Chapter 3 – THE FORGED SIGNATURE

“Claire,” Luca said softly. “Why is your signature on a two-million-dollar promissory note to the Rossi family?”

The words hit me like a physical blow.

I stared at the black leather ledger lying open on the white tablecloth. My vision blurred. I reached out with a trembling hand, tracing the blue ink on the bottom line of the page.

Claire Elizabeth Bennett.

It looked exactly like my handwriting. The loop of the ‘C’, the slight slant of the ‘t’s.

“No,” I whispered, stepping back as if the book were on fire. “No, I didn’t sign this. I’ve never seen this book in my life. I don’t even have a bank account with more than four hundred dollars in it.”

I looked up at Luca, absolute panic seizing my chest. “Luca, please. You have to believe me. I didn’t do this.”

Luca didn’t look angry. He looked intently at my face, studying the raw terror in my eyes.

“I believe you, Claire,” Luca said quietly.

He turned his gaze slowly toward Daniel.

“Because a woman scrubbing floors for minimum wage doesn’t have the collateral to secure a two-million-dollar mob loan,” Luca stated, his voice ringing with authority. “Only a businessman with a fake construction company and a wealthy fiancée does.”

Rebecca let out a choked sob, pulling Mia tighter against her chest. “Daniel… you forged her name?”

Daniel was sweating through his expensive suit. He tugged at his collar, his eyes darting frantically around the room.

“It’s a joint marital asset!” Daniel blurted out, the legal jargon tumbling from his mouth in a desperate defense. “We were married when the loan was taken! She’s liable for half the debt, legally!”

“Legally?” Teresa scoffed from the head of the table. “You are talking about the Rossi family, you foolish boy. They do not care about the law. They care about blood.”

The reality of what Daniel had done crashed over me.

He hadn’t just stolen my mother’s bracelet. He hadn’t just stolen from his own mother.

He had used my identity to borrow millions from the most dangerous cartel in Chicago. He had sold me to the mob. If the Rossis came looking to collect, they wouldn’t look for Daniel. They would look for the woman whose name was on the ledger.

“You set me up,” I breathed, staring at the man I once thought I would spend my life with. “You made sure I took the fall if you couldn’t pay.”

“You owed me!” Daniel screamed, finally losing his polished facade. His face twisted into an ugly, hateful sneer. “I gave you a roof over your head! I took you out of that trashy neighborhood! You were nothing before you met me!”

“Enough.”

Luca’s voice wasn’t loud, but it possessed a commanding, terrifying weight that instantly silenced the room.

Luca walked slowly around the table until he was standing inches away from Daniel. Daniel shrank back, his bravado dissolving into pure terror.

“You brought a Rossi ledger into my home,” Luca said, his tone conversational, which made it infinitely more frightening. “You put my mother in danger. You put my staff in danger. And you targeted a woman under my protection.”

Daniel swallowed hard. “Mr. Moretti, please. I can pay them back. I just need the contract with your family. If you give me the construction bid, I can clear the debt in a month. Nobody has to get hurt.”

Rebecca’s father, a distinguished older man who had been silently watching the horror unfold, finally stepped forward.

“You will never touch a Moretti contract,” Rebecca’s father said, his voice dripping with disgust. “And the wedding is off. Rebecca, get Mia’s things. We are leaving.”

“Dad, wait!” Daniel pleaded, reaching for his former future father-in-law.

Before Daniel could take a second step, Luca grabbed him by the throat.

The guests gasped, but no one moved.

Luca didn’t squeeze, but the threat of violence was so palpable it sucked the air from the room.

“You are going to tell me exactly how you managed to forge her signature so perfectly,” Luca demanded, his voice a low growl. “And you are going to tell me who inside my house helped you hide this ledger in that car.”

Daniel’s eyes widened in panic. “Nobody! I did it myself!”

“Don’t lie to me,” Luca whispered. “You haven’t been on this estate since the divorce. Someone here has been giving you access.”

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the head of the table.

We all whipped around.

Teresa’s crystal water glass had shattered on the floor.

The elderly matriarch was slumped over in her large oak chair, one hand gripping the edge of the table, the other clutching her chest. Her face was deathly pale, and she was struggling to draw breath.

“Ma!” Luca yelled, dropping Daniel and sprinting toward his mother.

I moved on pure instinct. I reached Teresa before anyone else, dropping to my knees beside her chair.

“Teresa, look at me,” I said, grabbing her cold hands. “Deep breaths. Just like we practiced during your hip recovery. In through the nose.”

But she wasn’t looking at me.

Teresa’s eyes were wide with a terror I had never seen in her before. Her trembling fingers were desperately clutching something she had pulled from her pocket.

It was a wooden rosary.

The exact same rosary I had kept on my nightstand for the last eighteen months. The one she had gifted me when I first started working here.

I reached out to take it, to comfort her, but Teresa weakly shoved my hand away.

She pulled Luca close by his lapel, her breathing ragged, and forced the rosary into her son’s hand.

“Luca,” Teresa gasped, her voice barely a whisper, but loud enough for me to hear. “The girl… Claire… she doesn’t know.”

Luca frowned, gripping his mother’s hand. “Doesn’t know what, Ma? Hang on, the ambulance is coming.”

Teresa’s eyes locked onto mine, filled with tears and a profound, devastating sorrow.

“The debt,” Teresa choked out. “Daniel didn’t forge her signature, Luca. He didn’t forge it.”