Chapter 2 - NO ONE LEAVES
The lock clicked.
Luca kept staring at his wife.
“Open it.”
Vivienne set the syringe on a silver tray.
“You’re upset.
That’s understandable.”
“Open the damn door.”
“Your blood pressure—”
“My blood pressure didn’t tell him to lock us in.”
Maya moved the wheelchair away from the tray.
Vivienne noticed.
“Take your hands off him.”
“Stay where you are,” Luca told her.
For the first time since Maya had started working at the estate, Vivienne obeyed him.
He held out his hand.
“My phone.”
“It’s charging downstairs.”
“Then yours.”
Vivienne folded her arms.
Nate remained at the door.
He was a broad man with a scar under his chin and the rigid posture of someone following an order he hated.
Luca looked at the case.
“How long have you been bringing those upstairs?”
Nate said nothing.
“How long?”
“Mr. Moretti—”
“Answer me.”
Vivienne cut in.
“He transports sealed medical supplies.
That’s his job.”
Maya slipped one hand into her apron pocket.
Vivienne’s eyes snapped toward it.
“Give me your phone.”
“No.”
“You signed a confidentiality agreement.”
“That doesn’t stop me from calling an ambulance.”
Maya tapped the emergency number.
Vivienne lunged.
Luca caught the edge of her sleeve.
Not hard enough to hurt her.
Just enough to stop her reaching Maya.
“Don’t.”
His wife stared at his hand as though she had never seen it before.
Maya gave the dispatcher the address.
She described the injections, the unexpected movement, and the locked room.
Nate looked away.
Then he unlocked the door.
Vivienne’s face tightened.
“What are you doing?”
He kept his hand on the knob.
“An ambulance is coming.”
“You work for me.”
Nate looked at Luca.
“No.
I don’t think I do anymore.”
He placed the black case on the dresser and stepped into the hall.
Maya stayed on the phone until she heard the front gates opening.
By the time the paramedics arrived, Vivienne was crying.
It happened so quickly Maya almost admired it.
“My husband’s caregiver has been interfering with his medication,” she told them.
“He’s confused.
I’ve been trying to keep him safe.”
Luca looked at the lead paramedic.
“I know my name.
I know where I am.
And I want to go to a hospital my wife doesn’t choose.”
The paramedic nodded.
As Maya helped gather his wallet, she found a folded paper beneath the wheelchair cushion.
Luca saw it and swallowed.
“I keep forgetting it’s there.”
It was a handwritten note.
May you like
Six words.
IF I ASK, SHE GIVES MORE.
