Sophia’s childhood home had not changed much.
The porch still leaned slightly left.
The mailbox still refused to close.
A faded ceramic chicken still guarded the front steps because her mother had bought it at a yard sale twenty years ago and her father had apparently never gathered the courage to throw it away.
Sophia stood at the curb with Elena and three security men.
For a moment, she was twelve again.
Then she remembered that her father might have hidden evidence connected to organized crime inside the house.
Childhood nostalgia disappeared quickly.
“Where would your grandmother keep things?” Elena asked.
“She lived with us for six years.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down.”
“She believed banks were run by crooks.”
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“Your grandmother and my family would have enjoyed each other.”
“She hid cash in flour bags.”
“I like her already.”
They searched the kitchen first.
Nothing.
Then the attic.
Nothing.
Sophia’s old bedroom still had glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.
Elena stared.
“You were this person?”
“I was eleven.”
“There are eighty-seven stars.”
“I wanted accuracy.”
“That is not an accurate constellation.”
“I was eleven, Elena.”
They continued searching.
An hour passed.
Then Sophia remembered something.
Her grandmother hated throwing away cookbooks.
Even terrible ones.
Especially terrible ones.
There was a cabinet beneath the basement stairs filled with them.
Sophia ran downstairs.
She pulled open the cabinet.
Dust rose.
There, behind an ancient cookbook about gelatin desserts, sat a blue metal box.
Her hands trembled.
“Elena.”
Elena appeared beside her.
“That it?”
“Yes.”
Sophia lifted it carefully.
A tiny lock secured the front.
She knew where the key was.
At least, she hoped.
Her grandmother used to wear it around her neck.
After she died, Sophia’s mother had placed the necklace in a jewelry case.
Sophia ran upstairs.
The case remained in her parents’ bedroom.
Inside lay old earrings, a broken watch, a wedding band—
and the key.
Sophia returned to the kitchen.
Elena closed the curtains.
The guards checked the perimeter.
Sophia unlocked the box.
Recipe cards filled the top.
Apple pie.
Sweet rolls.
Chocolate cake.
Her grandmother’s handwriting.
Sophia’s eyes filled.
Then Elena touched her shoulder.
“Underneath.”
A false bottom.
Sophia lifted it.
Inside lay a black notebook wrapped in plastic.
The ledger.
For several seconds neither woman spoke.
“This could destroy people,” Elena said.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
Sophia flipped open the first page.
Names.
Dates.
Numbers.
Locations.
Some entries were twenty years old.
Others were more recent.
“How is that possible if Luca thought it was destroyed years ago?”
Elena leaned closer.
“Because someone continued it.”
“Who?”
Before Elena could answer, the front window shattered.
One of the guards shouted.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Sophia dropped to the floor.
Elena dragged her behind the kitchen island.
“Not again!”
“You attract excitement.”
“I made cupcakes for a living!”
Another shot.
A guard yelled from the hall.
“Back entrance!”
Elena grabbed the ledger.
“This way.”
They ran toward the basement.
Sophia slipped on the third step.
Of course.
Elena caught her coat.
“Seriously?”
“This is established behavior!”
They reached the basement.
A narrow window opened near the foundation.
Too small for most adults.
Sophia looked at it.
Then at Elena.
“You first.”
“Why?”
“You’re thinner.”
“That’s rude.”
“It’s survival.”
Elena shoved the ledger beneath her jacket and climbed through.
Sophia followed.
Outside, they crawled behind a hedge.
A black SUV had crashed against the mailbox.
Two men exchanged fire with the Moretti guards.
Elena pulled Sophia toward the neighbor’s fence.
They ran.
Sophia’s phone vibrated.
Luca.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
“Elena.”
“Answer him.”
“I’m mad at him.”
“We are currently being shot at.”
“Fine.”
She answered.
“What?”
“Where are you?”
The fear in Luca’s voice erased half her anger.
“Behind Mrs. Callahan’s hydrangeas.”
A pause.
“What?”
“Long story.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Elena?”
“Also no.”
“I’m three minutes away.”
Sophia froze.
“You came?”
“You told me not to.”
“Yes.”
“I ignored you.”
“That is incredibly irritating.”
“I know.”
A bullet hit the fence.
Sophia screamed.
Luca’s voice changed.
“Stay down.”
