Chapter 1 - THE BABY AT TABLE SEVEN
The first time Leo reached for me, I thought he wanted my necklace.
By the third time, everyone around Table Seven had stopped pretending not to stare.
Aurelia was packed that Friday night, but the moment Dante Rosselli entered carrying a nine-month-old baby, something in the room changed.
His two bodyguards checked the exits before they checked the hostess.
My manager abandoned customers who had already been waiting twenty minutes.
Even the owner appeared from his office.
I recognized the name only after Mr. Carrillo whispered it.
Dante Rosselli.
Businessman if lawyers were listening.
Organized-crime figure if they were not.
What frightened me more was the tattoo climbing above his collar.
A black dragon.
My mother’s old warning returned immediately.
If you ever see men with dragons on their skin, Lena, you walk the other way.
My legal name was Alina Valdez.
My mother, Marisol, had only called me Lena when she was frightened.
I had not heard the nickname since she disappeared eight months earlier.
Naturally, Table Seven became mine.
Dante ordered Amarone, water, and warm milk for the baby.
His voice was quiet.
His face looked harder than stone.
But there was exhaustion behind his eyes that did not match the frightening reputation surrounding him.
The baby was different.
Leo had light brown hair, serious gray eyes, and one tiny hand twisted into Dante’s expensive jacket.
When I turned to leave, Leo made a startled sound.
Then both hands stretched toward me.
Dante adjusted him.
Leo leaned farther.
“Hey there,” I whispered.
The baby stared directly at my chest.
My fingers touched the old gold necklace my mother had given me years ago.
“I knew it,” I murmured. “You just like shiny things.”
But Leo did not laugh.
He became desperate.
His little fingers opened and closed.
When Dante tried turning him away, Leo whimpered.
Then cried.
Not loudly.
Heartbrokenly.
As though I were someone he had been waiting for.
Against my better judgment, I stepped closer.
Leo immediately stopped crying.
His fingers caught the chain around my neck.
The tiny oval locket slipped out from beneath my blouse.
A faded blue enamel star decorated its face.
Dante Rosselli went completely still.
May you like
Leo held the locket between both hands.
And the most feared man in the restaurant stared at it like he had just seen a ghost.
