Luca's POV
The latch was stiff with age.
I worked it carefully, and it gave without breaking, which said something about how it had been made. Aria sat cross-legged on the floor beside me watching with the focused patience she reserved for things she'd decided were serious.
Maya crouched on my other side.
I opened the box.
Inside, wrapped in cloth that had held its structure for the years, were two things.
A ring. Simple gold band, worn smooth, the kind of thing made to last rather than impress.
And a folded piece of paper.
Aria looked at the ring. "Is that for Mama?"
"No," I said. "It belongs to someone else."
"Who."
"That's what we need to find out." I lifted the paper out carefully. The fold held. I opened it slowly.
The handwriting was old-fashioned and precise. Italian.
M
