Chapter 1: The Child Who Reached For Me
“Would you hold him?””
For a moment, I wondered if I had heard him correctly.
Luca Moretti, the man who had made an entire restaurant go silent simply by walking through the door, was asking me—a waitress with a dying car, overdue rent, and a stain on my sleeve from carrying someone else’s dinner—to hold his child.
I looked behind me.
Maybe there was another Avery.
There wasn’t.
“Me?”” I asked.
Luca’s eyes stayed on mine.
“Yes.””
The answer was simple.
Too simple.
I glanced at Leo, who was still gripping my apron like his tiny fingers had decided I was the only safe thing in the room.
“Mr. Moretti, I should probably mention that my experience with babies is limited to avoiding stepping on them at family gatherings.””
One of the men beside him looked away.
I realized too late he was trying not to laugh.
Luca didn’t smile.
But something changed in his face.
Not warmth exactly.
Curiosity.
“He likes you,” Luca said.
“I noticed the screaming.””
“He doesn’t do that.””
“That’s usually what people say right before a baby proves them wrong.””
The man on Luca’s left finally spoke.
“Leo hasn’t let anyone new hold him since—”
He stopped.
The unfinished sentence sat there.
Heavy.
I noticed Luca’s expression harden slightly.
A warning.
The man immediately went quiet.
I should have walked away.
Every instinct I had told me that.
People like Luca Moretti didn’t enter restaurants alone. They came with shadows. They came with secrets. They came with the kind of silence that made grown men lower their voices.
But Leo looked at me.
Not Luca.
Me.
His lower lip trembled.
And something about that tiny, terrified face broke through every sensible thought I had.
I carefully reached out.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“But if he throws up on me, we’re both pretending this never happened.””
Luca shifted Leo toward me.
The second the baby touched my arms, the entire room seemed to change.
Leo stopped crying.
Completely.
His little hands grabbed the fabric of my uniform, and he pressed his cheek against my shoulder like he had been waiting for this moment all day.
I froze.
I had expected a heavy baby.
A nervous baby.
A screaming baby.
Not a child who settled against me like he already knew me.
The restaurant around us continued moving, but quieter now.
I could feel people watching.
Aurelia was full of wealthy people who loved gossip more than dessert.
And tonight, their entertainment was me.
The waitress holding Luca Moretti’s son.
Luca watched us carefully.
Not like a father watching someone hold his child.
Like a man witnessing something impossible.
“He never does that,” he said.
I looked down at Leo.
“He seems pretty comfortable.””
“That’s the problem.””
I looked up.
There was something in his voice.
Something I couldn’t place.
Fear.
Not anger.
Not suspicion.
Fear.
“You’re afraid of a baby liking me?”” I asked.
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“I’m afraid of things I don’t understand.””
For some reason, that answer stayed with me.
Because I understood fear.
Fear was checking your bank account before buying groceries.
Fear was pretending your landlord’s messages didn’t exist.
Fear was waking up at 3 a.m. wondering how one unexpected bill could destroy everything you had built.
But Luca Moretti?
A man everyone whispered about?
A man surrounded by guards?
He looked afraid because his son trusted me.
That didn’t make sense.
“Does he have allergies?”” I asked.
Luca blinked.
“What?””
“Babies have allergies. Maybe he’s just happy because I smell like something he likes.””
The corner of his mouth moved again.
“You smell like coffee.””
“Exactly. Babies love caffeine.””
“They cannot have caffeine.””
“Then he’s a very responsible baby.””
This time, I was certain.
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Leo grabbed the necklace around my throat.
My hand immediately went to it.
A thin silver chain.
The only thing I had left from my mother.
It wasn’t expensive.
The pendant was small and slightly scratched.
But it was mine.
“Careful,” I whispered.
Leo stared at it.
His fingers curled around the silver.
Luca noticed.
“Take it off.””
His voice changed.
The warmth disappeared.
I looked at him.
“Excuse me?””
“The necklace.””
The entire table went still.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think the solution to a baby grabbing something is ordering me to remove my jewelry.””
His eyes dropped to the pendant.
“Where did you get it?””
The question was strange enough that I forgot to be offended.
“My mother gave it to me.””
“When?””
“When I was sixteen.””
Something flickered across his face.
A memory.
A realization.
Then it vanished.
“Luca.””
The older man beside him spoke quietly.
“We need to talk.””
Luca ignored him.
“Your mother’s name?””
My fingers tightened around Leo.
Why was he asking about my mother?
“Why?””
“Answer me.””
The command in his voice made my spine straighten.
I wasn’t afraid of him.
Not exactly.
But I knew power when I saw it.
And Luca Moretti had too much of it.
“My mother’s name was Elena.””
The air changed.
The reaction was immediate.
Not from Luca.
From the men beside him.
They looked at each other.
Like I had just spoken a name that should have stayed buried.
Luca stared at the necklace again.
Then at me.
“Last name?””
I hesitated.
“Marino.””
Silence.
A deep, dangerous silence.
Leo suddenly made a happy sound and touched the pendant again.
But Luca wasn’t looking at his son anymore.
He was looking at me.
Like I was a ghost.
Like I was something impossible standing three feet away.
“Avery,” he said slowly.
I hated how my name sounded in his voice.
Too familiar.
“What?””
“Who told you your mother was Elena Marino?””
I frowned.
“My mother did.””
“When did she die?””
The question hit harder than I expected.
My arms tightened around Leo.
“Eight years ago.””
Luca looked away.
For the first time since he entered Aurelia, he looked shaken.
Not annoyed.
Not angry.
Shaken.
I gently handed Leo back.
The baby immediately reached for me again.
Luca caught him.
But his attention stayed on me.
“Where do you live?”” he asked.
My eyebrows rose.
“That’s a very strange question to ask your waiter.””
“It’s not a question.””
“That makes it worse.””
One of his guards stepped forward.
“Avery.””
I looked at him.
“You need to understand something.””
His expression was serious.
“Tonight was supposed to be a normal dinner.””
I glanced around at the armed-looking men surrounding a billionaire with a baby.
“Clearly we have different definitions of normal.””
He ignored that.
“Luca Moretti does not believe in coincidences.””
“And?””
“And neither do we.””
Before I could answer, Greg appeared beside the table.
His face was pale.
“Avery.””
I turned.
“What?””
“There’s a man asking for you.””
“I’m working.””
“He says it’s urgent.””
“Who?””
Greg swallowed.
“He gave me a name.””
My stomach tightened.
“What name?””
Greg looked at Luca.
Then back at me.
“Your father’s.””
I felt the world become strangely quiet.
Because my father had been dead for twelve years.
And I had spent most of my life believing I knew exactly who he was.
May you like
Until Luca Moretti looked at me like he knew a secret I didn’t.
And somewhere near the entrance of Aurelia, a man I had never seen before whispered my name like he had been waiting years to say it.
