Chapter 14 - The Syndicate Gala
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The annual Chicago Syndicate Gala was an extravagant display of power masked as a charity ball. All the major families attended, hiding their daggers behind crystal champagne flutes and designer tuxedos.
I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my suite, staring at the woman looking back at me. I wasn't wearing a cheap black maid's uniform anymore. Luca had ordered a custom, backless emerald-green silk gown that hugged every curve of my body perfectly. Diamonds glittered at my throat. I looked like a queen of the underworld.
Luca walked into the room, wearing a bespoke black tuxedo that made him look dangerously handsome. He stopped dead in his tracks, his dark eyes sweeping over me with a hunger that made my pulse race.
"You are breathtaking," he murmured, crossing the room to offer me his arm. "Are you ready to show them who you belong to?"
"I'm ready," I said, lifting my chin.
When we arrived at the grand ballroom of the Palmer House Hotel, the room went completely silent. Hundreds of wealthy, dangerous people stopped talking and stared as the feared Luca Moretti entered, not with an aristocratic heiress, but with the maid who had supposedly ruined the Romano alliance.
We walked down the grand staircase, my hand resting confidently on his arm. I could feel the hostile glares burning into my back, but Luca’s presence was an impenetrable shield.
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Across the ballroom, standing near an ice sculpture, was Isabella. She wore a blood-red dress, her face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred as she watched us command the room. Her father, Don Romano, stood beside her, his face dark with fury.
"Don't look at them," Luca whispered in my ear, pulling me closer. "Tonight, they are nothing. Tonight, you are the only woman in this city."
