Chapter 1 - THE MAN BEHIND THE WHEEL
The man behind the wheel was my younger brother.
Luca Vance.
For several seconds, I simply stared at the security photograph.
Same dark hair.
Same scar through his left eyebrow.
Same black signet ring our father had given both of us when we turned twenty-one.
My security chief, Marco DeLuca, watched me carefully.
“Boss?”
I looked toward the woman in the bed.
She had gone completely still.
Not confused.
Terrified.
“You know him,” I said.
Her eyes filled.
“Please.”
“What is your name?”
She hesitated.
Then whispered, “Anna Morelli.”
I knew the surname.
Everyone in Chicago did.
The Morelli family controlled import companies, trucking yards, and several construction firms on the South Side.
They were supposed to be our allies.
“What does Luca have to do with you?”
Anna closed her eyes.
“He was supposed to help me escape.”
My jaw tightened.
“Escape from whom?”
Her answer came so quietly I almost missed it.
“My husband.”
I looked toward the two bassinets near the window.
“Who is your husband?”
Anna’s breathing changed.
She looked toward the door as if expecting someone to appear.
Then whispered the name.
“Matteo Morelli.”
My blood went cold.
Matteo was forty-five, violent, ambitious, and useful enough that men tolerated what they shouldn’t.
I had known him for ten years.
Shared tables with him.
Signed contracts with him.
Let him into my home.
And apparently, while he shook my hand, he had been beating the mother of his newborn daughters.
“Why would Luca bring you to my warehouse?”
Anna’s eyes filled.
“Because he said you would protect the babies.”
I stared.
“Then why were you left in the snow?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Marco handed me another photograph.
Taken from a traffic camera twenty minutes before Anna was abandoned.
Luca’s SUV had stopped beneath an overpass.
Another vehicle pulled beside it.
A black sedan.
A man stepped out.
Matteo Morelli.
My hands tightened.
“Luca met him.”
Marco nodded.
“Looks that way.”
I turned toward Anna.
She began shaking.
“He found us.”
“Who?”
“Matteo.”
I moved closer.
“Did Luca betray you?”
She covered her face.
“I don’t know.”
Then one of the babies cried.
Anna immediately tried to sit up.
Pain tore across her face.
“Don’t,” I said.
“My daughters.”
“They’re safe.”
She looked at me.
“What are their names?”
I asked.
Her expression changed.
“Sofia and Lucia.”
Lucia.
My mother’s name.
I stared at her.
“Why did you name your daughter Lucia?”
Anna stopped breathing.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then she whispered:
“Because she isn’t Matteo’s daughter.”
My blood turned cold.
I looked toward the bassinets.
Then back at her.
“And Sofia?”
Anna began crying.
“They’re twins.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then who is their father?”
She closed her eyes.
May you like
And when she answered, I understood why Luca had brought them to me.
“Your brother.”
