Chapter 2 - SECRETS BENEATH THE MARBLEThe ballroom was suffocatingly quiet. Forty-six of Chicago’s most influential elites sat frozen, their champagne glasses suspended mid-air, hesitant even to breathe.
Luca Moretti’s knuckles turned bone-white as he gripped the back of his chair. His dark, piercing eyes shifted slowly from Lucy to Vanessa, who stood trembling beside the head table like a cornered animal.
“Explain that,” Luca said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying hum that echoed off the marble pillars. “What adoption secret? What date?”
Vanessa swallowed hard, her haughty composure shattering completely. “Luca... let's not discuss family business in front of guests. This is just a misunderstanding—the child has a wild imagination—”
“Do not call her 'the child,'” Luca interrupted, his tone slicing through the air like a razor. He turned to Marcus, his towering chief of security stationed near the arched doorway. “Marcus. Close the estate gates. Nobody leaves. And bring the archive keys from my office safe immediately.”
“Right away, Boss,” Marcus replied, striding out of the room without a backward glance.
I pulled my chair closer to Lucy, wrapping a comforting arm around her small shoulders. Her little heart was beating wildly against her pale-yellow dress.
“You're safe, sweetheart,” I whispered softly, kissing the top of her head. “Your dad is going to sort everything out.”
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Vanessa glared at me with pure venom, but she didn't dare speak. She knew that the man standing across from her controlled half the shipping lanes, real estate, and financial institutions in the Midwest—and that betraying his trust was a death sentence in the underworld.
“Emma,” Luca said, turning his dark gaze toward me. His expression softened just a fraction when he looked at my face, though the fury in his eyes remained palpable. “You said you saw this woman at the mansion before? Tell me everything.”
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