Chapter 1 - Take Off His Ring
Hazel Brooks jerked her hand against her chest and whispered, “I’m not taking it off.”
Luca Moretti pushed a photograph across the black marble desk.
A red X covered Daniel Mercer’s face.
Under the photograph was one handwritten number: 11:47.
Hazel realized her engagement had an expiration time.
“Stand up.”
The command came quietly.
That made it worse.
Hazel stared across the desk at the man people in Chicago were careful not to name unless they knew exactly who might be listening.
Luca Moretti did not look like the monster she had imagined during the elevator ride.
Monsters were supposed to announce themselves.
Luca didn’t.
He sat perfectly still in a black three-piece suit, one tattooed hand resting beside a leather folder. His platinum-blond hair was swept away from a face that might have belonged on a billboard if his eyes had not been so cold.
Two men stood behind him.
Both wore black suits.
One held a gun pointed at the floor.
Hazel swallowed.
“I was told this was about Daniel.”
“It is.”
“My fiancé said he had a business meeting here.”
“I know.”
“He said he’d meet me downstairs.”
“He won’t.”
Hazel’s fingers tightened around her engagement ring.
Luca noticed.
His gaze dropped to it again.
“Take off his ring.”
“No.”
For the first time, something changed in Luca’s expression.
Not anger.
Interest.
Hazel hated that almost as much.
She pushed herself upright.
“I don’t know what Daniel did to you, Mr. Moretti, but I’m not part of it.”
“You became part of it eleven months ago.”
“That’s when we got engaged.”
“Exactly.”
Hazel stared at him.
Luca opened the leather folder.
Inside were photographs.
Daniel leaving a hotel.
Daniel climbing into a black SUV.
Daniel shaking hands with a man Hazel did not recognize.
Daniel entering a warehouse.
Daniel standing beside two men carrying wooden crates.
She looked away.
“Those could mean anything.”
“They could.”
Luca slid another photograph forward.
Hazel stopped breathing.
It showed her.
She was walking out of the little accounting office where she worked.
The photograph had been taken from across the street.
Another showed her buying coffee.
Another showed her entering her apartment.
Another showed her asleep beside the window of an Amtrak train.
Hazel recoiled.
“What is this?”
“Your fiancé’s insurance policy.”
She looked at Luca.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
“Then explain it.”
Luca studied her for a long moment.
“You really don’t know.”
Something about the statement frightened her more than an accusation would have.
“Know what?”
Luca leaned back.
“Daniel Mercer owes money.”
Hazel almost laughed.
That was it?
Daniel worked in private investment. He moved money constantly. He had wealthy clients, expensive dinners, complicated deals.
“How much?”
“Eight million.”
Her laugh disappeared.
Luca continued.
“He didn’t lose it.”
“What does that mean?”
“He stole it.”
“From you?”
“From people who work with me.”
Hazel shook her head.
“No. Daniel wouldn’t—”
Luca pushed another page toward her.
A bank transfer.
She recognized Daniel’s company name.
Mercer Strategic Holdings.
Below it was another account.
Then another.
And finally—
H. BROOKS CONSULTING.
Hazel stared.
“That isn’t mine.”
“It has your name.”
“I don’t own a company.”
“I know.”
Her head snapped up.
Luca tapped the document.
“Daniel created one for you.”
Hazel’s mouth went dry.
“Why?”
“To receive money.”
“I never received anything.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Luca opened another document.
Her Social Security number.
Her date of birth.
Her old address.
Her signature.
Except she had never signed it.
“That’s forged.”
“Yes.”
“He stole my identity.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“Because when eight million dollars disappeared, Daniel needed the records to point somewhere other than himself.”
Hazel’s knees weakened.
She lowered herself toward the chair.
“Don’t.”
Luca’s voice stopped her.
She stared at him.
“Why do you keep telling me not to sit?”
“Because the chair is wired.”
Hazel froze.
One of the bodyguards moved instantly.
He pulled the chair backward.
Luca reached beneath the edge and removed something small.
A black device.
Hazel stopped breathing.
“What is that?”
