Chapter 6 – THE LOCKET’S SECRET

I stared at Catherine’s elegant handwriting, my heart pounding against my ribs.

“Isabella’s locket,” I whispered, looking up at Luca. “She never takes it off. She told me it was the last thing her mother gave her before she passed away.”

Luca’s expression darkened with a terrifying realization. “Vanessa has lived in my house for two years. She has been inches away from the evidence she murdered my wife for, and she never knew it.”

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed his head of security at the mansion.

“Marco,” Luca barked the moment the line connected. “Where is Isabella?”

“She’s asleep in her room, Boss. Two guards at the door, just like you ordered.”

“Don’t let anyone in. I’m on my way back.” Luca hung up, his jaw set like stone. He grabbed the manila folder and the velvet box. “We’re leaving, Emily.”

The drive back to the Moretti estate was a tense, silent blur. The dark Chicago streets flashed by outside the tinted windows of Luca’s SUV. I sat in the passenger seat, my hands clasped tightly in my lap, trying to process the fact that my quiet, ordinary life had violently collided with a mafia war.

When we pulled up to the massive iron gates of the mansion, something was wrong.

The gates were wide open.

The two guards usually stationed at the entrance were nowhere to be seen.

“Stay in the car,” Luca ordered, pulling a heavy black handgun from a holster inside his jacket.

“Luca, no!” I grabbed his arm, my heart leaping into my throat. “Don’t go in there alone.”

He looked at my hand on his arm, then up to my eyes. The coldness of the mafia boss melted away, leaving only the man who was desperately trying to protect his family.

“I have to, Emily,” he said softly. “My daughter is in there.”

He slipped out of the SUV and disappeared into the shadows of the driveway.

I couldn’t just sit there. I thought of Isabella’s sweet smile, the way she had trusted me when I refused to let her eat the poisoned cake. She wasn’t just my boss’s daughter anymore. She felt like family.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and quietly opened the car door, slipping out into the cool night air. I stayed low, following the edge of the manicured hedges toward the side entrance I used every morning.

The kitchen door was ajar.

I slipped inside, taking off my shoes so my bare feet wouldn’t make a sound on the tile. The house was unnervingly quiet.

I crept through the dark hallway toward the grand staircase. As I reached the foyer, I heard a voice coming from the second floor.

It was Vanessa.

“Come here, you little brat!” she hissed.

“No! Let me go!” Isabella screamed.

My blood ran cold. The police had taken Vanessa away—how was she back?

I ran up the marble stairs, abandoning all caution. When I reached the second-floor landing, I saw them.

Vanessa had Isabella pinned against the heavy oak banister. The beautiful red gown she had worn to dinner was torn and ruined. Her makeup was smeared, and her eyes were wild and desperate.

Two men in dark suits—Falcone soldiers, I realized—were holding Luca’s guards on the floor at gunpoint. Vanessa must have called her true bosses the moment Chief Miller arrested her. The corrupt police chief had clearly handed her right over to them.

“Give me the necklace, Isabella,” Vanessa sneered, reaching for the silver chain around the little girl’s neck. “Give it to me, or I’ll throw you down these stairs just like I did to your mother!”

Isabella was crying, clutching the silver locket tightly in her small fist. “No! It’s mine!”

“Hey!” I screamed, stepping fully onto the landing.

Vanessa’s head snapped toward me.

“Emily!” Isabella cried out.

“You,” Vanessa spat, her face twisting with pure hatred. She pointed to one of the armed men. “Shoot the maid. Now.”

The man raised his gun and pointed it directly at my chest.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact.

But instead of a gunshot, the massive stained-glass window at the end of the hallway shattered inward.

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