Chapter 8 - THE CLEARED DEBT
The cleanup took a week.
The police were never called. In Luca Moretti’s world, problems were handled quietly, erased as if they had never existed. Julian’s body was recovered from the wreckage of the garage, and his organization quickly dissolved without their leader or the stolen funds to pay them.
Vanessa vanished entirely. Rumor had it she boarded a flight to South America, forever terrified of the shadow of the Moretti family.
I didn’t go back to the mansion.
Instead, I stayed at the secure penthouse, which Luca’s men had repaired in a matter of days. I stayed because Leo asked me to. The little boy, traumatized but incredibly resilient, had bonded with me over sewing projects and bedtime stories. He refused to let anyone else tuck him in.
But if I was being honest with myself, I also stayed because Luca asked me to.
On Friday evening, I was sitting on the plush rug in the living room, helping Leo pin a tiny new jacket I was sewing for Barnaby the elephant.
The elevator doors chimed, and Luca walked in.
He wasn’t wearing his usual intimidating black suit. He wore a simple gray cashmere sweater and dark jeans. He looked younger, lighter. The heavy, suffocating burden of his brother’s unsolved murder had finally been lifted from his shoulders.
“Uncle Luca!” Leo cheered, dropping his toy and running over to him.
Luca scooped the boy up, laughing. It was a beautiful sound, deep and genuinely happy. “Hey, buddy. I brought you something.”
He handed Leo a brand-new box of Legos. The boy gasped in delight and ran back to the rug to tear it open.
Luca walked over to me. He didn't sit down. Instead, he held out a thick white envelope.
I stood up, wiping my hands on my jeans, suddenly feeling very self-conscious in his presence. I took the envelope. It was heavy.
“What is this?” I asked, my heart beating a little faster.
“Open it.”
I tore the seal. Inside was a cashier’s check for one hundred thousand dollars. Also inside was a legal deed to a small, beautiful commercial storefront in downtown Chicago.
I stared at the papers, my mouth falling open in shock. “Luca… I can’t take this. This is too much. I was just doing my job.”
“It’s not a gift,” Luca said, his voice serious, closing the distance between us. “It’s a cleared debt. You saved my fortune, my life, and my nephew. And the storefront is yours. I saw the sketches in your notebook, Sophie. You don’t belong repairing hems for ungrateful brides. You belong designing your own dresses.”
Tears pricked my eyes, blurring the numbers on the check. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll stay in Chicago,” Luca said softly. He stepped closer, his imposing height making me look up into his dark eyes. “Say you won’t disappear back into the background.”
“My apartment—”
“Is in a terrible neighborhood,” Luca interrupted gently. “You’ll stay here. With us. Or wherever you want. I’ll buy you a house. I’ll buy you ten houses.”
I let out a wet, genuine laugh. “I don’t need ten houses, Luca.”
“What do you need, Sophie?” he asked, his voice dropping to a rough whisper.
I looked past him, at Leo happily building a tower of blocks. The boy was safe, loved, and finally smiling. He had a family.
Then I looked back at Luca. The man who had been willing to die for the people he loved. “I just need to know that this isn’t a dream. That I’m not just the housemaid anymore.”
Luca reached out, his warm, strong hands cupping my face. His thumbs gently brushed the tears from my cheeks.
“You were never just a housemaid to me,” he whispered, his eyes searching mine. “From the moment you stood up to Vanessa in front of forty people, risking everything because you knew it was right, I knew exactly who you were.”
“Who?” I breathed.
May you like
“The bravest woman I’ve ever met.”
He leaned in, and as his lips met mine in a soft, questioning kiss, I finally let go of the breath I felt like I’d been holding my entire life.
