Chapter 1 – THE SIGNATURE ON THE CONTRACT

“Vanessa, you told me Luca had already agreed.”

The voice of the silver-haired man cut through the dead silence of the dining room. He stood halfway down the long table, wiping his mouth with a linen napkin as if he hadn’t just shattered a child’s entire world.

Luca didn’t blink. He didn’t raise his voice. He slowly turned away from Vanessa and locked his dark eyes on the guest.

“Who are you?” Luca asked. His voice was terrifyingly calm.

The man straightened his tailored grey suit. “Arthur Sterling. Your fiancée invited me tonight to finalize the paperwork. I was told this was a celebration of the boy’s transition to my custody.”

Gabriel gripped my hand so hard his small fingers turned white. He was shaking violently. I pulled him slightly behind my apron, shielding him from Arthur’s cold gaze.

“Custody,” Luca repeated. The word sounded like ash in his mouth. “Gabriel is the son of Daniel Hayes. Daniel was my brother in everything but blood. What makes you think you can buy his son?”

Arthur sighed, reaching into his breast pocket. He pulled out a thick, folded legal document and tossed it onto the marble table.

“Because Daniel sold him to me,” Arthur said simply.

A collective gasp rippled through the thirty guests. Vanessa took a step backward, her face completely drained of color.

Luca picked up the document. His eyes scanned the heavy legal text. I watched his jaw tighten, the muscles feathering with a rage I had never seen in my three years working at the mansion.

“This is a guardianship transfer,” Luca whispered. “In exchange for two million dollars.”

“Daniel was in debt,” Arthur stated smoothly. “He borrowed heavily from my associates. When he couldn’t pay, he offered the boy as collateral. He signed it the week before he died.”

“You’re lying,” I blurted out.

The entire room stared at me. A maid wasn’t supposed to speak. But I didn’t care.

“Daniel Hayes loved this boy more than his own life,” I said, my voice trembling but loud enough for everyone to hear. “He worked eighty hours a week to make sure Gabriel had a future. He would never sell his child.”

Vanessa snapped her fingers at me. “Shut your mouth, Hannah! Security, get her out of here!”

“Nobody moves,” Luca commanded.

He didn’t look at Vanessa. He was staring at the signature at the bottom of the page.

“It’s Daniel’s handwriting,” Luca said softly.

Gabriel let out a small, broken sob. “Dad didn’t sell me. He promised he wouldn’t leave me.”

My heart broke. I knelt down right there in the dining room and wrapped my arms around the nine-year-old boy. “I know, sweetie. I know he didn’t.”

Luca ran his thumb over the ink. Then, he held the paper up to the light of the crystal chandelier.

“It’s a perfect match,” Luca murmured. “The loop of the ‘D’. The slant of the ‘H’.”

Arthur smiled smugly. “I expect the boy’s bags to be packed by Monday, Mr. Moretti. I have a car coming for him at noon.”

“There’s just one problem, Arthur,” Luca said.

He slowly lowered the paper, his eyes locking onto Vanessa.

“Daniel Hayes was left-handed,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. “When he signed his name, the ink always smeared on the left side of the ‘D’ because his palm dragged across the paper. He complained about it every time he signed a security log.”

Luca threw the contract onto the floor at Vanessa’s feet.

“This ink is perfectly clean. It was traced by a right-handed person.”

Vanessa flinched as the paper hit her expensive heels.

“Luca, I don’t know what you’re implying—”

“I’m implying you forged a dead man’s signature to sell an orphan for two million dollars,” Luca roared, his voice finally shattering the calm.

The guests shrank back in their chairs.

Arthur Sterling’s smug smile vanished. He looked at Vanessa, his eyes narrowing. “You told me Daniel signed this in front of you.”

Vanessa panicked. “He did! Luca, he’s lying to you! He just doesn’t want to pay the debt!”

But Luca wasn’t looking at the signature anymore. He was looking at the small notary stamp in the corner of the page.

“This was notarized on October 14th,” Luca said, stepping toward his fiancée. “Daniel died on October 12th. You forged this three days ago, Vanessa.”

He stopped inches from her face.

“Why do you need two million dollars?”

Vanessa opened her mouth, but no words came out. She looked terrified, glancing frantically toward the hallway as if looking for an escape.

“Answer me!” Luca demanded.

Before Vanessa could speak, Gabriel tugged on my sleeve.

“Hannah,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “The bracelet.”

I looked down. Gabriel was holding his father’s old, worn baseball glove, which he had sneaked downstairs under his jacket. He reached inside the leather webbing and pulled out a small, crumpled pawn shop ticket.

“She didn’t give me the bracelet as a present,” Gabriel whimpered, holding the ticket out to Luca. “She made me hide it because she didn’t want you to see this.”

Luca took the ticket. He read the faded print.

His face went completely pale.

“You didn’t forge the contract to pay a debt,” Luca whispered, staring at Vanessa in absolute horror. “You forged it to pay the men who murdered my best friend.”