THE MAFIA BOSS WATCHED ME SERVE HIS ENGAGEMENT DINNER WITH MY HAIR COVERING ONE EYE—THEN HIS FIANCÉE SAID, “SHE HIT HER FACE ON THE PANTRY DOOR,” BEFORE HE HAD EVEN ASKED WHAT HAPPENED. I had almost made it around the table. Three more guests.

The silence in the room was deafening.

Mateo dropped a wooden block. The clatter sounded like a gunshot.

Luca stared at Marco, his jaw ticking so hard I thought his teeth might shatter.

“That is a lie,” Luca said. The words were quiet, but they carried the weight of an execution order.

“I know, Boss,” Marco said quickly. “But the lawyer has medical records. Signed by a doctor. She’s four months along.”

My stomach churned. Four months ago, Luca and Vanessa were fully engaged, playing the part of the perfect power couple.

I looked at Luca.

He turned to me, panic flashing in his dark eyes for the first time since the night we rescued Mateo. “Olivia, I swear to you. We shared a house, but we haven't shared a bed in over a year. It was a business arrangement. Nothing more.”

I took a deep breath. My hands were shaking, but I forced myself to stay calm.

“Answer One, Open Two,” my mind whispered. The immediate threat of Vanessa was gone, but her venom was still poisoning us.

“I believe you,” I said, and I meant it.

Luca let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for a century. He pulled me into a brief, fierce embrace before turning back to Marco.

“Bring the lawyer to my study. Have the men search him first.”

“Yes, sir.”

Luca looked down at Mateo. “Buddy, I need to go do some work. Stay here with Olivia, okay?”

“Okay, Dad,” Mateo chirped, completely unaware of the bomb that had just been dropped in our living room.

Luca kissed the top of my head and strode out of the room, his fists clenched.

I sat back down on the rug with Mateo, but my mind was racing.

Vanessa was pregnant. If the baby wasn't Luca’s, whose was it?

Daniel.

It had to be. Daniel and Vanessa were conspiring together. They had planned to kill Luca and take over. It made perfect sense that they were sleeping together.

But with Daniel dead, Vanessa was using the unborn child as her final weapon to tether herself to the Moretti empire. To force Luca to spare her life permanently, because the Mafia code strictly forbade harming a woman carrying a boss’s bloodline.

An hour later, Luca returned.

He looked exhausted.

“The documents are legally binding for now,” Luca said, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. “She’s demanding a paternity test, but only after the child is born. She knows if she does it now, the truth comes out. She’s buying herself five months of protection and luxury at my expense.”

“Can we prove it’s Daniel’s?” I asked.

Luca shook his head. “Daniel had no surviving family. No DNA on file to cross-reference. Until the baby is born and tested against my DNA, the Commission forces me to provide for her.”

I walked over and took the whiskey glass from his hand, setting it on the desk.

“There’s something you’re missing,” I said quietly.

He looked at me, tired and defeated. “What?”

“The orphanage,” I said, the memory suddenly crystal clear in my mind. “When we went to St. Jude’s to get Mateo… Vanessa was arguing with Sister Margaret. She said she was transferring Mateo to upstate New York.”

“I remember,” Luca said.

“Luca, Vanessa is a sociopath, but she’s vain,” I explained, my heart beating faster. “She hated Mateo. She wanted him gone. But she kept him alive at an orphanage she funded. Why? Why not just have Daniel get rid of him entirely?”

Luca’s eyes narrowed as he followed my logic. “Leverage.”

“Exactly,” I said. “She used the orphanage as her personal vault. If she funded St. Jude’s, and she was sleeping with Daniel… where do you think Daniel kept his personal insurance policies?”

Luca’s head snapped up.

“Daniel was a paranoid security expert,” I continued. “He wouldn't trust Vanessa entirely. If he was sleeping with her, and plotting treason, he would keep proof. And St. Jude’s has a massive archive room for their benefactors' tax records.”