Chapter 1 - The Mafia King Was Never Supposed to Find Me
The last person I expected to see while buying my unborn baby's crib... was the man whose enemies had spent a year searching for me.
When Damian Moretti looked at my stomach...
the entire boutique fell silent.
And thirty armed bodyguards reached for their guns before either of us said a single word.
For eleven months, I had been dead.
At least, that was what the Moretti family believed.
The newspapers reported that Isabella Hayes had disappeared after a yacht explosion off the California coast.
No body.
No witnesses.
No answers.
Only ashes.
That was exactly how I wanted it.
Dead women couldn't be hunted.
Dead wives couldn't be forced back into mafia wars.
Dead mothers could still protect their children.
Except...
I wasn't dead.
I was thirty-one years old.
Eight months pregnant.
Living under my maiden name.
Renting a tiny cottage outside Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Paying every bill in cash.
Changing doctors every month.
Never staying anywhere long enough for anyone to recognize me.
Because the baby growing inside me wasn't just Damian Moretti's child.
He was the future heir to the most feared criminal empire on the West Coast.
And that made him a target before he was even born.
The boutique specialized in handcrafted furniture for wealthy families.
White oak cribs.
Italian rocking chairs.
Cashmere blankets embroidered by hand.
Everything smelled of cedarwood and fresh linen.
I didn't belong there.
But this was the only place that sold reinforced security cribs designed for high-profile families.
If anyone wanted to reach my son...
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they would have to get through steel hidden beneath polished wood.
That alone made the price worth paying.
