Page 109 of The Hidden Heir

“What about Stefano? Is he leverage then?” I ask, trying to put as many of the puzzle pieces together.

“He was always leverage,” Mauro says. “We’ve been milking him for information for months. We’ll keep milking him until we exhaust him.”

“And when you don’t need him anymore?”

“He’ll be useful. A Petrucci is always useful,” Caroline says, pointing upwards. “Your boy? He’s fucking gold.”

“You’ll never touch my son!” I snarl.

“You won’t be around to stop me,” she says, mocking me.

The cold reality of what’s about to happen dawns on me. I’m also leverage, but I am easily expendable once Caroline gets what she wants from Luca. That’s what this is about: my son, and Luca as her husband. The ultimate game plan is finally revealed. Stefano is useful because of his inside knowledge. I’m only useful until Luca agrees to Caroline and Mauro’s new terms and conditions.

I know the mansion is heavily guarded. Several syndicates are insanely loyal to the Mancusos. If a war does break out, it will be bloody and messy. And the Petruccis might lose in the end because of Caroline’s earlier machinations. My stomach tightens.

“You’re going to kill me,” I whisper.

“Well, yes. The plan doesn’t work otherwise.”

Mauro sighs. “Personally, I take no pleasure in any of this.”

“Neither do I. But it’s necessary,” Caroline declares, a practiced pained look on his face.

I wish I could believe it, though. But I can’t. Not when I can see through her with such startling clarity.

Footsteps echo from the main hallway. The door closes loudly.

“Ah, they’re here. Excellent!” Caroline almost squeals with excitement, then takes a small gun out of her bag.

I’m starting to believe that Mauro lost the reins to this entire affair a while ago. Caroline took over and let her sick mind play out the most disturbing scenarios, determined to get her own way. But her twisted imagination and reality don’t quite match, and I think, deep down, my stepfather knows it.

The thought subsides when Detective Ethan Reece walks in with Luca.

For a second, I dare hope I’m about to be rescued.

“Luca,” I whisper.

His sullen gaze destroys that hope.

I see the gun that Reece has trained on my husband.

33

VALENTINA

“You’ve got a detective on your payroll,” I say.

Caroline smiles broadly. “Who doesn’t?”

“Here we are, Caroline,” Luca replies. “What’s next?”

He doesn’t seem shocked, though. In fact, his calmness is almost unnerving, as if he knows something that I don’t, as if he might still have an ace up his sleeve. Or maybe that’s just hope derailing me from reality. Given our situation, hope is all I have left, and it’s a fickle thing.

My stepfather sighs and starts tapping away on his phone, as if this entire conversation is rather boring to him.

“I’m disappointed in you,” I tell Mauro. “You made a promise to my mother that you would protect me, no matter what.”

“I tried, but you decided to run away.”