Chapter 1
Vittorio did not look at Mark again after the punch.
He looked at Emma.
She stood beside the stone counter with both hands under her belly, breathing too quickly.
Her face had lost all color.
“Emma.”
She lifted her eyes.
“One of them…”
Her voice broke.
“I can't feel him.”
Everything inside Vittorio changed.
Four days earlier, he had stood beside a coffin containing his only son.
He was not going to stand beside another.
“Call the ambulance.”
One bodyguard moved immediately.
Richard pushed himself away from the pantry shelving.
“No.”
Vittorio slowly turned.
Richard’s breath came hard through his nose, but he still carried himself like a man who expected to be obeyed.
“She isn't leaving until this is settled.”
Vittorio stared at him.
“What is settled?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“The boy comes with us.”
Emma looked toward her father.
Pain crossed her face as another contraction began.
“Dad…”
Richard ignored it.
Vittorio did not.
He crossed the kitchen, lifted Emma’s scattered hospital bag, and began putting the contents back inside.
Tiny clothes.
Two newborn hats.
Medical records.
A photograph of Ethan folded into the side pocket.
Vittorio’s fingers stopped on it for half a second.
Then continued.
Mark crawled out from beneath a fallen tray.
“You don't understand what Ethan wanted.”
Vittorio’s hand became still.
Emma looked at her brother.
“What?”
Mark stood slowly.
“He talked to Dad.”
Emma’s breathing changed.
“When?”
Richard’s eyes snapped toward Mark.
“Enough.”
Mark looked at him.
For the first time, uncertainty appeared between father and son.
Vittorio saw it.
“What did Ethan say?”
Richard said nothing.
The ambulance sirens became audible outside.
Emma gripped the edge of the counter.
Vittorio held out one hand.
She took it.
Richard stepped toward them.
“You take her out that door, you are violating your son’s last request.”
Vittorio stopped.
The words landed harder than the rolling pin ever could.
Emma’s eyes filled.
“My husband never asked you to take my baby.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“He asked me to protect his son.”
Silence.
Even Mark looked uncomfortable with the wording.
Vittorio looked at Emma.
She shook her head immediately.
“I don't know what he's talking about.”
Another contraction hit.
Her knees weakened.
Vittorio caught her.
The doors opened and paramedics entered.
He did not debate another second.
“She goes now.”
Richard stepped aside only when two bodyguards moved between them.
As Emma was wheeled out, she grabbed Vittorio’s sleeve.
“Come with me.”
He nodded.
Then Richard called after them.
“Ask her what Ethan kept in the black envelope.”
Emma froze.
The paramedics looked at her.
Vittorio slowly turned.
Emma’s face had gone completely blank.
“What black envelope?”
She whispered:
“I've never seen one.”
Richard reached inside his jacket.
He removed a sealed envelope with Ethan’s handwriting across the front.
May you like
FOR RICHARD BELL ONLY.
And suddenly Ethan’s dead voice was standing in the kitchen with all of them.
