Chapter 2 - The Rose in the Nursery
Lucian’s phone rang.
He answered after one glance at the screen.
“Marco.”
His closest adviser’s voice came through loud enough that I heard only fragments.
Security breach.
Penthouse.
Nursery.
Lucian went still.
“What was taken?” he asked.
A pause.
Then his face changed.
“Nothing?”
Another pause.
He looked at me.
“They left something.”
Cold spread through my body.
“What?”
Lucian ended the call.
“A white rose.”
Elena’s face paled.
I knew exactly what it meant.
Bianca Romano wore white roses at every public event. They were her signature. Elegant. Beautiful. Harmless to anyone who did not know the Romano family used flowers as warnings.
“And there was a note,” Lucian said.
“What did it say?”
He hesitated.
Then he showed me the photograph Marco had sent.
A white rose lay inside Nico’s nursery crib.
Tied to the stem was a black ribbon.
On the ribbon, written in silver ink, were six words.
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, LITTLE MORETTI.
My arms tightened around Nico.
He stirred, sensing my fear.
Lucian moved instinctively toward us.
I raised one hand.
He stopped.
That hurt him.
I saw it.
But I did not lower my hand.
“You said there was a threat against us,” I whispered.
“There is.”
“And you did not tell me.”
“I did not want to scare you.”
“You do not get to decide what I can handle.”
His eyes met mine.
“No,” he said. “I do not.”
For the first time, he sounded less like the feared head of the Moretti family and more like a man realizing he had built his marriage on the same rules that governed his empire.
Secrecy.
Control.
Fear.
And now those rules had followed his son into a nursery.
“I am not taking Nico home,” I said.
“You cannot stay here.”
“I have an attorney. Elena has arranged a private recovery suite.”
“Romano’s people will find you.”
“Then I will decide who protects us.”
Lucian took a slow breath.
“I can protect you.”
“You had your chance.”
May you like
The words landed between us.
Final.
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