It was a cold March morning in Chicago, dirty snow on the curbs, I had been working at the Moretti estate for exactly twenty-three minutes when I realized Emma was no longer in the staff room — her yellow sweater gone, Mr. Rabbit gone, one red crayon under the folding chair and the pouch with three butter cookies gone with her.

Alessandro was sitting by the window, staring at the rain, his face pale from his afternoon injection. He turned his head, frowning as he saw me breathing heavily, clutching Emma to my chest, my eyes wide with panic.

"Nora?" Alessandro asked, his voice instantly sharp. "What happened?"

"They're killing you," I sobbed out, pulling the laboratory report from my bag and slapping it onto his desk. "Dr. Sterling... Matteo... they are poisoning you!"

Alessandro’s eyes went icy cold. "Explain."

With shaking hands, I laid out the toxicology report. "The injection Dr. Sterling gives you every day... it’s a synthetic neurotoxin. It isn't healing your nerves; it’s keeping your legs paralyzed! Your spine was healing, Alessandro! They are keeping you crippled so Matteo can take over your shipping empire! And Sterling is planning to give you a lethal dose by Friday!"

The quiet inside the room was terrifying.

Alessandro didn't shout. He didn't smash his desk. He picked up the laboratory report, his gray eyes scanning the technical breakdown of the poison. As he read, the air in the room seemed to drop by twenty degrees. A terrifying, lethal calm washed over his posture.

"You risked your life to bring me this?" Alessandro asked softly, looking up at me.

"I couldn't let them kill you," I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "You protected us. You gave us a home."

Emma reached out from my arms, her small hand touching Alessandro’s cheek. "Don't be sad, Mr. Alessandro. Mama brought the paper to make you better."

Alessandro took a long, deep breath. He reached out, his massive, scarred hand cupping the back of my neck, pulling me closer until our foreheads almost touched.

"Listen to me, Nora," Alessandro said, his tone raw with an intense, fierce devotion I had never heard before. "From this exact second, no one touches you or Emma. I swore to protect this city, but I swear on my mother’s soul, I will burn Chicago to the ground before I let Matteo lay a finger on either of you."

Before I could answer, the door handle rattled violently!

"Alessandro!" Matteo’s voice barked from outside the study. "Open the door! We need to discuss the new security protocols!"