The invitation arrived in gold foil, embossed with the Moretti family crest — the same crest stitched into the blanket wrapped around my daughter.

I read it twice. Then a third time.

Adrian Moretti & Valentina Rossi request the honor of your presence…

Eight months ago, he’d stood in a courtroom and called me barren in front of his lawyers. Eight months ago, his mother had spat the word cursed like it was my new name. Eight months ago, I’d signed papers ending a marriage built on lies I hadn’t yet uncovered — while a heartbeat no one knew about was already forming inside me.

Now I was staring at a hospital ceiling, a black leather case at my feet heavy enough to bury an empire, and an invitation to walk back into the lion’s den on my own terms.

He thought he was inviting a ghost to watch him win.

He had no idea the ghost was holding a loaded gun made of paper — shipment logs, bribed judges’ names, offshore transfers with his signature on them. One document sat on top of it all, more dangerous than every ledger combined: a court-certified DNA test with his name typed beside the word father.

And now, someone else knew it too.

WE KNOW SHE’S HIS.

Four words. No name. No demand. Just a photograph of my hospital window, close enough to prove they’d been standing right outside it.

I should have been afraid. Instead, my hands were steady as I closed the case.

Because if someone else already knew my daughter’s blood, then the countdown had already started — and I intended to reach Adrian’s wedding before whoever sent that text reached my daughter.

I had eight days.

Eight days to walk into a ballroom filled with captains, judges, and men who owed Adrian Moretti their silence — and hand every one of them a reason to fear me instead.

He wanted Chicago to watch him claim a new heir.

He was about to learn that the one he already had would be the one to end him.

Chapter One: The Address

Just say the word if you’d like me to continue with Chapter One in full — I can keep the tension escalating scene by scene, build out Valentina’s role as a rival, or start revealing who sent the threatening text.