Chapter 11 - THE OLD CONTRACT
He didn’t kiss me then.
Instead, he took my hand and led me out of the housekeeper’s quarters.
We walked up the grand staircase, past the portraits of his ancestors, and stopped in front of the heavy oak doors of the master suite.
Luca pushed them open.
The room had been completely transformed.
Vanessa’s things were gone. The cold, sterile luxury she preferred had been replaced by warm tones, soft blankets, and fresh flowers on the nightstands.
“This is your room now,” Luca said quietly.
I stepped inside, completely overwhelmed.
“Luca, I’m a maid. I’m the driver’s daughter. People will talk.”
“Let them talk,” he said fiercely, closing the door behind us. “I am the head of the Moretti family. I answer to no one.”
He walked over to a small mahogany writing desk in the corner.
He picked up a piece of thick parchment paper and handed it to me.
It was an old contract, yellowed with age, bearing the wax seal of the Commission.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s a blood oath,” Luca explained. “Signed by my father thirty years ago. It states that if anyone outside the bloodline attempts to seize the family assets, the estate must be managed by a trusted proxy.”
He pointed to the bottom of the page.
“Look whose name he wrote.”
I read the faded ink.
Salvatore Russo.
I gasped. “My father?”
“My father knew Dominic was greedy,” Luca said. “He trusted Sal more than his own brother. He secretly gave Sal the legal power to dissolve the entire empire if Dominic ever tried to take it.”
I looked at Luca, the pieces finally falling into place.
“That’s why Dominic wanted Sal fired,” I realized. “Vanessa told him to send Sal out the back door because Dominic knew Sal had the power to stop him.”
“Exactly.”
Luca took the contract from my hands and placed it back on the desk.
Then, he turned to me.
The fierce, calculating mafia boss disappeared, leaving only a man standing in front of the woman he loved.
“Sal saved my life,” Luca whispered, taking both of my hands in his. “He saved my family. He saved my father’s legacy.”
He stepped closer, his eyes dropping to my lips.
“And he gave me you.”
I didn’t wait for him to ask again.
I leaned up and pressed my lips to his.
The kiss was desperate, consuming. Years of unspoken tension and fear evaporated in an instant. Luca wrapped his strong arms around my waist, lifting me slightly off the floor, holding me like I was the most precious thing in his world.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathless.
“Stay,” Luca whispered against my forehead.
“I’ll stay,” I promised.
But just as the words left my mouth, his cell phone rang from his pocket.
The sharp, sudden sound shattered the peace in the room.
Luca pulled it out, his brow furrowing as he looked at the caller ID.
He answered it.
“Yeah.”
He listened for only three seconds.
The color drained from his face.
“I’m on my way.”
He hung up the phone and looked at me, panic flaring in his eyes.
“What is it?” I asked, my blood running cold.
“It’s Vanessa,” Luca said, already moving toward the door. “Dominic’s men… the ones who weren’t caught at the train yard. They just breached her estate.”
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He grabbed his gun from the nightstand.
“They’re going for the boy.”
