Chapter 1 - THE INTRUDER IN THE FOYER
Thirty-two-year-old Mara Whitfield was curvy, fiercely practical, and completely unapologetic about living life on her own terms. Hired by Roman DeLuca’s meddling Aunt Nora to house-sit the DeLuca mansion in Lake Forest, Illinois, Mara had spent three quiet days making the sterile estate feel human. She pushed the gloomy sofa toward natural daylight, relocated misplaced mugs, and banished a scowling six-foot oil portrait of family patriarch Michael DeLuca from the hallway because he seemed to scowl at anyone leaving the guest bathroom.
Her peaceful stay shattered at twelve forty-seven in the morning when two imposing men unlocked the front door. Thinking she was facing armed intruders, Mara cornered them in the marble foyer armed with a heavy nineteenth-century fireplace iron, dressed in lavender pajamas covered in yellow lemons. The lead intruder turned out to be none other than the master of the house himself: Roman DeLuca, head of DeLuca Freight, dangerously handsome, impeccably dressed, and completely flabbergasted by the barefoot woman threatening to crack his ribs.
When security chief Cal gingerly explained the misunderstanding, Mara lowered the iron weapon and offered him cinnamon toast. Roman was equally exasperated and intrigued. As he inspected the living room, he discovered his ancestral furniture rearranged and demanded to know where his grandfather’s portrait had gone. Mara pointed unapologetically to the storage closet, explaining that the late founder was intimidating guests.
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Walking to the blank expanse where the imposing painting had hung for over four decades, Roman touched the plaster. Knocking once, the sound was solid. Moving six inches to the left, he tapped again.
A hollow echo echoed through the silent corridor. Roman knocked lower, his dark gaze hardening with sudden suspicion as he asked Mara if she or a contractor had damaged his wall. Mara shook her head. The hollow sound ran deep inside the mansion’s foundation, hiding something that Michael DeLuca had guarded with his life.