“A transmitter.”
“You put it there?”
“No.”
Luca placed it on the desk.
“Daniel did.”
Silence.
Hazel looked at the chair.
Then the photographs.
Then her ring.
“No.”
Her voice came out thin.
“No, Daniel loves me.”
Luca said nothing.
“He proposed to me.”
Nothing.
“He chose the restaurant where we had our first date. He remembered my mother’s birthday. When my father died, he stayed with me all night.”
Luca’s eyes shifted slightly at the mention of her father.
Hazel noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“We’re discussing Daniel.”
“No. You reacted.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Luca’s mouth tightened.
Hazel suddenly forgot she was supposed to be terrified.
“My father?”
One bodyguard glanced at Luca.
That tiny movement was enough.
Hazel stepped toward the desk.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Luca stood.
The difference in height forced Hazel to lift her chin.
“Go home.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Pack one bag.”
“You kidnapped me, showed me evidence that my fiancé framed me for stealing eight million dollars, revealed someone planted a listening device under my chair, and now you want me to go home?”
“You weren’t kidnapped.”
“Your men put me in a car.”
“They asked.”
“One had a gun.”
“He always has a gun.”
“That does not make it better.”
For half a second, Luca almost smiled.
Almost.
Then his face became stone again.
“You have forty minutes.”
“For what?”
“To pack.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No.”
Luca walked around the desk.
Hazel backed away instinctively.
He stopped.
He did not touch her.
“Daniel believes you’re here because I’m questioning you about the missing money.”
“He knows I’m here?”
“He arranged it.”
That landed harder than everything else.
“What?”
“He gave us your location.”
Hazel stared at him.
“No.”
“He told my people you had access to the accounts.”
“No.”
“He said you had become frightened after moving the money.”
“Stop.”
“He said you threatened to go to the police.”
“Stop.”
“He said you were planning to disappear tonight.”
“I said stop!”
Her voice cracked across the office.
Nobody moved.
Hazel’s breathing became ragged.
Luca waited.
Then, more quietly, he said, “That’s why I told you to remove his ring.”
Hazel looked down.
The diamond suddenly felt heavy.
She remembered Daniel choosing it.
Not in a jewelry store.
At home.
He had knelt beside their Christmas tree.
Hazel had cried.
Daniel had laughed and kissed her.
She had believed she was watching the beginning of her life.
Maybe she had been watching someone prepare her grave.
“Why haven’t you killed me?”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
One bodyguard shifted.
Luca did not.
“Because you didn’t steal from me.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“People who steal eight million dollars don’t take the bus to work.”
Despite everything, Hazel gave a strangled laugh.
Luca’s eyes softened for barely a second.
Then he reached toward her.
Hazel flinched.
His hand stopped.
Luca looked at her.
“May I?”
She followed his gaze.
Her ring.
Hazel slowly extended her hand.
Luca’s tattooed fingers closed around the diamond.
He twisted it gently.
The ring slid free.
Hazel felt absurdly naked.
Luca placed Daniel’s ring on the desk.
Then removed a heavy black signet ring from his own right hand.
Hazel pulled back.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping you alive.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It will.”
He held out his hand.
Hazel didn’t give him hers.
Luca waited.
“What does that ring mean?”
“To my people?”
“Yes.”
“That you belong under my protection.”
“And to everyone else?”
His gaze settled on hers.
“That touching you means starting a war with me.”
Hazel’s heartbeat stumbled.
“I don’t belong to you.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You literally—”
“I said you’re under my protection.”
“You can protect someone without putting your ring on them.”
“Not from these men.”
“What men?”
“The ones Daniel owes.”
Hazel stared at the ring.
Then at the armed guards.
Then at the photographs of herself.
“How many people want me dead?”
“Enough.”
She closed her eyes.
“Wonderful.”
“Hazel.”
It was the first time Luca had said her name.
Strangely, it steadied her.
She opened her eyes.
“Forty minutes?”
“Thirty-eight now.”
“You’re unbelievably irritating.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“I’m sure you have.”
This time she definitely saw the almost-smile.
