Chapter 2 - While the Mafia Boss Vacationed With His Mistress, His Pregnant Wife Vanished With the One Secret His Enemies Would Kill to Find
Norah did not reach for the revolver.
Not yet.
Fear had taught her patience.
Marriage to Matteo had taught her something more useful.
Never reveal the weapon until you know what the other person wants.
Adrian walked farther into the foyer.
“Mrs. Rossi.”
“Adrian.”
His gaze dropped to her suitcase.
“I thought you weren’t traveling.”
“I changed my mind.”
“To Greece?”
“No.”
“Where?”
Norah smiled faintly.
“Since when does Matteo’s accountant approve my vacations?”
One of the men behind Adrian shifted.
Adrian raised a hand.
“Relax.”
He looked at Norah.
“I’m here to help you.”
“Men who arrive with guns rarely begin helpful conversations.”
“They aren’t mine.”
Norah’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Adrian glanced behind him.
The two men raised their weapons.
Not at Norah.
At Adrian.
“Mrs. Rossi,” one said, “put down the bag.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Sorry.”
Norah understood.
He had been forced to bring them inside.
“Who are you?”
The taller man smiled.
“People interested in your husband’s emergency accounts.”
Norah’s blood chilled.
“Those don’t exist.”
“Good answer.”
He approached.
“But you spent eleven months proving otherwise.”
Adrian said quietly, “Norah, do what they say.”
The man struck him.
Adrian fell.
Norah moved instinctively.
“Stop!”
The man looked at her stomach.
“Seven months?”
Norah said nothing.
“Congratulations.”
His smile was cold.
“Matteo Rossi’s first child is valuable.”
Norah’s fear became something else.
Rage.
She opened her bag.
The gunman reacted.
Too late.
Norah threw the bag.
Not the gun.
The entire bag.
It struck his arm.
She ran toward the security panel.
Pressed the silent alarm.
Then dove behind the staircase.
Gunfire exploded.
The estate lockdown activated.
Steel shutters dropped.
The second gunman cursed.
Adrian tackled him.
Norah crawled toward the pantry.
A hand grabbed her ankle.
She screamed.
The taller attacker dragged her backward.
Then the front window shattered inward.
A shot cracked.
The man released her.
He collapsed.
Norah covered her stomach.
Through the broken glass came Gabriel Rossi.
Matteo’s younger brother.
Behind him were four loyal guards.
Within thirty seconds, it was over.
Gabriel knelt beside Norah.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
“The baby?”
“He’s moving.”
“Ambulance.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
“No hospital connected to Matteo.”
Gabriel stared.
Then understood.
“You really were leaving.”
Norah looked at him.
“Yes.”
He sat back.
“Does Matteo know?”
“No.”
“Jesus.”
Adrian groaned nearby.
Gabriel’s men lifted him.
Norah grabbed Gabriel’s sleeve.
“Don’t hurt him.”
“He brought them here.”
“They had guns on him.”
Gabriel looked at Adrian.
Then at her.
“You trust him?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
---
The woman who had been helping Norah disappear was named Sarah Kim.
Former federal financial investigator.
Now a private consultant who specialized in extracting women from high-risk marriages involving organized crime, abusive wealth, or politically protected men.
Norah had found her eleven months earlier.
Not because Matteo had hit her.
He never had.
Not because he threatened her.
He had not needed to.
Norah sought help because she realized something frightening.
Every part of her life required Matteo’s permission.
The house.
Cars.
Security.
Accounts.
Doctors.
Travel.
Even the guards protecting her reported to him.
If she ever wanted to leave, she needed a door he did not own.
So she built one.
Slowly.
Quietly.
Sarah arrived at a private clinic while Norah underwent examination.
The baby was fine.
Stress had caused contractions, but there was no labor.
Gabriel stood outside.
Sarah entered.
“You need to disappear tonight.”
Norah looked at her.
“Those men knew about the accounts.”
“Yes.”
“Who were they?”
“We’re tracing them.”
