Chapter 4
Luca froze. The lethal, commanding energy radiating from his muscular frame abruptly halted. He stared at the plus-sized waitress, his dark, piercing eyes searching her warm, tearful face for any sign of deception.
"What did you just say?" Luca whispered, the words slipping through his teeth like sharp shards of glass.
"I was in the nursery wing hallway getting a bottle," Hannah explained, her voice shaking as the horrifying memories flooded back. She gripped the white lace trim of her apron to steady her trembling hands. "The security alarms didn't go off. Someone used a master biometric override on the reinforced doors. I hid in the shadows by the linen closet."
"You saw the man who opened the doors?" Luca asked, his heart hammering violently against his chest.
"I didn't see his face," Hannah sobbed, wiping her rosy cheeks. "He was wearing one of your elite security suits. But when he reached up to punch the final override code into the keypad, his jacket sleeve pulled back. I saw his right wrist clearly under the emergency lights."
Sophia shifted on the velvet sofa, rubbing her sleepy, bright eyes. "Daddy? Is Hannah in trouble?"
"No, baby," Luca replied softly, never breaking eye contact with Hannah. "Hannah is helping me solve a very old puzzle. What was on his wrist, Hannah?"
"He had a thick, jagged scar running across the back of his hand," Hannah said, her breath hitching in her throat. "And he was wearing a heavy, custom gold watch with a black face."
The blood in Luca’s veins turned to absolute ice. The sharp masculine lines of his jaw tightened so hard it sent a dull ache through his skull. He didn't need a name. The description was a perfect, undeniable match.
"Marcus," Luca breathed quietly, the realization tearing a hole through his chest.
His current head of security. The man who had stood by his side for five years. The man who was currently outside the VIP room doors, supposedly securing the gala. Marcus had a jagged scar from a knife fight in his youth, and Luca himself had gifted Marcus that exact custom gold watch a month before the attack.
"That's why I ran," Hannah whispered, fresh tears pooling in her expressive eyes. "I realized your own men were trying to kill your daughter. If I went to the police, Marcus might be the one waiting for me. I changed my name. I took catering jobs. I just wanted to disappear, but I prayed every single night that Sophia was safe."
Suddenly, a heavy, aggressive knock pounded against the VIP suite door.
Hannah gasped, taking a terrified step backward, her mint-green dress swishing softly.
"Boss!" Marcus’s harsh, urgent voice called out from the hallway. "We have a massive problem. The perimeter is breached. Armed hostiles in the lower service corridors. Protocol dictates immediate evacuation. Open the door, I need to get you and the girl to the armored convoy!"
Hannah looked at Luca, absolute, paralyzing fear written across her gentle face. "That's him," she whispered frantically. "Mr. Moretti, that is the exact same voice from the hallway three years ago."
Luca’s expression turned utterly cold. He reached beneath his expensive tailored black suit jacket, his large, tattooed hand wrapping smoothly around the grip of a suppressed, matte-black handgun.
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"Not a sound," Luca mouthed to Hannah.
He took a slow, silent step toward the heavy oak door, his polished black dress shoes making no sound against the thick carpeting, preparing to confront the devil who had murdered his wife.
