THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED HIS FIANCÉE ORDER ME TO KNEEL AND PICK UP HER DIAMOND EARRING—THEN SHE SAID, “SHE FELL BY THE SERVICE ELEVATOR,” BEFORE HE EVEN ASKED WHY I COULDN’T GET BACK UP. I could get down on my knees.

The empty syringe rolled slightly on the marble counter.

Luca picked up the heavy diamond necklace.

His knuckles turned white.

"She wore this tonight," Luca said, his voice dropping to a dangerous register. "Vanessa was wearing my mother's necklace at the dinner table."

"Why did she take it off?" I asked, leaning heavily against the doorframe to keep the weight off my swollen knee.

Luca turned the necklace over in his large hands.

He pressed a hidden clasp near the pendant.

The large center diamond popped open like a locket.

Inside the small gold compartment was a tiny, folded piece of paper.

Luca pulled it out and unfolded it.

I watched his eyes scan the words. The color drained from his face, leaving behind a mask of pure, lethal fury.

"What does it say?" I asked.

He handed it to me.

It was a note, written in Vanessa's elegant handwriting.

The old man knows too much. The maid is a liability. The transfer is complete. Meet me at the airfield at midnight.

She wasn't just stealing money.

She was running.

Tonight.

"She drugged my father again," Luca said, staring at the empty syringe. "She realized he passed the note to you. She couldn't let him talk."

"Where did she take him?"

Before Luca could answer, his phone vibrated.

It was Daniel.

"Boss," Daniel's voice was tight with urgency. "We're at Grace's apartment."

My heart leaped into my throat. "Leo!" I cried out.

"Is the boy safe?" Luca demanded.

"He's safe, boss," Daniel said. "The babysitter is fine. But someone was here."

"Who?"

"Two Falcone soldiers. They were trying to break the lock when we pulled up. We handled them."

I let out a sob of relief, covering my mouth. My baby was okay.

"Bring them to the safe house," Luca ordered. "Do not bring them back to the estate. We have a mole inside the house."

"Understood."

Luca hung up. He looked at me.

"Your son is safe, Grace."

"Thank God," I wept. "Thank God."

"But my father isn't." Luca's eyes hardened. "Vanessa wouldn't take him far. Not if she's trying to make a flight at midnight. She has to keep him quiet until she's in the air."

I wiped my tears, forcing my mind to focus.

If Vanessa was hiding an unconscious eighty-one-year-old man on the estate... where would she put him?

"The old greenhouse," I said suddenly.

Luca looked at me.

"What?"

"The old greenhouse behind the west gardens," I explained, the pieces clicking together. "It’s been abandoned for years. But yesterday, Vanessa ordered the groundskeeper to leave the padlock off. She said she was having an architect look at it for wedding renovations."

Luca didn't hesitate.

He grabbed my good arm, wrapping it over his shoulder, and practically carried me out the back door into the freezing night air.

The rain had started again, turning the manicured lawns into slick mud.

We moved through the shadows, avoiding the security lights.

The glass structure of the old greenhouse loomed in the distance, overgrown with ivy and completely dark.

As we got closer, I saw a heavy winter coat draped over the rusty iron door handle.

Luca stopped.

He reached out and touched the coat.