Chapter 2 – THE BLACK ROSARY ON HER PILLOW

The dining room went dead silent.

Luca stepped away from his chair, his dark eyes locked on me. He didn’t look angry anymore. He looked terrified.

“Emma,” he said, taking a slow step toward me. “Do not listen to her.”

“Is it true?” My voice shook so violently I barely recognized it. I backed away from the table, my hands trembling. “Did you pack a bag for Mia?”

Vanessa lingered in the doorway, a cruel smile playing on her lips. “Tell her, Luca. Tell her about the private plane waiting at O’Hare.”

Luca didn’t look at Vanessa. “Marco!” he shouted.

Immediately, his head of security stepped into the dining room.

“Escort Miss Bellini to her car,” Luca ordered, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. “If she tries to come back inside, break her legs.”

Vanessa’s smile vanished. “You can’t do this, Luca! My father—”

“Get her out!” Luca roared.

As Marco grabbed Vanessa’s arm and dragged her toward the front doors, Luca turned back to me.

“Emma, listen to me. I wasn’t taking Mia to replace you. I was trying to get her out of the city.”

“Without telling me?” I cried, tears finally spilling over my cheeks. “You let that woman sit in my chair, drink from my glasses, and mock me in front of your entire family, and you were going to steal my child?”

“The Bellinis put a hit on my bloodline,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper.

The twenty-three relatives in the room gasped collectively. Nonna Francesca sank back into her chair, her hand flying to her chest.

Luca closed the distance between us, grabbing my shoulders. His grip was entirely desperate. “Vanessa’s father discovered I’ve been dismantling his ports. He wants retaliation. He demanded a marriage alliance with Vanessa to call off the war. I brought her here tonight to make her family think I was complying. I needed them distracted while I smuggled Mia to Sicily.”

I stared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. “You used me as a prop?”

“I protected you!” he pleaded. “If they knew you were leaving with Mia, they would have intercepted the car. I had to make it look like I was discarding you so they wouldn’t see you as a threat.”

I pulled away from his grip, my mind racing.

He was telling the truth about the danger. I could see the raw panic in his eyes.

But a sickening realization suddenly washed over me.

“Luca,” I whispered. “If Vanessa thought you were giving her my place… why did she just expose your plan in front of everyone?”

Luca froze.

The blood drained entirely from his face.

“Because she wasn’t here to secure the marriage,” Nonna Francesca said from the end of the table, her voice shaking. “She was here to verify the target.”

I didn’t wait for another word.

I turned and sprinted toward the grand staircase.

“Mia!” I screamed, my heels slipping on the marble floor.

“Marco, lock down the house!” Luca bellowed, sprinting right behind me.

I tore up the carpeted stairs, my breath burning in my throat. I burst through the double doors of the master wing and ran straight to Mia’s bedroom.

I slammed the door open.

The room was bathed in the soft glow of her nightlight. Her pink floral bedspread was pulled back.

The bed was completely empty.

“Mia!” I sobbed, tearing the closet doors open, dropping to my knees to check under the bed. “Mia!”

Luca ran into the room, his gun already drawn. He checked the en-suite bathroom, the heavy curtains, the balcony doors.

Nothing.

She was gone.

I collapsed against the footboard, my entire world shattering into a million jagged pieces. “They took her. Luca, they took her.”

Luca walked slowly toward the empty bed. He didn’t speak. He reached down and picked something up from the center of Mia’s pillow.

My stomach plummeted.

Dangling from his fingers was a heavy, antique object.

It was a black wooden rosary.

“Luca,” I choked out. “Whose is that?”

He stared at the black beads, his eyes turning cold and dead.

“It belongs to my Uncle Paulie,” Luca whispered.

I stood up, trembling violently.

Uncle Paulie was downstairs. He had been sitting at the dining table, eating the roast chicken I cooked, watching my husband humiliate me.

“He didn’t just let Vanessa in,” Luca said, cocking his weapon. “He gave her our daughter.”

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