“Were they Matteo’s enemies?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
Sarah sat.
“The information leak appears to have come from Adrian.”
Norah’s stomach dropped.
“He betrayed Matteo?”
“Maybe not voluntarily.”
“Then how?”
“Someone has his daughter.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Adrian had a sixteen-year-old daughter.
Emily.
He talked about her constantly.
“They threatened her.”
“Yes.”
“So he told them about me.”
“He told them you had accessed accounts.”
“Why?”
“Because they demanded proof that Matteo’s emergency reserve existed.”
Norah looked toward the window.
“What happens now?”
“You leave.”
“And Adrian’s daughter?”
“That isn’t your responsibility.”
Norah stared at Sarah.
“No.”
“Norah.”
“I know exactly what it feels like to be treated like leverage because someone wants something from a powerful man.”
She touched her stomach.
“We find Emily.”
Sarah sighed.
“This is why clients are supposed to leave before developing rescue complexes.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Norah looked at Gabriel through the glass.
“Matteo’s brother can help.”
Sarah followed her gaze.
“Can you trust him?”
Norah answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
---
Gabriel was twenty-nine.
Unlike Matteo, he smiled easily.
That made him no less dangerous.
When Norah explained Emily’s kidnapping, his expression hardened.
“I’ll find her.”
“Without telling Matteo.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You want me to hide a kidnapping, an attack on his estate, and his pregnant wife’s disappearance from my brother?”
“Yes.”
“He’ll kill me.”
“He’s in Santorini.”
“With Harper?”
Norah looked away.
Gabriel swore.
“I knew something was happening.”
“You knew?”
“Not enough.”
“That’s what everyone says.”
He looked ashamed.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Norah nodded.
“Thank you.”
Gabriel blinked.
“For what?”
“For saying it without explaining why I shouldn’t be hurt.”
He looked toward the floor.
“My brother has forgotten how apologies work.”
“I noticed.”
---
Matteo discovered something was wrong seven hours later.
He and Harper had landed in Santorini.
The villa overlooked the Aegean Sea.
White walls.
Blue water.
Champagne waiting.
Everything Norah had once selected from a travel brochure.
Harper stepped onto the terrace.
“This is unbelievable.”
Matteo stared at his phone.
No message from Norah.
He had expected one.
Anger.
Sarcasm.
Maybe a photograph of divorce papers.
Nothing.
Harper wrapped her arms around him.
Matteo stiffened.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’ve been weird since we landed.”
He checked his phone again.
“Business.”
Harper kissed his neck.
“Forget business.”
Matteo looked at the ocean.
He should have felt free.
Instead, he remembered Norah at the kitchen island.
Have a safe flight.
No tears.
No threat.
Nothing.
A woman who still cared would have fought.
The thought irritated him.
Then frightened him.
His secure phone rang.
Gabriel.
Matteo answered.
“What?”
“Where are you?”
“You know where I am.”
“Come home.”
Matteo’s entire body changed.
“What happened?”
Gabriel hesitated.
That was enough.
“Norah?”
“She’s alive.”
Matteo stood.
“What happened to my wife?”
Harper turned.
Gabriel continued.
“The estate was breached.”
Matteo’s voice became deadly.
“How?”
“Two men came through Adrian.”
“Where is Adrian?”
“Alive.”
“Norah?”
“Safe.”
“The baby?”
“Safe.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
Then:
“I’ll be at the airport in twenty minutes.”
Harper stared.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“We just arrived.”
“My wife was attacked.”
Harper’s face hardened.
“Your wife told you to bring me.”
Matteo looked at her.
For the first time, he heard how absurd the sentence sounded.
“Pack.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You dragged me halfway across the world and now you’re running back because Norah got upset?”
Something inside Matteo went cold.
“Got upset?”
Harper crossed her arms.
“She always does this.”
Matteo stared.
“How would you know?”
Silence.
“Harper.”
She looked away.
“How would you know how Norah reacts?”
“I’ve seen her.”
“Where?”
