Chapter 2 – THE CABIN AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS

I stared at the photograph until my vision blurred.

“That’s my father’s cabin,” I whispered.

Luca’s dark eyes locked onto mine. “Are you certain?”

“Yes. The broken railing on the porch. The green shutters. It’s in Wisconsin.”

I looked closer at the picture. Vanessa was younger, holding a toddler with dark hair.

“Why are you at my family’s cabin?” I asked, turning to Vanessa.

She glared at me, her chest heaving. “Shut up, you stupid girl.”

Luca stepped between us. “You will never speak to her like that again.”

Vanessa sneered. “You’re protecting a maid, Luca? After what Marco just told you? I’m trying to secure your empire!”

“By emptying my vault?” Luca countered.

“By removing the poison your father left behind!” she screamed.

The dining guests were completely frozen. Elena, Marco’s wife, was weeping silently into her hands. Marco sat with his head bowed, a broken man.

“Daniel,” Luca ordered his head of security. “Clear the room. Escort everyone out. Marco and Vanessa stay.”

Within three minutes, the grand dining room was empty, save for the five of us.

Luca picked up the photograph.

“My father died two years ago,” Luca said softly. “He left a lockbox in the private vault downtown. I never opened it because he told me it contained his greatest regret.”

He looked at Vanessa.

“You blackmailed my best friend for the codes. You went to the vault.”

“And I found out what your father was hiding,” Vanessa spat. “He was weak, Luca. He was funding a shadow family.”

My heart stopped.

A shadow family.

I looked at the photograph again. My father’s cabin.

My father had died when I was fourteen. A tragic hunting accident, the police had said. He had been a quiet, hardworking accountant.

“My father was an accountant,” I stammered.

“Your father was a money launderer for the Moretti family,” Vanessa laughed cruelly. “Antonio Moretti paid him handsomely to keep the books clean. And to keep his little secrets safe.”

I backed away, bumping into the serving cart.

My entire life, I believed my father was a normal, honest man. Now, the fiancée of Chicago’s most feared mafia boss was telling me he worked for the mob.

“Why were you at the cabin, Vanessa?” Luca demanded.

Vanessa hesitated.

For the first time, a flicker of genuine fear crossed her flawless face.

She looked at the little boy in the photograph.

“Because Antonio Moretti wasn’t the only one keeping secrets,” Vanessa whispered.

Marco stood up. His hands were bound behind his back by the security guards, but his voice was loud.

“Tell him the truth, Vanessa!” Marco yelled. “Tell him whose kid that is!”

Vanessa whipped around. “Shut your mouth!”

Luca crossed the room in two strides. He grabbed Vanessa by the shoulders, his grip iron-clad.

“Whose child is in this photograph?” Luca roared.

Tears sprang to Vanessa’s eyes. Not tears of sorrow. Tears of trapped, cornered panic.

“He’s mine,” she wept.

Luca went completely still.

“You told me you couldn’t have children.”

“I lied,” she choked out. “I had a son ten years ago. Before I met you. Before I clawed my way into your world.”

“Where is he?” Luca asked.

Vanessa looked at me.

A cold, terrifying chill ran down my spine.

“I had to give him up,” Vanessa whispered. “I didn’t have money. I didn’t have protection. I sold him to Antonio’s accountant.”

My vision went black at the edges.

Ten years ago.

My parents brought home a baby boy. They told me they had adopted him through a private agency. They told me his name was Leo.

My little brother, Leo.

“You sold my brother?” I breathed.

Vanessa laughed a bitter, broken sound. “He’s not your brother, Hannah. He’s my son.”

Luca let go of her, backing away as if she had burned him.

“You orchestrated this entire engagement,” Luca realized, his voice hollow. “You infiltrated my life. You wanted the vault codes to find the adoption records.”

“I wanted my son back!” Vanessa screamed.

“You wanted the trust fund my father set up for him,” Luca corrected, the betrayal settling into his bones.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my apron pocket.

I pulled it out.

It was my younger sister, Maya, who lived with Leo in the apartment behind the mansion.

“Maya?” I answered, my voice trembling.

“Hannah,” Maya sobbed through the speaker. “Hannah, please help me.”

“What’s wrong? Where’s Leo?”

A man’s voice came on the line. Deep, raspy, and entirely calm.

“The boy is with me, Hannah. If Luca wants him back, he’s going to have to bring me the contents of his father’s lockbox.”

The line went dead.

I looked up at Luca in absolute terror.

“They took Leo.”

TITLE: The Ransom In The Leather Bag

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