The silence in the kitchen was heavy enough to crush bone.

I knelt beside my bleeding father, my hands trembling violently, staring at Luca’s phone.

“Dominic,” Luca said. His voice was smooth, devoid of any panic, resonating with a terrifying calm. “You have crossed a line tonight.”

A dry chuckle echoed through the speaker. “Lines are meant to be crossed in business, Luca. Your lovely bride-to-be owes my family four million dollars. She promised to pay us the moment she married into your accounts. But since her little secrets are spilling out tonight, I figured I’d collect my collateral early.”

“You took an innocent girl,” I screamed at the phone, unable to hold back the terror for my sister. “Let Chloe go!”

“Ah, the feisty housekeeper,” Dominic purred. “Listen to me, little bird. I don’t care about your sister. What I care about is the leather ledger I just acquired from your father’s floorboards. It’s very detailed. But it’s encrypted.”

I looked at my father. He nodded slowly, his face ashen.

“The decryption key,” Dominic continued, “is apparently locked inside a safety deposit box at First City Bank. A box that requires a biometric scan from only one person.”

Dominic paused, letting the threat hang in the air.

“You, Emma.”

The floor seemed to tilt beneath me. “Me? I don’t know anything about a safety deposit box!”

“Your father was smart,” Dominic said. “He knew Vanessa would kill him if she got the ledger. So he tied the decryption key to the one person he thought was safe under Luca Moretti’s roof. You.”

Luca’s jaw tightened. “What is your price, Dominic?”

“Simple,” Dominic replied. “Bring the girl to the old railyard at midnight. She opens the box for me, I get the proof to squeeze Vanessa dry, and you get the sister back. If you involve the police, or if you bring an army, I send the sister back in pieces.”

The call disconnected.

The dial tone screamed in the quiet kitchen.

Marcus slammed his fist against the doorframe. “He’s going to kill them both! Once she opens that box, she’s a loose end.”

“I know,” Luca said calmly. He slipped the phone back into his pocket and finally looked down at me.

“I’ll do it,” I said instantly, standing up. “I’ll go to the bank. I’ll give them whatever they want. I have to save Chloe.”

“You aren’t going anywhere near Dominic Russo without me,” Luca said, his tone leaving absolutely no room for debate.

He reached down and helped my father to his feet. “Marcus, carry him to the SUV. We need to get him to my private doctor.”

As Marcus lifted my frail father, I scanned the ruined kitchen, looking for anything—a clue, a weapon, something to help me.

That’s when I saw it.

Gleaming under the harsh fluorescent light, half-hidden beneath a smashed ceramic plate, was a heavy gold lighter.

I bent down and picked it up.

It was expensive. Real gold. And deeply engraved on the front were the initials A.T.

I stared at the letters, a cold sense of dread washing over me.

“Luca,” I whispered.

He stopped at the front door, turning back. “What did you find?”

I held up the lighter. “This didn’t belong to the men who broke in here. This belongs to your head lawyer. Anthony Trench.”

Luca froze.

He walked back into the kitchen, taking the lighter from my hand. He ran his thumb over the engraved initials. His expression didn’t change, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

“Trench,” Luca murmured. “Trench has been negotiating the prenuptial agreement with Vanessa for the last three months.”

The pieces fell into place with sickening clarity.

“Vanessa didn’t just owe the Russos,” I said, my voice shaking. “She had help inside your organization. Trench knew my father was keeping a ledger because he’s the one who set up Vanessa’s fake accounts.”

“And when Vanessa’s plan started falling apart tonight,” Luca finished, his eyes hardening, “Trench realized he was going to be exposed. He tipped off the Russos. He told them about your father.”

Luca pulled out his phone again, dialing a quick sequence.

“Daniel,” Luca barked, calling his head of security. “Where is Anthony Trench?”

“He left the mansion twenty minutes ago, Boss,” Daniel’s voice came through. “Said he had an urgent legal matter downtown.”

“Track his car,” Luca ordered. “And lock down the estate. Do not let Vanessa out of that study.”

He hung up, looking at me.

“Trench isn’t going to the railyard,” Luca said. “He’s going to First City Bank. He’s going to try and intercept you before you get to Dominic, so he can destroy the decryption key and save his own skin.”

I gripped the edge of the counter. “What do we do?”

Luca stepped closer, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that chased away the cold terror in my chest.

“We are going to the bank, Emma,” Luca said. “And we are going to burn Anthony Trench to the ground.”