Chapter 8: A Shot in the Library
Vivian Mercer had perfected the art of wearing grief.
For two months, she had arrived every Sunday with fresh white lilies for Sophia's memorial. She had cried in Lorenzo's presence, embraced the servants, and spoken softly about loss.
No one questioned a mourning friend.
No one looked beneath the mask.
Standing outside the library doors, Vivian listened as Eleanor's trembling voice drifted through the crack.
"...someone gave your mother something that should never have left the Rossi family."
Hunter instinctively clutched the silver locket around her neck.
"My mother never told me where it came from."
Eleanor swallowed hard.
"She was terrified before she disappeared. She said if anything happened to her, that necklace would one day tell the truth."
Before Hunter could ask another question—
BANG!
The library window exploded inward.
Glass rained across the hardwood floor.
A bullet tore through the portrait of Sophia, shattering the frame inches above Hunter's head.
"Down!" Eleanor screamed.
Hunter threw herself over the elderly woman as another shot struck a bookshelf.
Outside, a black SUV accelerated through the front gates.
The sniper had already disappeared.
Within seconds, Lorenzo and his guards stormed into the library.
He saw shattered glass.
The ruined portrait.
Hunter shielding Eleanor with her own body.
His heartbeat slowed—not with relief, but with anger.
"Was anyone hit?"
Hunter shook her head.
"No."
Marco crouched beside the broken window.
"Long-range rifle."
He examined the bullet embedded in the far wall.
"Professional."
One guard hurried in.
"Boss, security caught the getaway vehicle for three seconds."
The footage appeared on a tablet.
A black SUV.
Stolen plates.
Nothing unusual—
Until Marco froze the image.
A woman sat in the passenger seat.
Large sunglasses.
Dark hair.
A familiar profile.
Lorenzo didn't need a clearer picture.
"Vivian."
His voice was flat.
There was no doubt anymore.
She wasn't mourning Sophia.
She was hunting Hunter.
An hour later, Lorenzo ordered the entire estate into lockdown.
No one entered.
No one left.
Hunter stood in the nursery, staring out at the ocean while Leo slept peacefully against her shoulder.
"You should be frightened," Lorenzo said quietly.
She looked at him.
"I am."
"Then why aren't you asking to leave?"
Hunter smiled sadly.
"Because if I leave..."
She glanced down at Leo.
"...they'll come after him again."
Lorenzo had faced senators, cartel leaders, and assassins without blinking.
But those simple words unsettled him more than any threat.
Hunter owed him nothing.
Yet she was willing to risk everything for a child who wasn't hers.
For the first time since Sophia died, Lorenzo understood something painful.
Family wasn't always created by blood.
Sometimes...
It was created by sacrifice.
Before he could speak, Marco burst into the nursery holding another file.
"We searched Vivian's townhouse."
"What did you find?" Lorenzo asked.
Marco laid several photographs across the table.
One showed Vivian meeting Ethan Cross.
Another showed payments to offshore accounts.
But the last photograph stole the air from the room.
It showed Sophia Rossi.
Alive.
Eight months pregnant.
Standing in front of a café.
Across from her sat—
Emily Higgins.
Hunter's mother.
The photograph had been taken just four days before the car bombing.
Hunter stared at the image, unable to breathe.
"My mother knew Sophia..."
Marco nodded.
"Not only knew her."
He looked directly at Lorenzo.
"They met in secret."
"And judging by the surveillance timestamp..."
"They were hiding it from everyone."
Lorenzo picked up the photograph with shaking hands.
May you like
On the back, someone had written six words in Sophia's handwriting.
If anything happens, trust Emily.
