THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME SERVE HIS ENGAGEMENT DINNER

I ran to the door and caught my mother as she stumbled forward. Dorothy helped me guide her to the living room sofa.

“Mom, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be out in the cold,” I cried, pulling a blanket over her frail shoulders.

My mother gripped my hand with surprising strength. She looked past me, her eyes fixing on Luca.

“You look exactly like him,” she whispered.

Luca stood by the doorway, his weapon holstered, his expression unreadable. “You knew who I was.”

“Of course I did,” my mother said, her voice shaking. “You think a mother doesn't know when her daughter goes to work in the lion’s den? I tried to stop you, Kate. I told you the commute was too far. I told you the rich were terrible people.”

“Why didn't you just tell me the truth?” I pleaded.

Dorothy stepped forward, leaning on her umbrella. “Because if the syndicate knew she was alive, they would have killed her. Your father didn't just hide money for you, Kate. He hid the ledger.”

Luca stepped fully into the room. “The ledger?”

“The black book,” Dorothy confirmed. “The one that proves Vanessa’s father, Richard Bellini, embezzled millions from the cartel ten years ago. Your father found out. He hid the ledger in the safety deposit box under Kate’s name to use as leverage, but he was arrested before he could use it.”

The pieces violently slammed into place.

Vanessa wasn't just after money. She was after the only piece of evidence that could get her entire family murdered by the cartel. The marriage to Luca was a shield. The safety deposit box was the salvation.

“If Vanessa gets that ledger, she’ll destroy it,” Luca said quietly. “And her family goes free.”

“She already tried,” a small voice said.

We all turned.

Leo was standing at the top of the stairs, clutching a piece of paper. He rubbed his eyes, looking sleepily at the room full of adults.

Luca hurried up the stairs and scooped the boy up, bringing him down to the living room. “What do you mean, buddy? What did she try to do?”

Leo held out the paper.

It was a drawing done in blue crayon.

It showed a woman with red hair—clearly Vanessa—standing in front of a fireplace. She was holding a black book over the flames. But the book wasn't burning.

“I saw her in the library last week,” Leo whispered. “She found a black book behind the old books. She tried to burn it in the fireplace.”

Luca stared at the drawing. “She tried to burn it? Did she?”

Leo shook his head. “No. It didn't burn. It just melted a little bit, and it smelled really bad. She got mad and threw it back in the hole in the wall.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“It wasn't paper,” I realized, looking at Luca. “It was a hard drive. Hidden inside a fake book binding.”

Luca’s eyes widened. “My father didn't put the ledger in the safety deposit box. He put the money in the box. He hid the ledger in my own house.”

Vanessa didn't need me to open the bank box to save her family. She had already found the evidence.

“Then why does she need me?” I asked, panic rising in my throat. “Why is she trying to force me to the bank?”

Luca looked at the drawing, and the blood drained from his face.

“Because the box at the bank requires two keys,” Luca whispered. “One is the brass key my father left in the coat. The other is a biometric scan. A DNA match.”

He looked at me with absolute horror.

“She doesn't need you to open the box, Kate. She needs you to unlock it so she can take the money and flee the country. And once you open it…”