Chapter 1 - The Elevator That Should Have Been Locked
Mara Ellis threw herself between the closing elevator doors and whispered, “Please, close.”
The tattooed man inside lowered his eyes to the black leather ledger in his hand.
A silver number had been stamped beneath her name.
Luca Moretti stopped turning the page.
This was not a coincidence.
The doors slid together with less than an inch to spare.
A hand struck the metal from the other side.
“Mara!”
Daniel Mercer’s voice followed the impact.
“Open the damn door!”
Mara backed into the mahogany wall.
Her lungs refused to settle.
The restricted elevator smelled faintly of leather, cedar polish, and a cologne far too expensive for anyone she had ever known.
Beside her stood a man who looked as though he belonged behind doors people like Mara were warned never to open.
Luca Moretti was six-foot-three, broad across the shoulders, dressed completely in black. His shirt was open at the throat, revealing the upper edge of dark ink beneath his collar. More tattoos curled over one hand and disappeared beneath the cuff of his jacket.
His expression barely changed while Daniel continued pounding outside.
That frightened Mara almost as much as Daniel did.
Almost.
Luca glanced toward the illuminated control panel.
The button for the thirty-ninth floor glowed.
No other button did.
Mara swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked at her.
She immediately wished she had said nothing.
“I didn’t know this was private.”
The elevator began rising.
A soft mechanical hum filled the silence.
Luca looked toward the sealed doors.
“Is he following you?”
Mara stared at the numbers above them.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Her hands shook.
She pushed them against her black apron so he would not notice.
“Yes.”
Luca’s gaze dropped to the white bandage around her wrist.
Mara tugged her sleeve over it.
He noticed anyway.
“What happened?”
“Kitchen accident.”
Luca looked at her for a moment.
“You’re a bad liar.”
The words were quiet.
Not mocking.
Just certain.
Mara lifted her chin.
“I didn’t ask you to believe me.”
Something almost resembling approval moved through his face.
Then his attention shifted to the brass name tag pinned above her apron.
MARA ELLIS.
He froze.
It was subtle.
Most people would not have caught it.
Mara did.
People who spent years measuring another person’s mood learned to notice small changes.
Daniel had taught her that much.
Luca opened the ledger.
The black book had been resting against his palm since she entered.
Mara had assumed it contained hotel accounts.
Maybe security notes.
Maybe names of VIP guests.
Now his thumb moved quickly through handwritten pages.
One.
Two.
Three.
He stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
Mara’s heart started pounding for a completely different reason.
“What?”
Luca did not answer.
“Do you know me?”
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
He turned the ledger slightly toward himself.
She could not read it.
“Your full name.”
She hesitated.
“You already saw it.”
“Full name.”
“Mara Grace Ellis.”
His jaw tightened.
“What?”
Luca raised his eyes.
“Why is your name in my ledger?”
Mara actually laughed.
It was a frightened little sound she barely recognized.
“What ledger?”
“This one.”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
The elevator continued upward.
Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Mara suddenly hated how far they were moving from the lobby.
She reached toward the panel.
“I need to get off.”
Luca’s hand moved.
He did not touch her.
He simply placed his palm against the panel before she could press anything.
Mara jerked back.
His eyes changed immediately.
Not softer.
More aware.
He lowered his hand.
“I’m not stopping you.”
“You just did.”
“I stopped the elevator from opening on a service floor where the man chasing you could use the stairs to meet you.”
Mara stared at him.
“You don’t know Daniel.”
“I know men who chase terrified women through hotel corridors.”
The elevator dinged.
Floor twenty.
Mara looked toward the doors.
They remained closed.
Private express.
Her stomach tightened.
“Who are you?”
“Luca Moretti.”
The name meant nothing for half a second.
Then it meant far too much.
Mara’s coworker Jen had whispered about Luca three months earlier when he arrived at the Bellweather Hotel with six men and an entire floor was cleared.
Moretti.
Restaurants.
Nightclubs.
Construction companies.
Shipping.
And, depending on who was talking, businesses that did not appear on tax forms.
Mara slowly leaned against the wall.
“Oh.”
Luca’s mouth moved slightly.
“That reaction usually happens sooner.”
“I was busy being chased.”
“Fair.”
He looked back at the ledger.
Mara watched him trace a line with his finger.
“What does it say?”
“Your name.”
“You already told me that.”
“And a number.”
“What number?”
“Two million.”
Mara blinked.
Then again.
“You have the wrong Mara Ellis.”
“No.”
“You absolutely do.”
“Your date of birth is June twelfth.”
Her blood went cold.
“How do you know that?”
“Because it’s written here.”
Mara took one step toward him.
For the first time, fear of the ledger became stronger than fear of Luca.
“Show me.”
He hesitated.
“Show me.”
Luca turned the book.
There it was.
MARA GRACE ELLIS.
06/12/1995.
Beneath it:
ACCOUNT 2047.
And beside that:
$2,000,000.
Mara’s fingers went numb.
“There’s no way.”
“Do you recognize the account number?”
“No.”
“Two-zero-four-seven?”
“No.”
“Initials R.E.?”
Mara stopped breathing.
