The door closed on my fingers, and the sound Vanessa made wasn't anger. It was relief. I was nobody — the maid who carried trays and kept her eyes on the floor.

Luca’s private study was a cavern of dark mahogany, wall-to-wall bookshelves, and the heavy scent of expensive tobacco. He walked behind his massive desk, sat down in a leather wingback chair, and gestured for Nora to stand in front of him.

“Five minutes,” Luca said, checking the gold Rolex on his wrist. “Speak.”

Nora took a deep breath. There was no time for preamble.

“Your fiancée is planning to steal the Moretti emerald,” Nora said flatly.

Luca didn't blink. He didn't laugh. He simply stared at her, his fingers steepled under his chin.

“That is a very bold accusation for a maid to make against her future employer,” Luca murmured.

“It’s the truth,” Nora insisted, taking a step closer to the desk. “Earlier tonight, I was in the east wing fetching linens. I heard Vanessa talking to a man. She told him that by Saturday night, the emerald would vanish, the insurance would pay out, and no one would ever know.”

Luca’s dark eyes narrowed fractionally. “And you expect me to believe you overheard a master heist while carrying bedsheets?”

“She saw me,” Nora said, her voice cracking as the memory of the pain washed over her. “She saw me listening. She slammed the heavy oak door shut on my hand.”

Nora pulled her right hand out from the folds of her apron. She unwrapped the bloody, ice-soaked dish towel and laid her ruined hand on the edge of Luca’s pristine desk.

The two fingers were grotesquely swollen, black and blue, bent at a horrifying, unnatural angle.

Luca’s gaze dropped to her hand. For the first time, a flicker of genuine shock crossed his stoic face.

“She smiled at me while I was on the floor,” Nora whispered, tears finally falling down her cheeks. “She told me accidents happen on staircases. And then, ten minutes ago in the drawing room, she told me that if I didn't leave this house, she was going to arrange a terrible accident for my son, Leo.”