Chapter 1 - The Golden Clasp
The entire restaurant held its collective breath.
I stood completely frozen as the little boy leaned dangerously over the mafia boss’s arm.
Leo made that soft, urgent sound again.
His tiny fingers stretched toward the cheap silver chain resting against my collarbone.
Dante Rosselli did not pull the child back.
Instead, his dark, exhausted eyes shifted from my face down to my neck.
He was staring directly at the small locket my mother had given me.
“Hold him.”
Dante’s voice was quiet, but it carried across the dead silence of the dining room.
I took a step backward, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Sir, I am just a waitress.”
One of the massive bodyguards stepped forward, his hand slipping inside his dark suit jacket.
“Do as Mr. Rosselli says.”
My manager, Mr. Carrillo, was shaking violently near the hostess stand.
He aggressively nodded at me to comply.
I carefully set my order pad on the nearest table.
My hands trembled as I reached out to take the baby.
Leo immediately stopped fussing the second my arms wrapped around his small, warm body.
He buried his face into my shoulder and grabbed my silver locket with a triumphant little fist.
Dante watched the interaction with an intensity that made my blood run entirely cold.
“Where did you get that necklace, Alina?”
His tone was not a question, but a terrifying demand.
“My mother gave it to me before she disappeared.”
Dante reached out and pressed a hidden latch on the side of my locket.
The cheap silver casing popped open, revealing a solid gold crest inside that I had never seen before.
It was a dragon, identical to the black ink on Dante’s neck.
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“Lock the doors,” Dante commanded his men without looking away from me.
“No one leaves, and this girl is coming with us.”