“I was planning to!”
“Marco is entering from the east.”
“How do you know which side is east?”
“Sophia.”
“Stress talking.”
“Stay on the phone.”
They crawled toward the next yard.
Elena suddenly stopped.
“What?”
She pointed.
A man stood near the alley.
Gun raised.
Sophia barely had time to understand.
Then another figure hit him from the side.
Luca.
The collision was violent.
The weapon flew across the pavement.
Luca struck the man once, twice, then shoved him against a brick wall.
The attacker went down.
Sophia stared.
She had known Luca was strong.
Knowing and seeing were different things.
He turned.
His eyes found her.
Everything else disappeared from his face.
He crossed the distance in seconds.
“Sophia.”
“I’m fine.”
He checked anyway.
Arms.
Shoulders.
Face.
“You’re bleeding.”
“What?”
Her palm was cut from broken glass.
“That?”
She lifted it.
“It’s nothing.”
His expression suggested he was considering declaring war on glass.
Elena emerged from the hedge.
“I’m fine too, thank you.”
Luca glared at her.
“You were responsible for keeping her safe.”
“There were six armed men.”
“And?”
“And I left my tank at home.”
Marco arrived.
“The others fled.”
Luca looked toward the house.
“Did you find it?”
Sophia and Elena exchanged a glance.
Sophia was still angry.
But now she knew Rinaldi had sent men within minutes of their arrival.
Someone had known exactly where she would go.
Someone close.
“Yes,” she said.
Elena handed him the ledger.
Luca opened it.
His face changed.
“This isn’t my father’s handwriting.”
“Someone continued it,” Sophia said.
Luca flipped several pages.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Sophia moved closer.
He showed her a line.
D. Bennett — Boston logistics — payments authorized.
Her stomach twisted.
“How much?”
Luca looked.
“Two hundred thousand.”
Sophia went pale.
“My father said his debt was two hundred thousand.”
“He wasn’t in debt,” Elena said.
“He was being paid.”
Sophia felt sick.
Luca closed the ledger.
“We need to leave.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Sophia pointed at the book.
“My father risked my life. He used my business. He lied to me.”
“Sophia—”
“I’m not leaving until I know why.”
Luca’s voice hardened.
“Someone just attacked this house.”
“And they’ll attack the next place too.”
“Yes.”
“So running isn’t solving anything.”
“It keeps you alive.”
“For how long?”
Luca had no answer.
Sophia stepped closer.
“Where would Rinaldi keep my father?”
“I have people searching.”
“Where?”
“Warehouses. Hotels. Private properties.”
“What about places connected to my father?”
Marco looked thoughtful.
“His office.”
“We checked,” Sophia said.
“Storage units?” Elena asked.
Sophia stopped.
“My dad has a boat.”
Luca looked at her.
“A boat?”
“Tiny sailboat. Barely leaves the marina. He calls it Second Chance.”
Marco was already using his phone.
“Which marina?”
“Winthrop.”
Luca swore.
“What?”
“Rinaldi owns property near there.”
Twenty minutes later, they were moving toward the coast.
Sophia sat beside Luca.
Neither spoke.
Finally, she said, “Why didn’t you tell me about the council?”
“Because I knew what it would sound like.”
“That you needed a wife for business reasons?”
“Yes.”
“That is exactly what it was.”
“Partly.”
“Partly matters.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
She waited.
Luca’s voice lowered.
“When your father offered the marriage, I could have chosen someone else.”
“Apparently not successfully.”
A surprised breath escaped him.
Sophia regretted it immediately.
“Sorry.”
“No.”
He looked out the window.
“You’re right.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Six women rejected me.”
“That doesn’t make you unlovable.”
Luca’s head turned slowly.
Sophia wished she could pull the words back.
Not because they were untrue.
Because they were too true.
His gaze held hers.
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough to know that.”
Something passed through his expression.
Then the car stopped.
Marco turned around.
“We found the boat.”
“Is my father there?”
“We don’t know.”
The marina was nearly empty beneath a gray sky.
Second Chance sat near the end of the pier.
Luca ordered Sophia to stay in the car.
She ignored him.
Naturally.
By the time he noticed, she was halfway down the dock.
“Sophia.”
“You married me knowing I don’t follow instructions.”
“I learned that afterward.”
