Chapter 1

It was Luca’s seventh birthday.

His father, Dante Vitale, had once again given the day to Lucia’s son.

The night before, Luca had spent two hours at his little desk making a birthday card. He pasted a small gold target on the front and wrote in crooked letters:

For Daddy.

Dante had promised to take him to the Vitale family’s private range for his first safety training session. It would not involve real shooting. It was only an observation class, the course every family child had to complete before entering the training area. To Luca, it was the birthday gift his father had promised with his own mouth.

That morning, Luca changed into white sportswear and sat in the living room with safety glasses in his lap.

Every few minutes, Luca looked toward the door, his little body sitting straighter each time he heard a car outside.

“Mommy, was that Daddy?”

I answered the same question over and over, even though my own heart already knew the answer.

“Mommy, when is Daddy coming to pick us up?”

By noon, he was still waiting.

“Is Daddy still in a meeting? He’ll come after the meeting, right?”

I could not bear to let him keep waiting, so I took him to the family security center. Dante’s schedule was supposed to end there, and the private range sat behind the compound.

We waited near the gate for almost two hours before he finally came out.

Luca carried the birthday card to him with both hands.

“Daddy, you said you would take me to safety training today.”

Dante did not take the card.

“The range is not a place for children to play on their birthday. There are rules inside. You cannot walk in simply because you want to.”

Luca froze. The hope in his eyes slowly pulled back.

Dante looked at the safety glasses in his arms, and his voice grew stricter.

“You are a Vitale boy. You do not get to play hero in the training area. Learn discipline first, then talk about training.”

Luca’s fingers tightened around the card.

For a moment, he looked at Dante the way children look at their fathers—still hoping that maybe, just maybe, they had misunderstood.

But Dante never reached down.

The card slipped from Luca’s hand and landed beside Dante’s polished shoe.

On the ride home, Luca said nothing. He had picked the card up again, even though one corner was dirty. When he fell asleep, he was still holding it tightly.

When I carried him inside, Dante finally seemed to remember what day it was.

“Why is he still crying?”

I looked at the crumpled card in my son’s hand, and my chest tightened with a sour ache.

“You knew today was his birthday. You knew how long he waited.”

Dante’s expression softened for a brief moment.

“Something came up at the security center. I could not get away.”

“You promised him last year.”

He rubbed his forehead, as if I had dragged something unreasonable before him.

“I only said it because he was excited.He’s seven, not seventeen. He’ll forget after a few days.”

I looked at my son sleeping in my arms.

A seven-year-old might forget a broken toy.

But he would remember the day his father chose not to show up.

I lowered my eyes to Luca’s face. Even asleep, his brow was faintly furrowed, as if he refused to release that small hurt.

“I understand.”

I swallowed the tightness in my throat.

“I will not trouble you with things like this again.”

Dante frowned and was about to speak when a boy’s laughter came from the front courtyard.

His face changed slightly. He turned and walked out at once. I followed with Luca in my arms and saw Lucia standing beneath the portico with Nico. Nico wore a new training jacket, and a child’s range badge was pinned to his chest.

Dante walked over, removed Nico’s ear protection, and bent to check whether his gloves were fastened properly.

Lucia said softly, ““Thank you for today. Nico talked about this all night.I know you’re busy. I really didn’t want to trouble you, but he said it was the one birthday gift he wanted most this year.”

Nico grabbed Dante’s sleeve and looked up at him with bright eyes.

“Uncle Dante, will you take me again next year? I want another badge.”

Dante smiled.

“Whenever you want to go, I’ll take you.”

Luca woke in my arms.

He did not speak. He only stared at the badge on Nico’s chest while his hand tightened around the birthday card.

I held my trembling son, and a sharp pain cut through my chest.

“You just said you were too busy at the security center.”

Lucia stepped back as if she had only just noticed me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know today was Luca’s birthday too. Nico begged me all night, and I couldn’t bear to refuse him. Blame me, not Dante.”

Nico spoke at once.

“Mommy didn’t ask. Uncle Dante said he would take me. He said I was braver than lots of boys in the training area.”

Lucia covered his mouth, and her eyes quickly turned red.

I did not look at her or at the tears she always knew how to use. I kept my gaze on Dante and asked again.

“You had time to take someone else’s child to the range, but no time to spend your own son’s birthday with him?”

Dante’s face darkened.

“Do not say that in front of the children.”

“Where should I say it?”

“Lucia’s husband took a bullet for me. Without him, I would have died in that attack. She and Nico have no one. Taking care of them is my responsibility.”

“What about Luca?”

Dante paused.

“I’ll make it up to him.”

“No.”

I fought down the heat rising behind my eyes and looked at the boy in my arms.

“He already said on the way home that he does not want to go to the range anymore.”

Guilt crossed Dante’s face for one brief second.

Lucia lowered her head at once, her voice turning fragile.

“If Nico and I make everyone uncomfortable, we can move out. Dante, don’t fight with her because of us. Nico already lost his father. I don’t want him to lose you too.”

Dante looked at me differently then.

“Do you have to push her like this?”

I said nothing.

“Her husband died saving me. Everyone outside this house knows I promised to look after them. If I send them away now, what will people say about the Vitale family?”

Even Luca’s birthday had become a matter of the Vitale family’s reputation.

Dante turned and followed Lucia and Nico.

He did not come home for dinner that night.

Luca slept uneasily. When his hand loosened, the birthday card fell onto the carpet. The gold target had been creased, and the word Daddy was smudged from his grip.

In his sleep, he whispered, “I don’t want Daddy anymore.”

I tucked the blanket around him and suddenly remembered the Dante from before.

Back then, he was not like this.

He would hold my hand at family dinners so everyone knew I sat beside him. He kept the best guards, drivers, and doctors around me. If I mentioned that I was cold, his coat would already be over my shoulders.

Everyone said Dante Vitale had made me the most cherished woman in New York’s underworld.

Then Lucia’s husband took that bullet for him.

After that, guilt became Dante’s reason, and Lucia and Nico became the people he could never refuse. Seven delayed weddings and six missed birthdays passed while I told myself he was only loyal to a debt. I believed that once he repaid it, he would turn back and see Luca and me.

Tonight, as I looked at my son’s sleeping face and the hurt still gathered between his brows, the last piece of that belief finally disappeared.

I lowered my voice and said, “Then we won’t want Daddy either.”

Seven days remained before Sicily.