Chapter 1 - THE BRAKES WERE CUT
“The brakes were cut.”
For several seconds, Luca Romano did not move.
Emma could feel Matteo breathing against her chest.
Warm.
Slow.
Completely unaware that one sentence had just changed the meaning of his mother’s death.
Luca stared at the soaked man standing near the restaurant entrance.
“Say it again.”
The messenger swallowed.
“Mrs. Romano’s car was recovered from the impound facility this afternoon.”
“We had an independent mechanic examine it.”
“The rear brake line wasn’t damaged by the crash.”
“It had been sliced before impact.”
Silence swallowed La Velluto.
Emma looked down at Matteo.
Five weeks old.
His mother dead.
His nanny hospitalized.
And now someone was saying the accident that sent his pregnant mother into emergency surgery had not been an accident at all.
Luca handed the situation to his men with terrifying efficiency.
“Marco.”
The scarred bodyguard stepped forward.
“Yes, boss.”
“Lock every entrance.”
“Already done.”
“Enzo.”
Another guard straightened.
“Get everyone’s phones.”
Emma’s head snapped up.
“No.”
Every man turned toward her.
Luca looked almost offended.
“What?”
“You are not taking my phone.”
“This room is sealed.”
“Then seal the doors.”
Emma tightened her hold on Matteo.
“My phone stays with me.”
Luca stared.
She stared back.
Matteo sighed against her collarbone.
Marco looked between them like he had just realized the most dangerous person in the restaurant might be the five-foot-six waitress holding a newborn.
Luca finally said,
“Fine.”
Emma blinked.
Nobody else did.
Apparently Luca Romano changing his mind was a supernatural event.
The soaked messenger introduced himself as Daniel Vescari, one of Luca’s investigators.
He explained the crash.
Five weeks earlier, Luca’s wife, Sofia Romano, had been thirty-seven weeks pregnant.
She was driving from the Romano estate to St. Catherine’s Medical Center after experiencing early contractions.
Halfway there, her brakes failed.
The car crossed an intersection.
Hit a retaining wall.
Sofia survived long enough for surgeons to deliver Matteo by emergency cesarean.
Then she hemorrhaged.
She died before sunrise.
Luca had spent five weeks believing bad luck had destroyed his wife.
Now someone had given bad luck a knife.
“Who had access to the car?” Luca asked.
Daniel hesitated.
“Household staff.”
“Garage staff.”
“Security.”
“My family?”
“Yes.”
Luca’s expression changed.
Not grief.
Calculation.
Emma hated how quickly he could turn pain into strategy.
Then Daniel said,
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“The cut was clean.”
“What does that mean?”
“The tool marks match equipment from your private garage.”
Marco muttered a curse.
Someone inside Luca’s own estate had sabotaged Sofia’s car.
Luca’s gaze moved slowly across his men.
Marco.
Enzo.
Sal.
Rafael.
Men who had probably taken bullets for him.
Men who now looked at one another with new suspicion.
Emma understood suddenly why Luca looked exhausted.
Power did not mean being safe.
Sometimes it meant having more people close enough to betray you.
Then Emma remembered something.
“The nanny.”
Luca turned.
“What about her?”
“You said she’s in the hospital after a car accident.”
Every man froze.
“What happened?”
Marco answered.
“Rosa’s car slid through an intersection this afternoon.”
“Wet road.”
Emma stared at him.
“And nobody thought that was strange?”
“It was raining.”
“So was it raining when Sofia died?”
Luca’s eyes sharpened.
“Yes.”
Emma felt cold.
Two women responsible for Matteo’s daily care.
Two car accidents.
Five weeks apart.
Both in rain.
“Check Rosa’s car,” Emma said.
Marco looked at Luca.
Luca gave one short nod.
“Now.”
Enzo immediately stepped away, phone in hand.
Emma turned toward Luca.
“You need to take Matteo to a hospital.”
“He was examined this morning.”
“That was before you learned someone may be targeting the people around him.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think someone hurt my son?”
“I think I don’t know.”
“And neither do you.”
She looked at his expensive bassinet.
The unfamiliar formula bottle near the table.
The stupid glass of cow’s milk.
Four bodyguards who knew how to carry weapons but could not say how much a five-week-old baby had eaten.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Luca stepped closer.
Emma held her ground.
“If you are right…”
His voice dropped.
“If someone touched him—”
“Stop.”
His eyes flashed.
“You keep doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Talking to me like I’m one of your waiters.”
“You keep talking about punishment before we even know the problem.”
“What would you prefer?”
“A pediatrician.”
Marco looked away to hide a smile.
Luca noticed.
Marco immediately stopped smiling.
Twenty minutes later, the restaurant’s private dining room had become a temporary command center.
A concierge physician Luca trusted examined Matteo.
No fever.
No breathing difficulty.
No immediate sign of serious illness.
His abdomen had softened since Emma calmed him.
The doctor agreed severe gas and overstimulation were plausible.
But then Emma asked about his feeding routine.
The doctor checked the formula container.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Luca was beside him instantly.
“This isn’t what Rosa normally gives him.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“How do you know?”
“Matteo has been using a hydrolyzed infant formula since his second week because he had feeding intolerance.”
He held up the container.
“This is a standard formula.”
“Dangerous?” Luca asked.
“Not poison.”
The doctor was careful.
“But changing formula suddenly can absolutely upset a young infant’s stomach.”
“Especially one already sensitive.”
Emma looked at Luca.
Matteo had screamed for six hours because someone had changed his food.
Maybe by mistake.
Maybe not.
“Who fed him today?” the doctor asked.
Silence.
One guard finally said,
“Mrs. Bellini.”
Luca turned.
“My aunt?”
“Your uncle brought her over after Rosa’s accident.”
Emma saw something move behind Luca’s eyes.
“Vittorio.”
The name was quiet.
Dangerous.
Vittorio Romano was Luca’s father’s younger brother.
Family patriarch after Luca.
The man who had helped raise Luca after his own father was murdered.
The man Luca reportedly trusted more than almost anyone alive.
Luca took out his phone.
Before he could call, Enzo returned from the hallway.
His face told them everything.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Rosa’s car.”
Luca waited.
Enzo swallowed.
“Brake fluid line.”
“Cut.”
Emma’s arms tightened around Matteo.
Two crashes were no longer coincidence.
Someone had killed Sofia.
Someone had tried to kill Rosa.
And someone had changed the five-week-old heir’s formula on the same day.
Luca looked at Emma.
“Come with us.”
“No.”
“This is not a request anymore.”
Emma’s expression hardened.
“Then you have learned absolutely nothing in the last hour.”
His men went still.
Luca stepped closer.
“My son calms for you.”
“And?”
“Someone is attacking everyone responsible for caring for him.”
“That makes standing beside him incredibly dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“You will have protection.”
“Your wife had protection.”
That one landed.
Luca’s face became stone.
Emma regretted it instantly.
But she did not take it back.
Because Sofia was dead.
Rosa was in intensive care.
Protection inside Luca Romano’s world clearly had limits.
Matteo shifted against Emma.
His hand curled into her collar.
She looked down.
She should walk away.
Every reasonable part of her knew it.
Then Luca’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed before he spoke.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked toward Emma.
“Rosa woke up.”
“Good.”
“She said one sentence before losing consciousness again.”
Emma waited.
Luca slowly lowered the phone.
“What did she say?”
His eyes were colder than the rain outside.
May you like
“Don’t let Vittorio near the baby.”
And suddenly Luca’s most trusted uncle became the first suspect in his wife’s murder.
