Chapter 1 - THE LITTLE GIRL ON MY THRONE
A beautiful three-year-old girl climbed into my chair, declared herself the new Mafia boss, and ordered me to stop the men who were making her mother cry. I almost laughed until I noticed the dark fingerprints bruised into her mother's wrist, and the little girl innocently named my two most trusted lieutenants. I'd ruled New York's underworld with an iron fist for twenty years, but nothing prepared me for discovering what my own men had been doing behind my back.
My name is Luca Moretti.
Forty-one years old. Six-foot-four. Two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle, scars, and tattoos earned in a world where mercy was considered weakness.
Men trembled when I entered a room.
But that morning, someone had stolen my throne.
A tiny little girl.
Mia Bennett sat behind my enormous mahogany desk, wearing a sunshine-yellow dress and pink sneakers.
Her golden curls bounced as she swung her little legs.
She held my expensive fountain pen like a royal scepter.
“I'M THE BOSS NOW!”
I folded my tattooed arms.
“Really, princess?”
She nodded seriously.
“How did you become boss?”
“I climbed!”
For the first time in weeks, I laughed.
“Very impressive. What's your first command?”
Her bright blue eyes suddenly filled with tears.
“Make the bad men stop hurting Mommy.”
My smile disappeared.
Before I could ask another question, the door flew open.
“MIA!”
Elena Bennett rushed inside.
She worked in my mansion, raising her daughter alone while trying to survive on her modest salary.
“Mr. Moretti, I'm so sorry!” she gasped. “Please don't fire me!”
I raised one hand.
“Relax, Elena.”
She reached for Mia.
Her sleeve slipped.
And I saw them.
Five dark bruises wrapped around her wrist.
Fingerprints.
Someone had grabbed her hard enough to leave marks.
“Who did that?”
She quickly covered her arm.
“Nobody, sir. I fell.”
I had interrogated hardened criminals who lied more convincingly.
Mia climbed down from my chair.
“Mommy didn't fall.”
Elena went pale.
“Mia, sweetheart, be quiet.”
But the little girl marched toward me.
She placed her tiny hand against the black dragon tattoo covering my forearm.
“Uncle Luca, you're big and strong, right?”
I knelt.
“Yes, princess.”
“Then why don't you stop Uncle Vincent and Mr. Daniel?”
My entire body went still.
Vincent was my father's oldest lieutenant.
Daniel commanded my personal security.
Two men I'd trusted with my life.
“What did they do?” I asked quietly.
Mia lowered her voice.
“They come to Mommy's room at night. Mommy cries. They tell her not to tell you.”
Elena began trembling.
“Please, Mr. Moretti. She doesn't understand.”
I looked at her bruised wrist.
Then at the innocent child standing before me.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed outside my office.
Two men.
Heavy shoes.
Familiar voices.
Vincent and Daniel.
Elena grabbed Mia and backed toward the wall.
I slowly stood, my tattooed fists tightening.
Then Mia whispered something that made my blood turn to ice.
“Uncle Luca, they said if Mommy tells you, they'll make us disappear... just like they made your little brother disappear.”
The doorknob began to turn.
“Come in,” I said.
Vincent Caruso entered first.
Sixty-two years old. Silver hair. Expensive gray suit. A face that had stood beside my father through three decades of blood and betrayal.
Daniel Rourke followed him.
Forty-five. Broad-shouldered. Former military contractor. The man responsible for keeping every threat away from my home.
Vincent smiled.
“Luca. We need to discuss the Brooklyn accounts.”
Then he saw Elena.
His smile didn't disappear.
It became something worse.
Controlled.
Calculating.
“Elena,” he said. “I thought you were supposed to be downstairs.”
She tightened her arms around Mia.
“I was looking for my daughter.”
Daniel glanced at her wrist.
Then at me.
“Everything all right, boss?”
I had killed friendships over smaller lies than the ones I suspected were standing before me.
But Mia was watching.
And Elena was terrified.
So I smiled.
“Perfectly.”
Vincent looked relieved.
A mistake.
I pointed toward the chairs opposite my desk.
“Sit down.”
Vincent hesitated.
“We have a meeting in twenty minutes.”
“Then we'd better make this quick.”
Both men sat.
I turned toward Elena.
“Mrs. Bennett, would you take Mia to the conservatory? Tell Mrs. Alvarez I'll join you shortly.”
Elena stared at me.
She didn't trust the sudden calm in my voice.
I couldn't blame her.
I walked to the door and opened it myself.
A young guard named Noah stood outside.
“Noah,” I said, “escort Mrs. Bennett and her daughter to the conservatory. Stay with them.”
Daniel frowned.
“Boss, I handle household security.”
I looked at him.
“Not today.”
Silence.
Noah nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
Elena passed me.
For one second, her frightened green eyes met mine.
I spoke softly enough that only she could hear.
“Neither of them will touch you again.”
She looked as if she wanted to believe me.
Then she left.
I closed the door.
Vincent crossed one leg over the other.
“What was that about?”
I returned to my desk.
Sat in the chair Mia had claimed.
And looked at the two men who had helped raise me.
“My brother.”
Vincent stopped breathing for half a second.
Daniel's fingers tightened on the armrest.
May you like
I leaned forward.
“Tell me what happened to Matteo.”
