Chapter 4 - The Poisoned Milk
Marco did not panic.
That frightened me more than if he had reached for a gun.
He looked around at the armed guards and smiled.
“Are you going to execute your oldest friend because a frightened maid found a damaged bottle?”
Lorenzo handed the tablet to a guard.
“You authorized Mason Reed.”
“I authorized Michael Trent.”
“His documents were verified by our security office.”
“You control the security office.”
“I manage hundreds of employees.”
“I do not personally examine every man who cleans a camera lens.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“You personally signed his access to the private wing.”
Marco’s smile faded.
“That signature was copied.”
“Then you will have no objection to staying here while we investigate.”
Marco glanced toward the hallway.
“I object to being treated like an enemy.”
“My son nearly died.”
“And you are allowing grief to replace judgment.”
The room went silent.
Lorenzo pressed the gun against Marco’s chest.
“Never speak to me about grief.”
Marco lowered his voice.
“Sofia would not recognize you.”
Lorenzo struck him across the face with the pistol.
Marco stumbled.
Blood appeared at the edge of his mouth.
No guard moved to help him.
“Take him downstairs,” Lorenzo ordered.
“Lock him in the wine cellar.”
“Search every room he has entered.”
Marco wiped his lip.
Before the guards led him away, he looked at me.
“You should have kept walking past the nursery.”
The threat settled over my skin.
Lorenzo heard it too.
He grabbed Marco’s shoulder.
“If she is harmed, you will pray that I kill you quickly.”
Marco smiled despite the gun at his ribs.
“That depends on whether you survive the morning.”
The guards removed him.
Lorenzo ordered the entire estate sealed.
No cars were allowed to leave.
No phone calls were allowed without approval.
Every employee was confined to a single room.
The laboratory collected the bottles, the syringe, and the wineglass.
Leo continued feeding in my arms.
His face gained the faintest touch of color.
Dr. Vale watched from across the room.
“You need to stop.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“You are exhausted.”
“So is he.”
“Your milk has not been screened.”
“And the milk you screened was poisoned.”
The doctor flinched.
Lorenzo turned toward him.
“Until the laboratory clears you, you are no longer responsible for my son.”
“Lorenzo, I have cared for your family for fifteen years.”
“That is not the defense you think it is.”
Two guards escorted the doctor away.
The nursery finally became quiet.
Lorenzo stood beside the crib while Leo slept against me.
His gun remained in his hand.
“You buried your daughter three weeks ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you returned to work?”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“That is something rich men say when they have never had an empty refrigerator.”
His eyes moved toward mine.
I expected anger.
Instead, I saw shame.
A guard entered carrying a sealed laboratory report.
“The preliminary results are ready.”
Lorenzo opened it.
His face hardened with every line.
“What did they find?” I asked.
“An appetite suppressant.”
“A sedative.”
“And a medication that weakens the muscles used for swallowing.”
My stomach turned.
Someone had been slowly making Leo unable to eat.
Then they had allowed the world’s best doctors to believe he was rejecting food.
Lorenzo looked at the feeding cart.
“How long?”
The guard hesitated.
“The concentration in his blood suggests at least four weeks.”
Leo was only two months old.
Half his life had been spent being poisoned.
Lorenzo sat down as though his knees had failed.
I had never imagined a man like him could look helpless.
“Why?”
He did not ask me.
He asked the empty room.
A phone began ringing inside the dead nurse’s pocket.
One of the guards removed it.
The screen displayed no number.
Lorenzo answered and put the call on speaker.
Mason’s voice filled the nursery.
“Congratulations, Clara.”
“You saved the baby.”
I held Leo tighter.
Lorenzo leaned toward the phone.
“Where are you?”
Mason ignored him.
“You always did love rescuing things that could not rescue you back.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I want you to look beneath the mattress in Leo’s crib.”
Lorenzo lifted the baby while I pulled the mattress aside.
A small black device had been taped beneath it.
A red light blinked.
It was a transmitter.
Mason had been listening to everything.
Then another light began flashing beside it.
A countdown appeared.
Ten seconds.
Nine.
Eight.
May you like
Lorenzo grabbed my arm.
“Run.”
