning the guest room,” I whispered. “I found a silver rosary hidden behind a drawer. It had a picture of a man with a jagged scar on his chin. Holding a baby.”

Luca froze.

The color seemed to drain from his face, replaced by a cold, terrifying stillness.

“A jagged scar?” he asked quietly.

“Yes. Across his chin.”

Luca reached into his tailored vest pocket. He pulled out a stunning, antique gold pocket watch. It was engraved with the Moretti family crest.

“Vanessa gave me this watch last month,” Luca said, his voice dangerously hollow. “An engagement gift. She said she bought it from a private dealer in Milan.”

He clicked the watch open and handed it to me.

Inside the lid was a faint, scratched inscription that had been mostly polished away, but two letters were still visible: M. V.

“Marco Vane,” Luca said softly.

I looked up at him. “Who is Marco Vane?”

“A man who died in a warehouse fire seven years ago,” Luca said. “A man who tried to extort my father. A man with a jagged scar across his chin.”

My breath caught. “But... if he’s dead...”

“That’s what I’m going to find out,” Luca said. He took the watch back. “Keep the boy in your room tonight. Lock the door. Do not let Vanessa see him again.”

“Yes, sir.”

I hurried back to the kitchen, collected Leo, and locked us in my room. I barely slept, jumping at every creak in the floorboards.

The next morning, Thursday, the house was a whirlwind of wedding preparations. Florists carried towers of white roses through the halls. Caterers shouted in the kitchen.

I was carrying a stack of fresh linens down the second-floor hallway when I heard Vanessa’s voice coming from Luca’s office. The door was slightly ajar.

“Darling, I didn’t want to say anything,” Vanessa was saying, her voice thick with fake sympathy. “But you have to fire her.”

I stopped, pressing myself against the wall.

“Fire who?” Luca asked smoothly.

“Emma. The maid.”

“Why?”

“I noticed my diamond tennis bracelet was missing this morning. The one you bought me in Paris.” Vanessa sighed. “I didn’t want to accuse anyone. But I went to her room to ask if she’d seen it while cleaning, and... well, I found it.”

My stomach plummeted.

She had planted it. When we were in the kitchen? Or did she have a master key?

“You went into the staff quarters?” Luca asked, his tone perfectly neutral.

“I had to, Luca. The girl is clearly desperate. She’s stealing from us.”

There was a long silence.

“I’ll handle it,” Luca finally said.

I didn’t wait. I dropped the linens on a side table and sprinted for the back stairs. I had to get to my room. I had to find the bracelet and prove she planted it before Luca got there.

I threw open my bedroom door and fell to my knees, tearing through my small dresser.

Under my socks. Nothing.

Under the mattress. Nothing.

I pulled open my duffel bag in the closet.

My hand brushed against something hard and metallic at the bottom. I pulled it out.

It wasn’t a diamond bracelet.

It was a heavy, silver rosary.

The same rosary from Vanessa’s room.

And wrapped around the beads was a handwritten note.

You should have left when you had the chance.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway.