THE MAFIA BOSS WENT COMPLETELY STILL WHEN A LITTLE GIRL ENTERED HIS MANSION AND SAID, “MY MOM COULDN’T COME TODAY…”

happened.

“How old is Emma?” he asked.

Clara’s lips parted.

“I told you,” Emma whispered. “Eight. Almost nine.”

Lucas never looked away from Clara.

“When is her birthday?”

Clara went still.

Lucas stepped closer.

“When?”

“October seventeenth,” she whispered.

The date landed like a physical blow.

Nine years earlier, Lucas had spent one night in a hotel outside continue reading …