Chapter 1 - THE FORBIDDEN NURSERY
How could anyone sleep through that cry?
Hunter stepped through the doorway before fear could drag her back.
The night nurse stirred slightly but did not wake.
Leo lay inside the enormous crib with both fists curled weakly against his chest.
He was so small that the blanket around him looked enormous.
Hunter approached slowly.
“Oh, baby.”
Her voice broke.
Leo turned his face toward the sound.
His mouth opened.
No real cry came out.
Only a dry little rasp.
Hunter pressed a hand over her lips.
For one horrible second, she saw Lily again.
The silent hospital room.
The tiny pink cap.
The nurse asking whether she wanted more time before they took her daughter away.
Hunter squeezed her eyes shut.
“This isn’t Lily.”
She whispered the words because she needed to hear them.
“You’re not my baby.”
Leo whimpered.
Hunter looked toward the sleeping nurse.
Then toward the camera above the nursery door.
Every instinct told her to leave.
Every wound inside her told her to stay.
She reached into the crib.
Leo weighed almost nothing.
The moment Hunter lifted him, his head fell against her chest.
Her body reacted instantly.
Milk soaked through the bandages beneath her uniform.
Leo moved his face weakly against the fabric.
Hunter froze.
“No.”
She knew what he was searching for.
“No, sweetheart.”
His mouth opened again.
His cheek rubbed against her.
The primitive instinct was unmistakable.
Hunter's heart began pounding.
She looked at the nurse.
Still asleep.
At the camera.
Still recording.
Then at the child dying in her arms.
Hunter made the decision that would change every life inside the Rossi estate.
She sat in the chair beside the crib.
Her hands trembled as she loosened the painful bandages beneath her uniform.
“I’m sorry.”
She did not know whether she was apologizing to Lorenzo Rossi, to Sophia, to Lily, or to herself.
“Please just eat.”
Leo struggled at first.
He was too weak.
Hunter supported his head carefully.
“Come on.”
Her tears fell silently.
“One little try.”
His mouth found her.
Then he swallowed.
Hunter stopped breathing.
Leo pulled weakly again.
Another swallow.
“Oh my God.”
A third.
Then a fourth.
The monitor beside them changed.
His heart rate lifted.
Not dramatically.
Not miraculously.
But enough.
Enough that Hunter could hear the difference.
The night nurse jerked awake.
Her eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
Hunter looked up.
The woman shot to her feet.
“Oh my God.”
She grabbed for the call button.
“You insane little fool.”
Hunter tightened her hold on Leo.
“He was starving.”
“You are not authorized to touch him.”
“He’s eating.”
The nurse stared.
Leo swallowed again.
The color in the nurse’s face disappeared.
She looked frightened.
Not surprised.
Frightened.
Hunter noticed.
Before she could ask why, footsteps thundered outside the nursery.
The door flew open.
Three armed men entered first.
Lorenzo Rossi came behind them.
His white shirt was open at the collar.
His dark hair was disordered.
His face looked like a man who had been awakened by an alarm and expected to find his world burning again.
Then he saw Hunter.
He saw his son against her bare chest.
Something terrifying entered his eyes.
Lorenzo pulled a gun from behind his back.
The armed men froze.
The nurse backed toward the wall.
Hunter went completely still.
Lorenzo aimed directly at her.
“Put my son down.”
Hunter’s mouth went dry.
Leo continued nursing.
“Mr. Rossi—”
“Now.”
His voice was quieter than shouting.
That made it worse.
Hunter looked down.
Leo swallowed.
Then he made a sound Hunter had not heard since entering the room.
A tiny sigh.
Contentment.
Hunter lifted her eyes to Lorenzo.
“If I put him down, he may stop.”
The gun did not move.
One of the guards whispered.
“Boss.”
Lorenzo ignored him.
Hunter’s entire body trembled.
But her arms remained steady around Leo.
“You can shoot me afterward.”
The nurse gasped.
Hunter stared into Lorenzo’s eyes.
“But look at your son first.”
Silence filled the nursery.
Lorenzo's gaze shifted.
Leo’s fist had opened.
His tiny fingers rested against Hunter’s skin.
The grayish pallor around his lips was fading.
The monitor continued its stronger rhythm.
Lorenzo looked at the numbers.
Then at Leo.
Then at the woman he had been prepared to kill.
His arm slowly lowered.
“What did you do?”
Hunter’s eyes filled.
“I fed him.”
Behind Lorenzo, Dr. Halloran rushed into the room carrying his medical bag.
He stopped dead.
“What happened?”
Lorenzo never took his eyes from Hunter.
“That.”
The doctor stepped closer.
He checked the monitor.
Then Leo’s breathing.
Then his color.
His expression changed from alarm to disbelief.
“How long?”
Hunter swallowed.
“Maybe six minutes.”
Dr. Halloran stared.
“He kept it down?”
“So far.”
The doctor looked at Lorenzo.
“This is the strongest feeding response we’ve seen.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
The gun remained in his hand.
But it was pointing at the floor now.
Hunter looked toward the night nurse.
The woman’s hands were shaking.
Something about that bothered her.
Then Hunter saw the wine beside the chair.
And beside the wine was a prepared bottle.
Leo’s untouched midnight feeding.
The nurse suddenly reached for it.
Hunter spoke before she understood why.
“Don’t.”
Everyone looked at her.
The nurse froze.
Hunter pointed toward the bottle.
“You were asleep.”
The woman’s face hardened.
“So?”
“So why are you trying to take that bottle away?”
Lorenzo turned slowly.
The nurse went pale.
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And for the first time that night, Hunter realized Leo Rossi might not have been starving because his body was failing.
Someone might have been helping him fail.
