Chapter 3 - THE MAID WHO DARED TO SPEAK
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I gripped my serving tray against my ribs, wishing I could disappear into the wallpaper.
My heart was beating like a trapped bird inside my chest.
I had never intended to become the center of a mafia family’s civil war.
All I had wanted was to finish my shift, collect my paycheck, and buy my mother’s arthritis medication.
Now, the most feared man in Illinois was staring directly at me.
Luca Moretti walked toward the server station where I stood.
His tailored jacket swung open slightly, revealing the leather holster tucked against his ribs.
The guests were rapidly clearing out of the dining room, guided by armed security guards.
Nobody wanted to be in the splash zone when the Moretti family handled treason.
Antonio sat back down in his chair, carefully placing his recovered hearing aids back into his ears.
A look of immense relief washed over the old man’s face as the sounds of the room returned to him.
Luca stopped two feet in front of me.
Up close, he smelled of expensive cedarwood, clean rain, and cold tobacco.
“What is your name?” he asked.
His voice was no longer filled with rage, but it possessed an authority that made my knees tremble.
“Emma Hayes, sir,” I answered softly.
“You were on your knees looking for a piece of plastic because she commanded you to,” Luca noted.
I swallowed hard.
“Yes, sir.”
“And when I asked what happened, you told the truth, knowing she could destroy your life.”
I looked down at my worn black work flats.
“Mr. Antonio has always been kind to me,” I whispered.
“He asks about my day.”
“He leaves crossword puzzles on the kitchen counter for me to solve.”
“He didn’t deserve to be treated like he was losing his mind.”
Antonio smiled warmly from the table, a proud gleam in his faded eyes.
“She makes the best peppermint tea in the state, Luca,” Antonio chimed in.
Luca did not smile, but the tension around his dark brows softened slightly.
“Vanessa threatened you earlier, didn’t she?” Luca asked.
I hesitated, my throat tightening.
“Emma,” Luca said, taking half a step closer.
“Nobody threatens people under my roof.”
“Tell me what she said.”
I took a deep breath.
“She told me that my mother still needs her apartment on Ashland Avenue.”
The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees in an instant.
Luca’s eyes flashed with lethal fury.
“She knew your address?”
“My mother’s address,” I clarified, my voice shaking.
“My mom had shoulder surgery last winter and can’t work.”
“If she loses that apartment, she has nowhere else to go.”
Luca turned toward his second-in-command, a towering man named Marco who had just entered.
“Send four men to the Ashland building immediately,” Luca commanded.
“Place Emma’s mother under twenty-four-hour perimeter guard.”
My eyes widened in pure shock.
“Mr. Moretti, you don’t have to do that—”
“I do,” Luca interrupted, looking back down at me.
“Vanessa’s father is a wounded snake right now.”
“When snakes get cornered, they strike at the easiest target.”
“You protected my father tonight, Emma.”
He reached out, his warm, calloused fingers gently brushing against my wrist to steady my trembling hands.
May you like
“From this moment on, nobody touches you or your family.”
I looked into his dark eyes, and for the first time in nine months, I felt entirely safe.
