Chapter 1 - THE BABY WHO REFUSED TO LET ME GO
I looked at Luca Moretti.
Then at the baby reaching toward me with both hands.
"Are you serious?"
Leo answered for him.
He lunged so hard that Luca had to tighten his hold.
"Apparently," Luca said.
I hesitated.
Holding a customer's baby was not technically forbidden.
Holding the ten-month-old son of Philadelphia's most feared man felt like something that should require legal paperwork.
I set the wine list down.
"Okay."
Luca shifted Leo carefully into my arms.
The reaction was immediate.
Silence.
Leo pressed his cheek against my shoulder, grabbed the collar of my uniform, and sighed.
Not cried.
Not whimpered.
Actually sighed.
The entire table stared.
I looked down at him.
"Well, that's flattering."
The older man beside Luca had turned pale.
His name, I would later learn, was Frank DeSantis.
Luca's godfather.
His oldest adviser.
And apparently the only man at the table more frightened by Leo's reaction than Luca himself.
"Where did you get that necklace?" Frank asked.
My fingers moved automatically toward the silver pendant at my throat.
It was small.
Oval.
Old enough that the edges had gone smooth.
"My mother."
Frank leaned forward.
"Your mother gave it to you?"
"Yes."
"What was her name?"
Luca looked sharply at him.
"Frank."
But the older man didn't stop.
"What was her name?"
I tightened my hold on Leo.
"Marianne Cole."
Frank's face changed.
Luca noticed.
"So did I."
"What?" Luca asked.
Frank said nothing.
I looked between them.
"Okay. This is officially getting weird."
Leo lifted his head.
His tiny fingers reached toward my necklace.
The pendant opened beneath his touch.
I froze.
It had never opened before.
Not once.
Inside was a miniature photograph.
I stared.
A young woman.
My mother.
And beside her stood a man with dark hair and unmistakable gray-blue eyes.
The same eyes as Leo.
The same eyes as Luca Moretti.
My heart stopped.
Frank whispered:
"That's Matteo."
Luca went completely still.
"Who?"
Frank looked at him.
Then at me.
"Your father's younger brother."
The air disappeared from the room.
I stared at the photograph.
"My mother knew your uncle?"
Frank's expression turned grim.
"Knew him?"
May you like
He swallowed.
"Avery, your mother was supposed to marry him."
