Chapter 14 - HER FATHER’S LAST WORDS
Naomi waited until everyone left.
Except Luca.
She opened the letter.
My little girl,
If you are reading this, then I probably didn’t make it home.
Naomi stopped.
Luca squeezed her hand.
She continued.
I need you to know one thing.
I did not leave you.
I did not choose work over you.
I was trying to stop men who believed money made them untouchable.
One of those men was Dominic Vale.
Another wore a badge.
Another wore a judge’s robe.
Another called himself my friend.
Naomi wiped her eyes.
The last line hurt most.
If Isabella Moretti gives you this letter, trust her.
Her husband was not a good man.
But Isabella helped me save people when nobody else would.
And if she ever needs you, help her.
Not because you owe me.
Because I know your heart.
Naomi pressed the letter to her chest.
She cried silently.
Luca sat beside her.
After a while, she whispered, “I hated him.”
“You were a kid.”
“I thought he abandoned us.”
“He knew you loved him.”
“You don’t know that.”
Luca looked at the letter.
“Yes, I do.”
Naomi turned.
“How?”
“Because fathers don’t write letters like that to children they doubt.”
She looked at him.
“You’re better at this than you think.”
“At what?”
“Being human.”
He frowned.
“I’ll deny that.”
She laughed through tears.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Dominic.
“Luca.”
Luca stood.
Naomi’s body went cold.
“Where are you?”
Dominic laughed.
“Did the maid survive?”
Luca’s voice dropped.
“You have ten seconds to tell me where you are before I spend every dollar I own finding you.”
“You always were dramatic.”
“What do you want?”
Dominic paused.
“The city.”
Luca said nothing.
“You think the arrests change anything? Half the people on that drive will walk.”
“And you?”
“I already did.”
Naomi held out her hand.
Luca put the call on speaker.
Dominic continued.
“Tonight, Moretti Foundation gala. Hundreds of guests. Cameras. Reporters.”
Luca’s face changed.
The gala.
A public event his mother had planned months earlier.
Dominic laughed.
“Come if you want the truth about your father’s death.”
The call ended.
Naomi immediately said, “We’re going.”
“No.”
She stared.
“Did getting shot make you forget who I am?”
“It made me remember exactly how close I came to losing you.”
The room went quiet.
Naomi’s breath caught.
Luca looked at her.
“I can lose money.”
He stepped closer.
“Power.”
Closer.
“Reputation.”
His hand touched her cheek.
“But not you.”
Naomi whispered, “Then don’t.”
He kissed her.
Not gently.
Not carefully.
Like a man who had been holding his breath for months.
When he pulled away, both were breathing hard.
Naomi touched his face.
“Still going to the gala.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“You are impossible.”
“Yes.”
His phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived.
The gala ballroom.
A bomb beneath the stage.
A message followed.
May you like
MIDNIGHT.
And there were already eight hundred people inside.
