Chapter 2 - The Gilded Cage
The black armored SUV smelled like expensive leather and fresh rain.
I sat in the back seat with my newborn daughter safely secured in a luxury car seat.
Luca sat across from me, pouring a glass of amber liquid from a crystal decanter.
"How did you fake a marriage certificate with my signature?" I demanded angrily.
He took a slow sip from his glass before meeting my furious gaze.
"I did not fake your signature, Emma."
"I have never met you before today," I shot back, holding my baby closer.
"You signed a stack of loan documents for Derek three years ago when his startup failed," Luca explained smoothly.
"One of those documents was a proxy marriage license filed in an offshore jurisdiction."
My heart hammered against my ribs as the terrifying truth washed over me.
Derek had sold me out to a mafia boss to cover his own massive financial debts.
"Why would a man like you want a fake wife and a baby?" I asked, trembling.
Luca looked out the tinted window at the passing city skyline.
"The Moretti syndicate is transitioning into legitimate global real estate."
"The board of directors in Milan demands traditional family values from their next CEO."
"A beautiful wife and a newborn child make me appear stable and trustworthy to the corporate world."
I stared at him in utter disbelief.
"You claimed my child as a business strategy?"
His dark eyes snapped back to mine, flashing with a sudden, intense heat.
"I claimed her because her biological father is a weak man who abandoned her."
"Under my name, she will never know a single day of poverty, fear, or rejection."
The SUV slowed down, pulling through a set of massive iron gates guarded by armed men.
We arrived at a sprawling stone mansion surrounded by acres of dark, silent forest.
"Welcome home, Mrs. Moretti," Luca said as the driver opened my door.
I stepped out into the cold air, realizing I had traded a broken heart for a beautiful prison.
As we walked inside, Luca's phone buzzed with an encrypted message.
He read the screen, and his jaw clenched so tightly a muscle jumped in his cheek.
May you like
"Derek's father just bought the opposing real estate firm," Luca muttered darkly.
"And he just put a ten-million-dollar bounty on the head of his only grandchild to secure the inheritance."