Hazel held out her hand.
Luca slid the black ring onto her finger.
It was too large.
Cold.
Heavy.
And terrifying.
The instant it was there, both bodyguards straightened.
Hazel noticed.
So did Luca.
“Now,” he said, “we leave.”
They took a private elevator.
Hazel stood beside Luca without speaking.
Her phone had been returned to her.
She checked it.
Seventeen messages from Daniel.
BABY WHERE ARE YOU?
CALL ME.
PLEASE.
THESE PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS.
DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY SAY.
Hazel stared at the screen.
Another arrived.
I LOVE YOU.
Her throat tightened.
Luca watched the elevator numbers.
“You can answer him.”
Hazel looked up.
“You want me to?”
“I want him to believe you still trust him.”
“You’re asking me to lie.”
“Yes.”
“At least you’re straightforward.”
“It saves time.”
Hazel typed:
I’m okay. They asked questions. Coming home soon.
Daniel responded almost instantly.
COME ALONE.
Hazel showed Luca.
His jaw tightened.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I’m getting very tired of men saying ‘nothing’ when something is obviously wrong.”
Luca took her phone.
He studied the message.
Then returned it.
“He wants you isolated.”
“Why?”
Luca looked toward the doors.
“Because something was supposed to happen tonight.”
The elevator opened into a private garage.
A black SUV waited.
Hazel stopped.
“What was supposed to happen?”
Luca gestured toward the vehicle.
“Get in.”
“No.”
His bodyguards exchanged a glance.
Hazel crossed her arms.
“I’m not moving until you answer.”
Luca approached her.
“You were supposed to leave my office at eleven forty.”
Hazel remembered the number beneath Daniel’s photograph.
11:47.
Her skin went cold.
“And?”
“At eleven forty-seven, the car Daniel expected you to take home was supposed to explode.”
Hazel forgot how to breathe.
“That’s impossible.”
“The device was found twenty minutes ago.”
“Daniel wouldn’t—”
Her phone rang.
Daniel.
Hazel stared at his name.
Luca stared too.
“Answer.”
She did.
“Hello?”
“Hazel.”
Daniel sounded breathless.
“Oh, thank God. Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
She looked at Luca.
“Leaving.”
“Alone?”
Hazel hesitated.
Daniel’s voice changed.
Only slightly.
“Hazel. Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
Luca’s eyes remained fixed on hers.
Daniel exhaled.
“Good. Listen carefully. Don’t go home.”
Hazel frowned.
“Why?”
“Go to Union Station. Locker 318. There’s something inside for you.”
“What?”
“A passport. Cash. Everything you need.”
Hazel’s blood chilled.
“Why would I need those?”
Silence.
Then Daniel whispered:
“Because by midnight, Hazel Brooks needs to disappear.”
The call ended.
Hazel stared at the phone.
Luca’s expression had become lethal.
“Still think he loves you?”
Hazel looked down at Daniel’s ring, still visible in her mind although it was no longer on her finger.
“No.”
Luca opened the SUV door.
“Good.”
Hazel climbed inside.
Before Luca could follow, one of his men spoke urgently behind him.
“Boss.”
Luca turned.
The bodyguard held a tablet.
His face had changed.
“What?”
“We checked Union Station.”
“And?”
“Locker 318 was opened six minutes ago.”
Hazel leaned forward.
“By Daniel?”
The bodyguard looked directly at her.
“No.”
He turned the tablet around.
The security image showed a woman standing at the locker.
Hazel’s heart stopped.
She knew that face.
She had seen it every morning of her childhood in the framed photograph beside her father’s bed.
Hazel grabbed the tablet.
“That’s impossible.”
Luca said nothing.
Hazel enlarged the image with trembling fingers.
The woman had the same dark eyes.
The same mouth.
The same scar above her left eyebrow.
Hazel whispered the name of the woman who had supposedly died seventeen years ago.
“Mom?”
May you like
And then Luca Moretti said the one thing that made Hazel realize Daniel’s betrayal was only the beginning.
“I was wondering when she’d come back.”
