Chapter 4 – THE FORGED SIGNATURE AND THE MAFIA BETRAYAL

“Mommy!”

Sophie screamed, tearing her hand from mine and sprinting down the marble stairs.

“Sophie, no!” I lunged, catching the little girl by the waist just before she reached the foyer.

Caroline’s eyes widened in terror as she saw her daughter.

“Don’t hurt her!” Caroline sobbed, struggling against the man gripping her arms. “You promised if I came quietly, you wouldn’t touch her!”

Luca hadn’t moved.

His dark eyes swept over the three armed men.

These weren’t common street thugs.

They moved with military precision.

“Let her go,” Luca said softly.

The man holding Caroline, a tall brute with a scar across his jaw, smirked.

“Sorry, Mr. Moretti. But Miss Bellini’s family requested a change in management.”

The Bellini syndicate.

Vanessa’s family wasn’t just broke; they were a rival faction trying to absorb Luca’s empire through marriage.

When Luca canceled the engagement, they activated their backup plan.

“You breached my estate for a woman who just dropped her purse and cried?” Luca asked, his voice dripping with lethal contempt.

“We breached your estate,” the scarred man said, “to deliver a message. Sign over the port authorities to the Bellini family tonight, or the mother of your child doesn’t leave this foyer.”

Caroline looked at Luca, blood dripping down her pale cheek.

“Luca, don’t,” she cried. “Vanessa forced me to sign a paper last night. A legal surrender of my parental rights to her. If I die, she becomes Sophie’s legal guardian!”

My stomach plummeted.

That was the “legal document” Vanessa had slipped up about.

She didn’t just want Luca’s money.

She wanted to hold his child hostage legally so the Bellini family could control him forever.

Luca’s eyes flicked to the balcony above.

I followed his gaze.

Marco, the head of security, had just stepped out from the shadows of the second-floor landing.

He had his service weapon drawn.

“Marco,” Luca commanded, his voice echoing in the grand foyer. “Take them down.”

Silence stretched for one agonizing second.

Two seconds.

Three.

Marco didn’t fire at the intruders.

Instead, the security chief slowly walked down the sweeping staircase.

He stopped three steps above me and Sophie.

And he pointed his gun directly at Luca’s chest.

“I’m sorry, Boss,” Marco said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. “But the Bellini family pays double.”

Caroline gasped.

Luca stared at the man who had guarded his life for ten years.

“You sold me out, Marco?”

“It’s just business, Luca,” Marco replied. “Now, tell the maid to hand over the little girl, and nobody else gets hurt.”

Sophie buried her face in my apron, trembling violently.

“I won’t let you take her,” I said.

My voice shook, but my grip on Sophie was iron.

Marco sighed.

“Rachel, don’t be stupid. You’re a maid. This isn’t your fight.”

“She’s a child!” I yelled back.

Marco cocked the hammer of his gun.

“Hand her over.”

I backed up against the wall, shielding Sophie with my body.

Marco took a step down toward me.

But as he moved, he didn’t realize what was sitting on the edge of the marble step right beside his boot.

It was the heavy silver champagne bucket from the dining room, left behind by one of the fleeing guests.

I didn’t think.

I grabbed the heavy silver bucket by its handles and swung it upward with all my strength, smashing it directly into Marco’s kneecap.

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