I KNEW LUCA’S MOTHER HADN’T FORGOTTEN HER GRANDDAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY.

The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.

Luca, the illegitimate son?

Rosa stumbled backward, collapsing into one of the leather armchairs. She pressed a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with a terror that went far beyond the kidnapping of her granddaughter.

“No,” Rosa whispered. “He promised he destroyed those papers.”

I ran to the balcony.

“Vanessa!” I yelled into the dark.

But she was already gone, swallowed by the shadows of the estate grounds, taking the ledger with her.

I turned back to Rosa.

The matriarch of the Moretti family looked completely broken.

“Mrs. Moretti,” I said gently, kneeling beside her chair. “What did she mean? What papers?”

Rosa closed her eyes, tears squeezing past her lashes.

“Thirty-four years ago,” Rosa began, her voice trembling, “my husband had an affair. With a woman in Sicily.”

I listened, my heart pounding.

“She became pregnant,” Rosa continued. “And so did I. We had sons a month apart.”

Rosa opened her eyes, looking at me with a desperate, pleading sorrow.

“Victor was my son, Emma. He was the legitimate heir.”

I stared at her, stunned.

“But Victor was... wrong,” Rosa wept. “Even as a child, he was cruel. Violent. Uncontrollable. My husband knew that if Victor took over the syndicate, he would destroy it. He would burn Chicago to the ground in a week.”

She took a shaky breath.

“But the boy from Sicily... Luca. He was smart. Calm. Honorable. Even as a teenager, the men respected him more than Victor.”

“So your husband chose Luca,” I realized.

“He didn't just choose him,” Rosa sobbed. “He forged the birth certificates. He made Luca the legitimate son on paper, and declared Victor the bastard. He exiled Victor to Sicily to keep him away from the throne.”

I sat back on my heels, reeling from the confession.

Luca’s entire life, his entire empire, was built on a lie orchestrated by his own father to protect the family.

“But my husband kept the original documents,” Rosa whispered. “He couldn't bring himself to burn them. He told me he buried them in his casket. So the secret would die with him.”

Answer one: Victor dug up the grave to retrieve the original birth certificates, proving he was the true heir to the Chicago syndicate.

Open two: If Victor had the proof, why did he still need Sophie?

Before I could ask, the door to the study burst open.

Luca strode in, his face smeared with soot, his gun in his hand. Daniel followed closely behind.

“They’re gone,” Luca said, his voice hollow. “We lost them at the interstate.”

He looked at his mother.

“Ma, are you okay?”

Rosa looked up at the son she had raised, the son she loved more than her own flesh and blood.

She opened her mouth to tell him the truth.

But she couldn't.

“I’m fine, Luca,” Rosa lied, wiping her tears. “Did you find Vanessa?”

“No,” Luca growled. “She slipped past the guards.”

“She was here,” I said, standing up.

Luca turned to me, his eyes wide. “What?”

“She was in the study,” I explained quickly. “She opened a safe behind that painting. She took a ledger.”

Luca swore violently, slamming his fist against the desk.

“The offshore accounts,” Daniel said, his face paling. “Boss, if she transfers that money, we won't have the funds to pay the mercenaries to hunt Victor.”

Luca stared at the empty safe.

“She needs a secure terminal to make a transfer that large,” Luca said, his mind racing. “She can't just do it from a cell phone. She’ll need to go to one of the syndicate’s clean houses.”

“Which one?” Daniel asked.

Luca looked at me.

“Emma. When she was here, did she say anything? Anything at all about where she was going?”

I thought back to Vanessa’s smug smile on the balcony.

“She didn't say where,” I recalled. “But she said she was going to buy her way into Europe.”

Luca frowned.

Then he looked at his mother.

“Ma. The passports.”

Rosa gasped. “The ones she took from my floorboards.”

“She needs them to get out of the country,” Luca said. “But they’re fake. My father had them made years ago. They only work if you use the specific private airstrip he bribed.”

“The airfield in Rockford,” Daniel realized.

“She’s going to Rockford,” Luca confirmed.

He turned to the door.

“Boss,” Daniel warned. “If we go after Vanessa, we lose time finding Sophie.”

Luca stopped. The agony in his eyes was unbearable.

He had to choose between the money he needed to fight a war, and the daughter he loved more than life itself.

But then I remembered something else Vanessa had said.

“Mr. Moretti, wait,” I said.

Luca looked at me.

“Vanessa said Victor gets the girl, she gets the money, and you get nothing.”

Luca’s brow furrowed. “So?”

“So they made a deal,” I said, the pieces clicking together in my mind. “Victor paid off her debts to get her to marry you. He used her to get into the house tonight. They were working together.”

I took a step toward him.

“If Vanessa knows where the money is... she probably knows where Victor took Sophie.”

Luca stared at me. The realization hit him like a lightning bolt.

He didn't have to choose.

“Get the cars,” Luca ordered Daniel. “We’re going to Rockford.”

He turned to me.

“Emma. You stay here with my mother.”

“No,” I said firmly.

Luca blinked, surprised by my defiance.

“I’m coming with you,” I said, grabbing my coat from the chair. “Sophie is terrified. If you find her, she’s going to need someone who isn't holding a gun.”

Luca looked like he wanted to argue, but he saw the determination in my eyes.

He gave a single, sharp nod.