THE MAFIA BOSS’S FIANCÉE ORDERED ME TO GET RID OF HIS OLD DOG—THEN THE DOG LED US TO THE GARAGE AND UNCOVERED HER SICK SECRET

The study went completely still.

The only sound was the crackle of the fire and the low, continuous growl vibrating in Bruno’s chest.

I stared at Vanessa, my mind struggling to process the impossible words that had just left her mouth.

“My name?” I whispered. “That’s insane. I don’t even have a passport.”

Vanessa pulled herself up onto the edge of the leather armchair, her expensive red gown stained with soot from the fireplace rug.

“Don’t play innocent, Emma,” Vanessa spat, her voice dripping with venom. “You’ve been working here for eight months. You play the poor, tragic housekeeper trying to pay her brother’s tuition, but you’ve been snooping through my things since the day I moved in.”

She looked at Luca, her eyes wide, begging him to believe her.

“She’s working for the Rossi family, Luca! She’s a spy! The Rossi cartel orchestrated Elena’s crash six years ago, and when they realized Elena was pregnant, they kept the child alive as leverage. Emma was supposed to smuggle the boy out of the country tomorrow morning while you were at the airport!”

I couldn’t breathe.

The Rossi family was the most brutal, unforgiving syndicate on the East Coast. Everyone in Chicago knew they had been at war with Luca’s father for decades.

I looked at Luca.

He was staring at me. His dark eyes were unreadable, calculating every piece of information like a chessboard.

“I have never spoken to a Rossi in my life,” I said, my voice trembling but clear. “I’m a housekeeper. I clean your floors.”

“Then why was the driver carrying a ticket with your name on it?” Vanessa countered triumphantly.

Luca didn’t answer her.

He took his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a single number.

“Daniel,” Luca said, his eyes never leaving my face. “Come to the study. Bring the driver’s coat.”

A minute later, a heavy knock sounded at the door.

I opened it.

Daniel stepped inside, carrying a heavy, black leather trench coat. He handed it to Luca.

“The driver isn’t talking, boss,” Daniel said grimly. “He bit down on a cyanide capsule the second we tied him to the chair in the basement. He’s dead.”

Vanessa let out a sharp gasp, covering her mouth.

Luca didn’t flinch.

He reached into the inner pocket of the dead man’s leather coat.

He pulled out a crisp, white envelope.

Luca opened the flap, removed a boarding pass, and looked at the printed name.

He stood there for a long time.

Then, he slowly raised his eyes and looked at me.

“It says Emma Sullivan,” Luca stated quietly.

My knees felt weak. I grabbed the edge of the mahogany desk to keep from collapsing.

“Mr. Moretti, I swear to you,” I pleaded, tears burning in my eyes. “I don’t know why my name is on that ticket. I have never seen that driver before in my life. I found Leo in the garage tonight. If I was trying to smuggle him out, why would I have brought Bruno into the dining room to stop her from sending them away?”

Luca remained perfectly still.

He looked at the boarding pass. Then he looked at Vanessa.

“She’s a brilliant liar, Luca,” Vanessa said, sensing his hesitation. “She brought the dog into the dining room to create a distraction. She wanted you to fire her so she would have an excuse to leave the property with her bags packed tonight!”

It was a perfectly constructed trap.

Vanessa had framed me. She had bought a ticket under my name, hired a driver who would die before talking, and orchestrated a narrative that fit perfectly with my desperate financial situation.

I was going to die in this house tonight.

I looked at Leo, sitting on the sofa with his arms wrapped tightly around Bruno.

I had failed him.

Then, Bruno stood up.

The old German shepherd limped slowly across the Persian rug. He ignored Vanessa, who shrank back into the armchair.

He walked directly up to me.

Bruno pressed his heavy gray muzzle against my leg, let out a soft whine, and sat down right beside my feet, facing Luca.

Luca looked at the dog.

Twelve years ago, Luca’s father had taught Bruno to attack anyone who meant the family harm. The dog had saved Luca’s life twice during his teenage years. Bruno was a judge of character that Luca trusted more than any human being.

Bruno looked at Luca, gave a single, firm bark, and rested his chin on my knee.

Luca exhaled slowly.

He looked down at the boarding pass in his hand.

Then he reached into the leather coat again.

“You’re right, Vanessa,” Luca said, his voice dropping into a deadly, terrifying whisper. “Emma’s name is on the ticket.”

He pulled a second, identical envelope from the deep side pocket of the coat.

“But the driver wasn’t traveling alone,” Luca said.

Vanessa’s face went completely, horrifically blank.

Luca opened the second envelope.

He pulled out the second boarding pass.

“This one,” Luca said, his dark eyes locking onto his fiancée, “is a first-class ticket. Under the name Vanessa Bellini.”

The air was sucked out of the room.

Vanessa leaped out of the armchair. “He planted that! The driver planted that to frame me!”

“The driver is dead, Vanessa,” Luca said coldly.

“I didn’t do it!” Vanessa screamed, backing toward the fireplace. “I love you, Luca! I was going to marry you!”

“You were going to marry my bank accounts,” Luca corrected, stepping toward her. “You realized I was never going to put your name on the family trusts. So you decided to steal my son, use Emma as the fall guy, and flee to Switzerland to hold my child for ransom.”

“No!” Vanessa shrieked.

I took a deep breath.

I reached into the pocket of my housekeeping dress.

“Mr. Moretti,” I said quietly.

Luca stopped and looked at me.

I pulled out the torn photograph Leo had given me.

“Leo told me his mother told him to keep this hidden,” I said, walking over and handing the photograph to Luca.

Luca looked at the glossy paper.

He saw Vanessa, dressed in a nurse’s uniform, handing a newborn baby to a faceless man.

He flipped the photo over and read the frantic handwriting: She took him.

Luca’s hands began to shake violently.

“You were a nurse at St. Jude’s Hospital six years ago,” Luca whispered, the terrifying truth finally clicking into place. “Before you met me. Before my father died.”

Vanessa was sobbing uncontrollably now, her back pressed against the stone fireplace.

“Elena didn’t die on impact, did she?” Luca asked, his voice breaking with a grief so profound it made my chest ache. “She survived the crash. She was brought to your hospital.”

“I couldn’t save her, Luca!” Vanessa wept, sliding down the stones to the floor. “I swear to God, she was bleeding too much! She only lived long enough to deliver the baby!”

“And you stole him,” Luca said, taking a step closer, casting a massive, terrifying shadow over her.

“My father made me do it!” Vanessa screamed, throwing her arms over her head. “My father is bankrupt, Luca! The Bellini syndicate is drowning in debt! He told me to hide the child so we could use him against you, but then he told me to marry you instead so we could take everything legally!”

Luca stopped.

He looked down at the woman he had almost married.

“Your father orchestrated the crash,” Luca realized, the final, devastating puzzle piece falling into place.

Vanessa nodded frantically. “Yes! It was him! It was always him!”

Luca slowly pulled a heavy black handgun from the holster beneath his suit jacket.

He racked the slide. The metallic click echoed like a thunderclap in the quiet study.

“Where is your father, Vanessa?” Luca asked quietly.

Before she could answer, the heavy mahogany doors of the study burst open.