Chapter 3 - A Threat Against the Heir|
Luca's entire body changed.
The husband disappeared. The father disappeared. In their place stood the man who had inherited one of New York's most feared criminal organizations and learned that hesitation could cost lives.
"When?" he demanded.
"Twenty minutes ago," Don Vittorio answered. "Two vehicles intercepted his car outside the private club. Your father's driver is dead. Marcus Moretti is alive, but barely."
Luca grabbed his coat.
"Who did it?"
"They left a message."
"What message?"
A pause.
"They said the Moretti heir belongs to the family that can protect him."
Luca looked toward Theo's bedroom.
Sophie heard every word.
"No," she whispered.
He turned to her.
"Get Theo downstairs. Stay with the security team. Don't open the gates for anyone."
"Who is threatening our son?"
"I don't know yet."
"Then find out before you tell me what I can and cannot do."
"Sophie—"
"Don't use that voice with me. Not tonight."
His expression tightened, but he did not argue. He called his head of security, ordered the inner gates sealed, and demanded that every camera recording from the previous seventy-two hours be copied to a secure server.
Then he left.
Sophie took Theo downstairs, where guards had already begun checking doors and windows. She sat with him in the family room, reading the same dinosaur book three times because he kept losing his place whenever a vehicle passed outside.
At two in the morning, a physician called from the hospital.
Marcus Moretti had survived surgery. He was unconscious, but stable.
Sophie should have felt relieved.
Instead, she remembered the message about Theo.
By dawn, Luca returned to the mansion. His shirt collar was stained with blood—not his own, he assured her—and his eyes were rimmed with exhaustion.
"They found the men who attacked my father," he said. "One is dead. The other disappeared before he could be questioned."
"Did they mention Theo?"
"They knew his school. His schedule. The name of his pediatrician."
Sophie felt cold all over.
"Someone has been watching him."
"Yes."
"And Bianca?"
Luca looked away for half a second.
"What about her?"
"Was she involved in the negotiations with Carlo when these threats began?"
"She was."
"Did she know about the attack?"
"I don't know."
Sophie stared at him.
"You keep saying that. You don't know who is threatening your family. You don't know why Bianca is here. You don't know what your father-in-law is planning. How much do you actually know, Luca?"
He looked as though she had struck him.
"Enough to know that leaving this house is dangerous."
"Staying here may be dangerous, too."
He stepped closer.
"I will protect you."
"You can't protect me from information you refuse to share."
His phone buzzed. A message appeared from an unknown number.
Luca read it, and all color vanished from his face.
The message contained a photograph of Theo asleep in his bed.
The picture had been taken from inside the mansion.
May you like
Beneath it were eight words:
THE NEXT TIME, WE WON'T LEAVE HIM BREATHING.
