Chapter 3 - THE MAN UNDER THE MEDICINE
At the hospital, Luca read the note three times.
“I wrote this?”
Maya sat beside his bed.
“It looks like your handwriting.”
He rubbed his thumb over the paper.
“I remember asking why I slept so much.
I remember an argument.”
“What argument?”
His eyes narrowed.
Then the memory slipped away.
“I don’t know.”
Dr. Reyes entered carrying a tablet.
She listened without interrupting as Maya described the missed doses.
Then she examined Luca’s legs, tested his reflexes, and reviewed the medication list Vivienne had provided.
“This list is incomplete,” she said.
Luca looked up.
“How do you know?”
“Because your symptoms and the substances found in your preliminary screening don’t match it.
We’re sending samples for more specific testing.”
“Was I poisoned?”
“We need evidence before I use that word.”
“Could the shots have kept me weak?”
“Medication can contribute to severe weakness and sedation.
That doesn’t tell us everything about your original injury.”
Luca looked at his motionless legs.
“I stood.”
“For a moment,” she said gently.
“That matters.
It doesn’t mean twelve years of lost strength disappear overnight.”
Outside the room, Vivienne was arguing with a nurse.
“I’m his wife.”
“And he asked us to limit visitors.”
“I have medical authority.”
“Our team is reviewing the documents.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Maya waited until Dr. Reyes left.
“I should tell you something.”
He looked at her.
“My brother worked at Moretti Industrial.
The River Street plant.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw.
“What was his name?”
“Daniel Bennett.”
Luca’s expression changed.
Maya had practiced this conversation for six weeks.
Now every sentence felt wrong.
“He died when a loading platform failed.
Your company called it operator error.”
“I remember the report.”
“He wasn’t careless.”
“I didn’t say he was.”
“You signed the settlement letter.”
Luca stared at her.
She kept going.
“I took this job because I wanted access to the old company records in your house.”
The quiet stretched between them.
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“After you got caught in something bigger.”
Maya accepted that without defending herself.
Luca turned toward the window.
“Get out.”
She stood.
At the door, he spoke again.
“The note.”
She looked back.
“Leave it.”
Maya set it beside his hand.
In the hall, two police officers waited with Vivienne.
She pointed directly at Maya.
May you like
“That’s her.
The woman who’s been drugging my husband.”
