Chapter 1 – THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS

The silence in the dining room was suffocating.

Forty guests stared at the nine-year-old girl in the pink nightgown.

Luca didn’t stand up. He remained kneeling in front of his daughter, his hand gently resting on Bruno’s gray head. The old German shepherd let out a low, protective rumble, his blind eyes turning toward Vanessa.

“Lily,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “Who is the man?”

Vanessa lunged forward, her champagne dress rustling violently. “Luca, she is lying! This maid has brainwashed her to ruin our wedding!”

Luca didn’t even look at his fiancée.

He simply raised his left hand.

Immediately, two massive security guards stepped directly in front of Vanessa, blocking her path to the child.

“I asked my daughter a question,” Luca repeated, his dark eyes fixed on Lily. “Who did she want you to call Daddy?”

Lily trembled, clutching her small hands together. She looked at me, her eyes pleading for help. I knelt beside her, wrapping a protective arm around her small shoulders.

“It’s okay, Lily,” I whispered. “You’re safe.”

Lily took a shaky breath. “I don’t know his name, Daddy. But he has a silver watch. A really big one, with a crack on the glass.”

The blood drained from Luca’s face.

I saw his jaw lock. His entire posture shifted from a concerned father to the ruthless head of the Chicago syndicate.

A cracked silver watch.

Someone in the room gasped. I turned my head.

Standing near the double doors of the dining room was Dominic, Luca’s younger brother and his second-in-command. He was staring at Vanessa with a look of absolute horror.

“Vanessa,” Dominic breathed, stepping forward. “Tell me she’s making this up.”

Vanessa’s eyes darted frantically around the room. She was trapped, and she knew it.

“It’s a misunderstanding!” she cried, trying to push past the guards. “Dominic, you know me! I would never—”

“Shut up,” Luca said.

He finally stood up. The sheer, overwhelming dominance of his presence made the entire room shrink back.

He walked slowly toward Vanessa.

“Where is he?” Luca demanded softly.

“Where is who?” she stammered, tears ruining her perfectly applied makeup. “Luca, I love you!”

“Where is the man with the cracked watch, Vanessa?”

She shook her head wildly. “I don’t know what she’s talking about!”

Suddenly, Bruno barked. A loud, sharp sound that echoed off the marble walls.

The old dog limped forward, his nose pressed to the floor. He hobbled past Vanessa, completely ignoring her, and stopped right at the edge of her discarded designer purse.

Bruno pawed at the leather bag. It tipped over.

Lipstick, a compact mirror, and a heavy set of keys spilled onto the floor.

But that wasn’t what Bruno was sniffing.

Sticking out of the side pocket of the purse was a thick, folded piece of paper.

Luca bent down and pulled the paper free. He unfolded it under the crystal chandelier.

It was a pair of first-class plane tickets to Switzerland.

Dated for tomorrow morning.

And the names on the tickets weren’t Luca and Vanessa.

“Vanessa Bellini,” Luca read aloud, his voice dripping with venom. “And Marco Rossi.”

Marco Rossi.

The head of the rival New York syndicate. The man who had sworn to dismantle the Moretti family at any cost.

Vanessa scrambled backward, her high heel catching on the rug. She fell hard onto the marble floor.

“Luca, please!” she sobbed. “He forced me! He said he would kill my family if I didn’t help him get inside the house!”

Luca didn’t scream. He didn’t raise his hand.

He simply looked at the woman he was supposed to marry in three days.

“Where is he, Vanessa?”

Before she could answer, the lights in the mansion suddenly flickered.

Once. Twice.

Then, the entire estate plunged into absolute darkness.

And from the shadows of the hallway, a cold, unfamiliar voice echoed.

“I’m right here, Luca.”

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