“At events.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Harper’s expression changed.
Matteo stepped closer.
“What have you done?”
“Nothing.”
“Show me your phone.”
“No.”
“Harper.”
She backed away.
Matteo held out his hand.
“The phone.”
She threw it at him.
“Fine.”
He unlocked it.
He knew her code.
That fact suddenly disgusted him.
Messages.
Photographs.
Then a conversation with a number saved as A.B.
Adrian Bell.
Matteo’s blood went cold.
He opened it.
HARPER: Is she really planning to leave?
A.B.: Looks that way.
HARPER: When?
A.B.: After Greece.
Another:
HARPER: If Matteo comes home and she’s gone, he’ll finally stop pretending their marriage matters.
Matteo looked up.
Harper had gone pale.
“You knew.”
“Matteo—”
“You knew Norah was preparing to leave.”
“I suspected.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“She was leaving you!”
“That is my wife.”
“You were sleeping with me!”
The words echoed.
Matteo froze.
For months, he had separated the two worlds.
Norah was his wife.
Harper was entertainment.
His own ugly word.
He had convinced himself the categories could coexist because Norah’s place was permanent.
Now Harper said the truth aloud.
You were sleeping with me.
Not entertainment.
Betrayal.
Matteo looked at the beautiful villa.
The honeymoon villa.
Norah had selected it.
Norah had once sent him photographs of this exact terrace.
He had replied with a thumbs-up while sitting in a meeting.
Now another woman stood there.
Matteo suddenly felt sick.
“Get your own flight home.”
Harper stared.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You can’t leave me here.”
“You’re twenty-eight years old with a passport and my company credit card.”
His expression hardened.
“You’ll survive.”
He walked out.
For the first time since their affair began, Matteo did not look back.
---
Norah was gone before his jet reached Boston.
Gabriel refused to tell him where.
Matteo stood inside the empty bedroom.
Her clothes were gone.
Jewelry remained.
The diamond necklace he gave her on their anniversary sat untouched.
So did the expensive watches.
Designer bags.
Everything he had once listed when claiming he provided her with anything she wanted.
She had taken almost none of it.
On her pillow lay one envelope.
Inside were three items.
Her wedding ring.
The Santorini itinerary.
And a note.
You were right about one thing.
You provided me with everything except the one thing I asked for.
A husband.
Do not look for me until you understand the difference.
Matteo sat on the edge of the bed.
For the first time in twenty years, the most feared man in Boston’s underworld had no command to give.
No threat.
No solution.
His wife had disappeared.
And she had taken his unborn son with her.
Then Felix Romano, his security chief, entered.
“Boss.”
Matteo looked up.
“What?”
“We traced the men who attacked the estate.”
“Who?”
Felix placed a photograph down.
Matteo recognized the man immediately.
Vittorio Conti.
A rival who had spent years searching for Rossi financial reserves.
Matteo’s face hardened.
“Find him.”
“There’s more.”
Felix placed another document beside it.
“They know about the black accounts.”
Matteo stared.
Impossible.
Only three people knew those accounts existed.
Matteo.
Adrian.
And—
His eyes moved toward the empty safe hidden behind a painting.
The backup flash drive was gone.
“Norah.”
Felix nodded.
“Your wife accessed them eleven months ago.”
Matteo stopped breathing.
Eleven months.
Long before Harper.
Long before the restaurant receipts.
Long before the affair.
Norah had been preparing to leave him for nearly a year.
“Why?”
Felix hesitated.
“We found something else.”
He handed Matteo a copy of a bank transfer.
Payments from one of Matteo’s emergency accounts.
To a shell corporation.
The beneficiary made Matteo’s face go white.
HARPER LANE.
Matteo stared.
“I never sent this.”
“I know.”
“How long?”
“Fourteen months.”
Before the affair.
Before Matteo had touched Harper.
Someone had been paying her from his secret money before she ever entered his bed.
May you like
And suddenly Matteo realized the mistress he had taken on his honeymoon might never have been his mistress by accident.
---
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