Chapter 3: The Lion’s Den

The dining room was too big. That was the first thing I noticed. The table was a long, dark slab of wood that looked like it belonged in a museum. There were dozens of chairs, but only two places were set. One at the head and one to the right. It was quite sad.

Luca was already sitting there. He didn’t have a book or a phone. He was just sitting, staring at the empty plate in front of him. When I walked in, his eyes tracked me from the door to the chair.

"Sit," he said.

I didn't move. "I'm not eating with you."

"You have two choices, Isabella. You eat here, with me, or my men take you upstairs and force-feed you through a tube. I’d prefer the first option. It’s less messy for the rug."

He said it so calmly that it took a second for the threat to sink in. I pulled out the heavy chair. The legs scraped against the marble floor, making a loud, screeching sound. I sat down and gripped the edge of the table.

"Where is my mother?" I asked.

"You’ve asked that three times since you got in here," Luca said. He picked up a silver bell and rang it once. "The answer hasn't changed. She is safe."

"Safe where? Give me an address."

"No."

A maid appeared from a side door. She looked terrified. She placed a bowl of steaming pasta in front of me and a plate of steak in front of Luca. She bowed her head and disappeared as fast as she could.

"Eat," Luca said.

"I’m not hungry."

"You’re lying. Your stomach growled the moment the girl walked in with the food."

I felt my face heat up. "I don't care. I'm not touching anything you give me. How do I know it’s not drugged? You already stuck a needle in my neck once today."

Luca stopped cutting his steak. He looked at me, his grey eyes flat. He picked up his fork, reached over to my bowl, and took a bite of my pasta. He chewed slowly, swallowed, and then looked at me again.

"It’s not drugged," he said. "I don't need to drug you to keep you here, Isabella. Look at the walls. Look at the doors. You aren't going anywhere."

"Why am I here, Luca? Really. If it's just about money, I told you, we don't have it."

He dropped his fork and rolled his eyes.

"It's not about money, Isabella. It's about a debt. Your father stole something from my family ten years ago. A diamond. The Lion’s Heart."

"A diamond," I repeated. I felt like laughing. "We lived in an apartment with a leaky ceiling. My mom worked two jobs just to keep the lights on. If my dad had a fifty-million-dollar diamond, why were we eating cereal for dinner every night?"

"Maybe he didn't want you to know," Luca said. "Or maybe he was waiting for the heat to die down. But he didn't just take a stone. He took my father's pride. In my world, pride is more expensive than diamonds."

"I don't know anything about it," I said, my voice rising. "I don't know about pride, or diamonds, or your world. I just want my life back."

"This is your life now," Luca said. He pointed his fork at me. "The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be for both of us."

"I’ll never accept it."

"We’ll see."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. The only sound was the clinking of his silverware against the plate. It was a heavy, suffocating silence. I picked up a piece of bread just to have something to do with my hands.

"What was he like?" I asked suddenly.

Luca paused. "Who?"

"My father. You talk like you knew him."

"I knew the man he pretended to be," Luca said. "He was my father’s right hand. I used to watch them talk in the study for hours. I thought he was a man of honor. My father trusted him with his life. And your father repaid that trust by vanishing in the middle of the night with the crown jewel of our collection."

"He must have had a reason," I whispered.

"The reason was greed," Luca snapped. The sudden sharpness in his voice made me flinch. "Don't try to make him a hero, Isabella. He’s a thief. And a coward for leaving you behind to pay his tab."

"He's not a coward," I said, though I didn't feel very sure. "He was probably trying to protect us."

"By leaving you in a slum? By letting you grow up looking over your shoulder? That's not protection. That's abandonment."

I didn't have an answer for that. Because for ten years, that's exactly what I had felt. Abandoned.

Luca pushed a small leather box across the table toward me. "Open it."

I hesitated, then picked it up. Inside was the gold locket I always wore. I hadn't even realized it was gone. "Where did you get this?"

"My men found it in your apartment. Open the back."

I frowned. I’d had that locket since I was a kid. It didn't open in the back. But when I turned it over, I saw a tiny seam I’d never noticed before. I used my fingernail to pry it open. A small piece of paper fell out onto the white tablecloth.

It had a string of numbers on it.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Coordinates," Luca said. "Or a code for a vault. We tried the obvious locations, but nothing worked. It’s encrypted, and there’s a biometric lock on the digital side of the file."

"A what?"

"A fingerprint scanner," Luca explained. "Your father was smart. He knew we’d find the paper eventually. But the paper is useless without the person. It needs a Romano thumbprint to open the final stage of the coordinates."

I looked at my thumb. "You think I'm the key."

"I know you are."

"So, you have what you want," I said, leaning forward. "Take my thumbprint. Open your vault. Get your diamond and let me go."

"It’s not that simple," Luca said. He leaned back in his chair, watching me. "The vault is in a high-security facility in the city. To get in, you have to be more than just a girl off the street. You have to be someone with a name. A name that belongs in that world."

"I have a name; Isabella Romano."

"That name is a target," Luca said. "If you walk into that bank as a Romano, you’ll be dead before the elevator reaches the lobby. Every rival family in the city is looking for that diamond. They know your father took it. They’ve been waiting for you to show up."

"So what do I do?"

"You change your name," Luca said. "You become a Moretti."

I stared at him. The bread in my hand felt like lead. "You're joking."

"I don't joke about business, Isabella. Tomorrow, we go to the courthouse. You’ll sign the papers. We’ll be married by noon."

"I won't do it. You can't make me marry you."

"I can," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous level. "I can make you do anything, Isabella. I’ve been very patient so far. I’ve given you a seat at my table, I’ve answered all your annoying questions. I’ve kept my men away from you. But don't mistake my patience for weakness."

"Is that what this is? A business deal?"

"Exactly. You provide the print and the name. I provide the protection. Once the diamond is back in my family’s vault, we can discuss an annulment. Until then, you are my wife."

"And my mother?"

"She stays where she is. Safe. Fed. But she stays. If you refuse to sign the papers, she goes back to the street. And I think we both know she won't last an hour out there alone."

I felt a tear slip down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly. I didn't want him to see me cry. "I hate you."

"Get in line," Luca said. He stood up and tossed his napkin onto the table. "Enzo will show you to your room. We leave at eight in the morning. Don't be late."

He walked out of the room, his footsteps heavy on the marble. I sat there for a long time, staring at the numbers on the little scrap of paper.

My father had hidden this from me. He had used me as a safe. He had known this day would come, and he had left me with no choice but to marry a monster.

Enzo walked into the room a few minutes later. He didn't say anything. He just waited by the door.

"Is he always like that?" I asked, my voice small.

"The Boss?" Enzo asked. "No. Usually, he’s much worse."

"That’s comforting."

"Come on," Enzo said. "I'll show you where you're sleeping. It's a long way to the city tomorrow."

I stood up, my legs feeling weak. I followed him out of the dining room and up the grand staircase. The house was cold, despite the fires burning in the hearths. It felt like a tomb.

When we reached the door to my room, Enzo stopped. "There are guards in the hall, Isabella. Don't try the windows. It’s a sixty-foot drop to the rocks. The ocean isn't kind this time of year."

"I'm not going to jump," I said.

"Good. Because the boss would just make me go down there and fish you out, and I hate the water."

He opened the door and stepped aside. I walked in and heard the door click shut behind me. I didn't even look at the room. I just went straight to bed and lay down.

I prayed that when I woke up, I’d be in my messy apartment with the smell of burnt coffee and the sound of the city. I just watched the shadows of the trees dancing on the ceiling, wondering how my life had turned into this in a single night.