Chapter 3 - NO ONE LEAVES
By nine that morning, the Rossi estate became a prison.
The iron gates closed.
Phones belonging to household staff were collected.
Deliveries stopped outside the property.
Every employee was moved to the downstairs ballroom while Nico and his security team searched bedrooms, lockers, cars, and offices.
Hunter remained upstairs with Leo.
Lorenzo had ordered it.
She was no longer a maid.
Not exactly.
No one seemed to know what she was.
Halloran had taken samples of her milk and sent them for testing.
Until the results returned, he supervised every feeding.
Leo kept eating.
Three ounces became four.
Four became nearly five.
It was not enough to erase two weeks of decline.
But it was hope.
Lorenzo stood beside the window watching the Atlantic.
“You should sleep.”
Hunter almost smiled.
“So should you.”
“I asked first.”
“And I ignored you first.”
Lorenzo looked over his shoulder.
Most people inside that mansion struggled to breathe when he addressed them.
Hunter had been there four days and was already arguing.
“You’re either brave or foolish.”
“I’m tired.”
“That wasn’t one of the options.”
“Tired people create new options.”
A sound almost like a laugh escaped him.
It disappeared quickly.
Hunter looked down at Leo.
“When did this start?”
“The feeding problems?”
“Yes.”
“About two weeks ago.”
“Was Celia here then?”
“She arrived around the same time.”
Hunter glanced toward him.
“And the nurse before her?”
“Margaret Flynn.”
“What happened to her?”
“She resigned.”
“Why?”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“Nico is finding out.”
Hunter adjusted Leo’s blanket.
“Someone wanted Celia near him.”
Lorenzo studied her.
“You think like a suspicious person.”
“I dated Tommy for four years.”
“That explains it.”
Hunter looked up sharply.
Lorenzo's face remained serious.
She realized he had made a joke.
A terrible one.
But still a joke.
Before she could answer, Nico entered.
“We found Margaret.”
Lorenzo turned.
“Where?”
“A motel outside Albany.”
“Why?”
“She says someone threatened her grandson.”
Hunter felt cold.
Nico continued.
“She found powder in one of Leo’s bottles nine days ago.”
Halloran looked up.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She tried.”
Nico's expression hardened.
“According to her, she left you two messages.”
Halloran stared.
“I never received them.”
Nico looked at Lorenzo.
“Someone erased them.”
“Who had access?”
“Your office staff.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
Nico handed him a printed access log.
“One more problem.”
“What?”
“Security footage from the nursery hallway has gaps.”
“How many?”
“Six.”
“Dates?”
“All within the last twelve days.”
Hunter looked at Leo.
Lorenzo's eyes darkened.
“Who can erase footage?”
“Me.”
Nico paused.
“And three people above my clearance.”
Lorenzo knew the names without asking.
His attorney.
His chief financial officer.
And his cousin, Dante Rossi.
Dante had grown up in the same Brooklyn townhouse as Lorenzo.
They had fought in schoolyards together.
Buried Lorenzo’s father together.
Built the Rossi empire together.
After Sophia died, Dante had slept on the sofa outside Lorenzo's bedroom for three nights because he feared Lorenzo might put a gun in his own mouth.
Lorenzo stared at the access log.
“No.”
Nico did not move.
“I’m only giving you the facts.”
“Dante would not touch Leo.”
Hunter heard something dangerous beneath Lorenzo's denial.
Not certainty.
Need.
He needed one person in his world not to have betrayed him.
Nico lowered his voice.
“There’s more.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Celia Ward entering a restaurant in Queens.
Beside her walked a tall man in an expensive gray coat.
The camera angle hid most of his face.
But his hand was visible.
A heavy black onyx ring covered his smallest finger.
Lorenzo stared at it.
Every senior member of the Rossi family wore a ring like that.
Hunter noticed his silence.
“You know that ring.”
Lorenzo picked up the photo.
“Half my family wears one.”
“Does Dante?”
Lorenzo looked at her.
Hunter regretted the question immediately.
But he answered.
“Yes.”
A knock came at the nursery door.
Another guard entered carrying Hunter’s old handbag.
“Boss.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“What?”
“We found this in the staff quarters.”
Hunter stood.
“That’s mine.”
The guard handed it to her.
“It was open.”
“I left it zipped.”
Hunter searched inside.
Her wallet remained.
So did Lily's tiny hospital bracelet.
Hunter touched it.
Then she found something that had not been there before.
A white envelope.
Her name was written across the front.
HUNTER.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph of her apartment building.
Tommy stood on the sidewalk beneath her window.
On the back, one sentence had been written.
YOU SAVED THE WRONG BABY.
Hunter stopped breathing.
Lorenzo took the photograph from her.
His face changed.
“Who is he?”
Hunter's voice barely worked.
“My ex.”
“The one who hurt you?”
She nodded.
Lorenzo handed the photo to Nico.
“Find him.”
Hunter looked at Lorenzo.
“No.”
Lorenzo turned.
“If someone is using Tommy to frighten me, I need to know who.”
“He’s dangerous when he’s scared.”
“So am I.”
“That’s exactly what worries me.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
His voice lowered.
“No one gets near you while you are protecting my son.”
Hunter looked toward Leo.
“Is that what I’m doing?”
Lorenzo followed her gaze.
“For now.”
Hunter understood the warning.
This arrangement was temporary.
Leo needed her.
Lorenzo did not.
She told herself that was safer.
May you like
But when Leo opened his eyes and curled his hand around Hunter’s finger, something inside Lorenzo's face softened again.
And from the hallway, unseen by either of them, Dante Rossi watched through the narrow opening of the nursery door.
