Chapter 2 - The Needle Beneath the Crib
I dropped to my knees with Leo in my arms.
“No.”
My voice shattered in the darkness.
“No, no, no.”
I placed him on the rug and tilted his tiny head back.
My hands remembered the infant safety course I had taken before Lily was born.
My mind remembered every doctor who had told me there was nothing more they could do.
I refused to hear those words again.
“Give me light!”
Lorenzo turned on the flashlight attached to his phone.
The beam shook across Leo’s pale face.
I covered his mouth and nose with my lips.
I gave him the smallest breath I could.
His chest rose.
Then fell.
Nothing followed.
I repeated the breath.
Lorenzo knelt beside me.
“What do I do?”
“Find the syringe.”
He crawled toward the crib.
The nurse moved in the darkness.
I heard fabric scrape against the floor.
Then Lorenzo grunted.
The flashlight rolled away.
The nurse had wrapped one arm around his neck.
Her other hand reached for his gun.
I could not leave Leo.
I gave him another breath.
Lorenzo slammed the nurse backward into the chair.
The gun discharged.
A lamp shattered.
The nursery door burst inward at the same moment.
Three armed guards rushed through the smoke.
“Get the doctor!” Lorenzo roared.
One guard grabbed the nurse.
Another lifted the cabinet that had blocked the hallway.
Lorenzo found the syringe beneath the crib.
The needle was empty.
“Where is the medication?”
The nurse stared at Leo.
“You are too late.”
Leo’s fingers twitched.
I gave him another careful breath.
His chest trembled.
A thin cry escaped him.
It was weak.
It was barely a sound.
But it was alive.
Lorenzo closed his eyes for half a second.
Then he looked at the nurse.
“You injected him before I entered.”
She smiled again.
“I prepared his evening bottle.”
A gray-haired physician hurried into the room carrying a medical bag.
Dr. Anton Vale had visited the mansion every day since Leo’s condition began.
He pushed me aside and examined the baby.
“What happened?”
“She put something in his bottle,” Lorenzo said.
“That is impossible.”
The doctor did not even look at the nurse.
“I personally approved everything Leo received tonight.”
The nurse’s smile disappeared.
Lorenzo noticed.
“So you knew what was in the bottle?”
Dr. Vale froze.
“I said I approved the feeding plan.”
“You said everything he received.”
The doctor’s face tightened.
Leo began crying again.
I lifted him against my chest.
He instinctively searched for milk.
Dr. Vale grabbed my wrist.
“Do not feed him.”
“Why?”
“He may aspirate.”
“He was swallowing before the nurse tried to inject him.”
Dr. Vale looked at me for the first time.
His face lost all color.
“What is your name?”
Before I could answer, Lorenzo stepped between us.
“She asked you a question.”
The doctor slowly released me.
Lorenzo handed the syringe to one of his guards.
“Take this to the private laboratory.”
“Test it for everything.”
The nurse suddenly began coughing.
Her body folded forward.
Bloodless foam appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Dr. Vale rushed toward her.
She grabbed his sleeve with surprising strength.
“You promised,” she whispered.
The doctor pulled his arm away.
“I promised you nothing.”
Her eyes shifted toward Lorenzo.
Then toward the open hallway.
“Marco.”
The name came out as a breath.
Her body went limp.
Lorenzo stared down at her.
Marco DeLuca was not a servant.
He was not a guard.
He was Lorenzo’s oldest friend and most trusted adviser.
Heavy footsteps approached the nursery.
A man in an expensive charcoal suit appeared in the doorway.
He looked at the dead nurse.
Then at the syringe in the guard’s hand.
Marco DeLuca slowly removed his leather gloves.
“What happened here?”
Lorenzo did not answer.
Marco looked at me holding Leo.
His expression changed for less than a second.
May you like
But I saw it.
He recognized me.
