FAZER LOGINThe elevator doors opened, and there stood Noah with a small paper bag. The moment he saw me, he ran out."Mom, Uncle Lorenzo said you didn't eat dessert, so he told me to bring you..."He stopped when he noticed the two people kneeling in the lobby and the pale man standing beside them.Noah's little face scrunched into a frown. Then he did something none of us expected.He came to me, pushed the paper bag into my hand, and stepped in front of me, glaring up at Severin and the twins."Leave my mom alone."His voice was small, but it didn't waver."She's my mom. She's not yours anymore."Lucien looked up at Noah's hostile little face and froze.He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.Seraphina's sobbing stopped short. She stared at Noah, her eyes full of envy and bitter regret.They saw Noah step in front of me without hesitation. They saw the tenderness in my eyes when I looked down and smiled at him.They'd once had all of that, and they were the ones who'd thrown it away.They f
Early the next morning, I was having breakfast in my hotel suite when the doorbell rang.One of Lorenzo's bodyguards came in with a message. "Ms. Vittorio, Don Savelli is downstairs. He says he needs to see you. He says it's important."I picked up my coffee and took a sip without even looking up. "Let him wait."He waited for three hours.I took my time finishing breakfast, practiced Italian phonics with Noah, and went over the details of next week's acquisition with Lorenzo.It was nearly noon before I changed and went downstairs.Severin was standing in a corner of the hotel lobby with his back to the tall windows.When he saw me, he took a step forward, then forced himself to stop.Dark stubble covered his jaw. His tie was crooked, and his shirt cuff was creased.He used to hate wrinkled clothes more than anything."Estella."His voice came out hoarse."I want to talk to you.""About what?""Valerie confessed to everything."He swallowed hard. "What happened three years ago was my
For a moment, nobody moved. Then Valerie let out a scornful laugh."Yes. It was me."With the truth laid bare, Valerie had nothing left to lose.She lifted her chin. Her smile was sweet and venomous at once."I am a Moretti. You want to know why I fell in love with you back then, Severin? Because of your name. The Savelli heir. The most valuable target in all of Europe."Severin's knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists."The kids were the only part of the job I couldn't control. When my handler died, I fled and left two useless pawns behind."Off to the side, Lucien and Seraphina stood in stunned, wounded silence.Valerie didn't even look at them."Three years ago, the day word reached Sicily that you'd taken the Don's seat, my family reactivated me. Two orders: steal your secrets and destroy your home. I pulled off both beautifully. Too bad I never guessed Estella was a Vittorio."With that, she turned from Severin to me."When did you start watching me?""Three years ago. In the d
When the auction ended, the crowd drifted toward the reception hall.Someone stopped me in the hallway.Lorenzo's bodyguards only let Severin get within three steps of me.His eyes were red, his voice hoarse and ragged. "Estella, where have you been for the last three years? I looked for you. I went everywhere you might have gone.""Did you?"I raised an eyebrow. "That must have been exhausting. After all, the day I left, you were too busy comforting Valerie to spare me a glance."He swallowed. "I looked into that crash afterward. The skid marks proved she never turned the wheel. She drove straight at you. She claimed you'd jumped out in front of her..."I cut him off. "She hit me twice with the same car. What are the odds of that?"He reeled back half a step, as if all the strength had left him.I said it slowly and clearly. "That morning, she'd already heard I was leaving. She wanted to make sure I saw how much you cared about her, so I'd be done with you for good."He opened his mou
Rome. The charity auction.When I walked in on Lorenzo's arm, the room buzzed with hushed conversations."I heard the Savelli family's been getting hammered in the shipping market these last two years, and they haven't even figured out who's behind it. The elders are already talking about replacing the Don," someone murmured."Right, and some of tonight's lots used to belong to them. I wonder if that ghost creditor who's been hounding them will show up tonight?" another whispered.I kept my eyes straight ahead and took a seat in the front row.The auction started right on schedule.It opened with a few paintings and pieces of jewelry for charity. Bidding was slow, and the mood was subdued.The organizers had saved the winery for last on purpose.They knew the real prize of the night was the final lot.The auctioneer tapped his gavel. "Tonight's final lot: a 100-year-old winery put up as collateral by the Savelli family, including roughly 740 acres of vineyards and its underground cella
On the plane to Sicily, the man sitting next to me took off his hat.The number belonged to Lorenzo. My late father had taken him in from the slums when he was a boy, and he was five years older than me.He grew up as Lorenzo Vittorio. My father had personally chosen him as his heir, and now he was the Don of the Vittorio family. His word was law.We grew up together.Until I was 15, I thought he'd be my big brother for the rest of my life.The year I turned 15, an internal war tore the Vittorio family apart. My father sent me away in the middle of the night, but I disappeared along the way.Everyone thought I was dead. Only Lorenzo refused to believe it.He spent four years searching, combing every corner of Europe.But by the time he tracked me down at that fight club in Brooklyn, Severin had already raided it and carried me out of the cage.Lorenzo was one step too late.Then, ten years earlier, he'd spotted the name Estella Savelli on a wedding guest list, and we finally got back i