Luca noticed.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“What are the initials?”
“Nothing.”
“Mara.”
She looked away.
“My mother.”
Luca’s expression sharpened.
“What was her name?”
“Rose Ellis.”
He turned another page.
Mara watched color drain from his face.
It was the first unmistakable emotion she had seen from him.
“What?”
Luca closed the ledger.
Too quickly.
“What does it say?”
“Nothing.”
“You said I was a bad liar.”
His eyes met hers.
“So are you.”
The elevator reached thirty-nine.
The doors opened onto a private corridor.
Two men in dark suits waited outside.
One moved forward.
“Mr. Moretti, we—”
Luca raised one hand.
The man stopped.
Mara did not move.
She suddenly wanted the doors to close again.
Luca stepped out, then looked back.
“You can stay in the elevator if you want.”
“Where does it go?”
“Lobby if you press L.”
Daniel would be there.
That answer hung between them.
Mara wrapped both arms around herself.
Luca waited.
He did not order.
Did not reach for her.
Did not tell her what she should do.
That alone felt unfamiliar.
“What happens if I come out?”
“You get five minutes to breathe.”
“And after five minutes?”
“You decide.”
Mara looked down at the elevator floor.
Her phone vibrated inside her apron.
She pulled it out.
Eleven missed calls.
All Daniel.
A text appeared.
COME DOWN NOW.
Another followed before she could read the first twice.
YOU’RE MAKING THIS WORSE.
Mara closed her eyes.
Luca saw only her face.
He did not ask to see the phone.
“You said he won’t leave you alone.”
Mara nodded.
“How long?”
“Six months since I left.”
“And before that?”
She stared at him.
“Four years.”
His face became unreadable again.
Mara stepped out of the elevator.
The doors closed behind her.
Luca’s private suite occupied nearly the entire floor.
The hallway opened into an enormous sitting room overlooking the city, but Mara barely noticed the view.
She noticed exits.
Windows.
Doors.
Men.
Three of them.
None approached her.
Luca removed his jacket and placed it over the back of a chair.
“Water?”
“Yes.”
He poured it himself.
That surprised her.
She accepted the glass with both hands because one was not steady enough.
“Why did my mother’s initials matter?”
Luca looked toward the ledger.
“Because Rose Ellis appears somewhere else.”
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“I know.”
The glass almost slipped from Mara’s hands.
“How?”
“The ledger.”
“What does it say?”
Luca stared at her for several seconds.
Then he crossed the room, opened the book again, and placed it on the table.
Mara approached.
Her mother’s name was there.
ROSE ELLIS.
Next to it was another name.
ANTHONY MORETTI.
Luca’s father.
Mara looked up.
“What is this?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You have a ledger with my dead mother’s name and mine, and you don’t know?”
“This book belonged to my father.”
“Then ask him.”
“I can’t.”
Something in his voice told her why before he finished.
“He’s dead.”
Mara looked back down.
Below the two names was a handwritten note.
TRANSFER UPON CONFIRMATION OF IDENTITY.
She read it twice.
Then saw the date.
It was written three days before her mother died.
Mara stepped away from the table.
“My mother died in a car accident.”
Luca’s expression did not change.
“Are you sure?”
Anger flared through her fear.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Did you see the police report?”
“I was twelve.”
“Did you ever see the car?”
“No.”
“Did anyone explain exactly what happened?”
“My aunt said—”
Mara stopped.
Her aunt Helen had raised her after Rose died.
Helen had said the accident happened outside Albany.
A truck.
Rain.
Instant.
Closed casket.
No questions.
Mara had been a grieving child.
She had believed every word.
Luca’s phone rang.
One of his men answered from across the room.
His expression tightened.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Luca looked over.
“What?”
“Hotel security found Mercer.”
Mara’s chest contracted.
“Where?”
The man glanced at her.
Luca’s voice hardened.
“Say it.”
“He told the front desk he’s her fiancé.”
“I’m not.”
Mara’s words came too quickly.
“I was never his fiancée.”
The security man continued.
“He’s demanding access to the private floors.”
Luca nodded once.
“Remove him.”
Mara stared.
“Don’t hurt him.”
Luca looked almost offended.
“I said remove.”
The man touched his earpiece.
Then froze.
“What?”
Luca asked.
“There’s another problem.”
The security man turned toward Mara.
“Mara Ellis has a guest waiting in the employee locker room.”
Mara frowned.
“I don’t have a guest.”
“They gave your mother’s name.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Mara’s glass slipped from her fingers.
It struck the carpet without breaking.
Her phone vibrated again.
Not Daniel.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed a woman sitting alone in the employee locker room downstairs.
Older.
Gray streaks in dark hair.
Hands clasped tightly.
A familiar silver necklace rested against her throat.
Mara had buried that necklace with her mother.
Under the picture were six words.
SHE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.
Mara looked at Luca.
He had already opened the ledger.
His finger stopped beside Rose Ellis’s name.
Then someone knocked on the private suite door.
Three slow knocks.
A woman’s voice came from the other side.
“Mara?”
Mara stopped breathing.
She knew that voice.
May you like
She had heard it every night of her childhood.
The door handle began to turn.
