Chapter 3 - The Silver Crest
Emma stood frozen near the threshold of her room, her mind racing. "You... you don't even know us. Why would you do that?"
"Because a child born in this city deserves a father who won't turn his back," Luca replied calmly, lowering the pen toward the signature line. "And because nobody in New York disrespects a mother in front of me."
As Luca reached down toward the document, Baby Lily stirred in Emma’s arms.
The infant shifted her small body, and the corner of her pale pink blanket pulled back slightly.
A small, tarnished silver pendant slipped out from the folds of the cotton fabric, catching the bright overhead lights. It dangled gently over Emma’s forearm, revealing an intricate, hand-engraved crest—a stylized dragon coiled around a crested shield flanked by three stars.
Luca froze.
His pen stopped millimeter from the paper. His dark eyes locked onto the silver object hanging from the blanket. His jaw set so tight the muscles in his cheek twitched.
It was the ancient, off-registry crest of the Moretti founding line—a private family mark known only to five living people in the world.
At the far end of the corridor, near the elevator doors, Brittany Hale stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened in absolute shock as she caught sight of the pendant dangling in the light.
Instinctively, Brittany grabbed Derek’s arm with a grip so tight her knuckles turned white. The smug, arrogant smile she had worn all morning vanished in an instant, replaced by a expression of raw, terrifying panic.
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Luca didn't miss a beat. His hyper-observant gaze caught Brittany’s sudden movement in the reflection of the glass display case beside the counter.
Slowly, deliberately, Luca turned his body away from the desk. His lethal blue-gray eyes locked directly onto Brittany Hale.
