THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE ORDERED ME TO THROW HIS DEAD MOTHER’S WEDDING DRESS IN THE TRASH—BUT WHEN I CARRIED IT INTO THEIR ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHS, HE DROPPED TO HIS KNEES AND BEGGED ME NOT TO PUT IT DOWN.

I dropped the necklace like it burned my fingers.

“That’s my initials,” I whispered.

Isabella looked just as confused. “But you were eight years old when my mother died. Why would she hide a million-dollar sapphire necklace with your initials on it in her secret chest?”

I didn’t have an answer.

Before I could think, the library doors opened, and Luca walked in.

He was wearing a casual gray sweater, smiling as he saw us. But his smile instantly vanished when he saw the blood-stained necklace on the desk.

“Where did you find that?” Luca demanded, his voice instantly dropping an octave.

“In the cedar chest,” Isabella said, stepping back.

Luca walked over and stared at the necklace. He didn’t touch it.

“Luca, what is it?” I asked, my heart beginning to race again.

He looked at me. The protective, intense look in his eyes was back.

“Emma,” Luca said carefully. “Your father didn’t die in the car crash.”

I stared at him, my brain refusing to process the words.

“What? Yes, he did. You read the letters. He was the bodyguard in the passenger seat.”

Luca shook his head slowly. “I had Marcus pull the original police files a week ago to solidify the case against Victor. The body in the passenger seat was burned beyond recognition. The police identified him by his dental records.”

“So?”

“So, Marcus dug deeper,” Luca said, his voice grave. “The dental records were forged by a Bellini payoff. The man in the car wasn’t your father.”

I grabbed the edge of the desk to steady myself.

“Then where is he?” I breathed.

Luca pointed at the sapphire necklace.

“My mother bought that necklace at a private auction a week before she was murdered,” Luca explained. “She bought it from a private dealer who specialized in moving high-value assets for people trying to disappear.”