Page 6 of Wicked Bloodlines

And probably me along with him.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, opening a new search window. I’d researched all the Luca brothers extensively over the years, especially when I figured out my father had more dealings with Luca and Rossi than he’d previously allowed any of his men to do. I’d been suspicious neither Luca nor Rossi knew the extent of my father’s dealings with the other family. I needed specifics on the man who would become my husband. Before I could type his name, a soft knock at the door made me freeze.

“Miss Sofia?” Fillipa’s voice came through the door.

“Just a moment,” I called, quickly closing the laptop and sliding it under my pillow. I smoothed my hair, took a deep breath on the way to the door.

Filipa stood in the hallway, her kind face lined with concern. She’d been with our family since before my birth, the closest thing to a mother I’d ever known. If I trusted anyone in this house, it was her. But not with this. Not with the truth that could get her killed. “Your father expects you packed and ready by morning, Miss Sofia,” she said, her eyes communicating silent sympathy. “I’ll arrange for your things to be delivered later, but you should take enough for a few days at least.”

“My father said I could get everything I needed from the Lucas.”

“And I’m telling you I’ll send your things.” She gave me a firm, direct look. Of course she would. Fillipa loved me as much as I loved her.

I nodded, forcing a small smile. “Thank you, Fillipa. I was just making a list of what to bring.”

Her eyes searched mine. “Are you all right, child?”

For a moment, I considered telling her everything. Begging for her help. But that would only put her in danger.

“Of course,” I said. “It’s just happening rather quickly.”

Fillipa reached out, patting my hand gently. “The Lucas are powerful, but not cruel.”

“I’ll manage,” I assured her. “I always do.”

“I’ll help you pack,” she offered.

“I appreciate it, but I’ll take care of it all myself.” I looked around. “I just… need to do this myself, Fillipa.” I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I needed to be alone.

After she left, I locked the door again and retrieved my laptop. I stared at my reflection in the black mirror of the screen. The woman who looked back at me had learned to hide everything behind a carefully constructed mask. Fear. Rage. Determination. I would need that mask more than ever now.

The Luca household presented new challenges, but also new opportunities. Their conflict with the Rossis might provide exactly the leverage I needed. Their resources and connections could potentially help me.

I would play the perfect Marchesi bride. I would make Matteo Luca believe whatever I needed him to believe. And when the moment was right, when all my evidence was in place, I would bring my father’s empire crashing down around him.

I tucked the flash drive to a hidden zippered pocket inside the lining of my suitcase, storing it separate from my laptop. Knowing I had things to finish, I hurried and packed things I knew I’d need sooner rather than later. Then I packed a few things I could do without but preferred not to. Sure, I could have gotten another suitcase, but the fewer bags I had, the better.

A couple of hours later, the grandfather clock in the west hall chimed twice, its deep tones reverberating through the sleeping hallway off the sitting room. The sound should have been creepy or jarring, instead I found it soothing. I’d been counting minutes since one-thirty, waiting for my father to finish his nightly ritual of whiskey and paranoia before retreating to his bedroom. Now, dressed in sleep pants and a loose T-shirt, I slipped from my room like a shadow. If I was caught out in the house, there would be no problems. I lived here, after all. I just needed to make sure I didn’t get caught in or around my father’s study. Whatever he was hiding about his dealings with the Rossis, I needed to find it now.

I moved quietly down the hall, staying to the shadows, down the stairs and to the kitchen. The night guard would be making his rounds, moving from the east wing toward the main staircase and if I timed this wrong and he caught me, I wanted to have a plausible explanation as to where I’d been or where I was headed.

I waited until I heard the guard move through the sitting room and down the office wing. I sat at the table with a glass of milk. I often had warm milk when I couldn’t sleep so if the guard saw me it would be bad, but not horrible. Besides, unless they caught me red handed, no one here would realize what had happened until the world came crashing down around them.

Once the guard left the area, I gave him another ten minutes to make sure he didn’t double back. I’d have maybe another ten minutes to find what I needed.

I moved down the hallway. My father’s study door loomed at the end of the hallway. Thankfully, my father didn’t like a lot of technology. I’d heard him comment on more than one occasion he wasn’t going down because of some computer error and his own words or actions convicted him. I’d have thought he’d at least have a lock on his office door, but other than a few servants like Fillipa, along with the guards, the only people in the house on a regular basis were me and my father. My father had always been good at keeping secrets, but he also assumed his home was impenetrable. He also never expected me to defy him.

I slipped inside my father’s study, closing the door softly behind me. The room smelled of leather, whiskey, and my father’s signature Italian blend cologne he imported by the case. I stood motionless, allowing my eyes to adjust to the deeper darkness. Moonlight streamed through the tall windows, casting silver rectangles across the Persian rug and gleaming dully on the bronze bust of… someone overlooking the room from atop a bookshelf.

I moved with careful steps around the leather wingback chairs and antique side tables, heading directly for the massive desk. The moonlight wasn’t enough for what I needed, so I pulled out my penlight, keeping its narrow beam focused downward to minimize the risk of it being seen from outside.

My father always locked his desk drawers, but kept the keys in the pocket of the suit jacket he hung on his chair each night. I dug into the jacket pocket, finding the keys right where I knew they would be.

Keys in hand, I went to work. I found at least part of what I’d hoped I’d find in a hidden panel on the side of my father’s desk. Again, the keys I’d lifted from his pocket opened the locking mechanism built into the side of the desk. Three manila envelopes and several loose papers fell free.

I up-ended the envelopes one by one and photographed everything on a phone I’d hidden in a separate pocket in my sweater. The ledgers I found this time were more recent. Like the current week. There were two flash drives in the last folder. I’d expected this so I’d been prepared with a USB duplicator, but I had to be fast about this.

My father was playing both sides, promising the Lucas an alliance through my marriage while secretly plotting with the Rossis to destroy the Lucas. I wasn’t sure what he had planned or when he planned to execute it, but I thought it would be soon, given the increase in secret meetings he’d been having here at the house. This was the missing piece I needed, proof not just of past crimes, but of an ongoing conspiracy that would destroy both my father and the Rossis when exposed.