The boat looked deserted.
Marco boarded first.
Then Luca.
Sophia waited on the dock until Luca reached below deck.
A moment later, he called her name.
Not loudly.
That frightened her more.
She climbed aboard.
Her father sat in the tiny cabin.
Alive.
Bruised.
Hands tied.
“Dad!”
Sophia dropped beside him.
Daniel Bennett opened his eyes.
“Soph?”
She started crying.
Then slapped his shoulder.
“Ow.”
“You idiot!”
“I deserve that.”
“You nearly got me killed!”
“I deserve that too.”
Luca cut the ropes.
Daniel looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Luca’s expression was cold.
“Save it.”
Sophia helped her father sit upright.
“Why did you do it?”
Daniel’s face crumpled.
“They threatened your mother.”
Sophia froze.
Her mother had died three years earlier after a long illness.
“What?”
“Before she got sick. Rinaldi’s people approached me. They knew about my work with Moretti shipping. They said if I didn’t cooperate, they’d hurt you both.”
“So you gave them information.”
“At first, small things.”
“Then?”
“They paid me.”
Sophia pulled away.
Daniel lowered his head.
“I told myself taking the money made it look real. Then I started gambling. I lost some. Borrowed more.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“All of it.”
“Yes.”
“Why the ledger?”
Daniel looked at Luca.
“I found out Rinaldi had someone inside the Moretti council. Someone important.”
“Who?” Luca demanded.
Daniel shook his head.
“I never learned the name. But I found the ledger in a shipment Rinaldi asked me to reroute. I stole it because I thought I could trade it for our safety.”
“You hid it in Sophia’s home,” Luca said.
“I panicked.”
“You put your daughter in the line of fire.”
“I know.”
Sophia stood.
She couldn’t look at him.
“Then why offer me to Luca?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“Because I knew Moretti was the only man Rinaldi feared.”
Sophia turned.
Her father looked genuinely broken.
“I thought if you became Luca’s wife, Rinaldi wouldn’t touch you.”
“He burned my bakery.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
A sound came from above.
Marco shouted.
Luca turned.
Too late.
An explosion rocked the dock.
The cabin slammed sideways.
Sophia hit the wall.
Water sprayed through a cracked window.
“What happened?”
Luca grabbed her.
“Bomb.”
The boat lurched.
Smoke filled the cabin.
Daniel coughed.
Luca shoved open the door.
“Move!”
They climbed onto the deck.
Flames spread near the stern.
On shore, a black sedan sped away.
Marco fired toward the tires.
Missed.
The boat began to list.
Luca pushed Sophia toward the pier.
“Jump.”
“What about my father?”
“I’ll get him.”
“Luca—”
“Jump!”
Sophia jumped.
Marco caught her.
She turned.
Luca had Daniel over one shoulder, carrying him like he weighed nothing.
He leaped to the dock as the boat’s stern erupted in flame.
Everyone ran.
Seconds later, the blast shattered windows across the marina.
Sophia hit the ground.
Luca covered her body with his.
The world rang.
Smoke rolled over them.
Then silence.
Sophia opened her eyes.
Luca was above her.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“You?”
“Yes.”
Behind them, Second Chance burned.
Daniel sat against a piling.
Marco checked the guards.
Sophia looked at Luca.
“He knew.”
“Who?”
“Rinaldi.”
“He knew we found Dad.”
“Yes.”
She thought about how quickly the men had reached her childhood home.
How quickly the bomb had been triggered.
Then she remembered Elena’s warning.
Something my brother doesn’t know I know.
“Elena.”
Luca turned.
His sister stood twenty feet away.
Her face was pale.
“What?” he asked.
Elena looked at the ledger in Marco’s hands.
Then at Luca.
“I know who the traitor is.”
Nobody moved.
Luca’s voice lowered.
“Who?”
Elena swallowed.
“The man who arranged Sophia’s father’s original contract.”
Luca went still.
“Who?”
Elena looked toward Marco.
For one terrible second, Sophia thought she meant him.
Then Elena spoke.
“Uncle Matteo.”
Luca’s face lost all color.
Sophia knew instantly that name mattered.
“Who is Matteo?” she asked.
Luca stared at his sister.
“My father’s brother.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“And the man who will become head of the Moretti family if Luca dies without an heir.”