Chapter 7 - Benjamin Awakes
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The harsh chaos of the corridor faded into the background as two burly security guards dragged the screaming Vanessa toward the service elevators.
Inside the intensive care room, the soft hum of the cardiac monitor changed its tempo, beeping in steady, rhythmic intervals.
I rushed back to Benjamin’s bedside just as his long dark eyelashes fluttered against his pale cheeks.
The nine-year-old boy let out a soft groan, his tiny fingers twitching against the crisp hospital sheets.
"Benny?" I whispered gently, leaning over the safety rail so my face was the first thing he saw.
His blue eyes, identical to his father’s, slowly opened and struggled to focus in the dim room.
"Claire...?" he rasped, his throat parched and scratchy from the oxygen mask.
"I am right here, my brave boy," I replied, carefully lifting a cup of ice water fitted with a straw to his dry lips.
He took two small sips before his gaze shifted toward the doorway, where Luca stood frozen, his powerful shoulders trembling slightly.
"Daddy?" Benjamin called out weakly, his eyes instantly filling with fresh tears of dread.
"Am I in trouble?"
Luca crossed the room in two massive strides and dropped to his knees beside the hospital bed, completely ignoring the sterile linoleum floor.
He buried his face against his son’s small chest, wrapping his powerful arms around the boy with a tenderness that defied his terrifying reputation.
"No, Benny, never," Luca choked out, his voice thick with tears he had refused to shed in front of his enemies.
"You are not in trouble, my boy."
"You did nothing wrong, do you hear me?"
Benjamin rested his small hand against his father’s dark hair, relaxing for the first time in weeks.
"Vanessa told me that you were disappointed in me because I was weak and kept throwing up," Benjamin whispered, his confession cutting through the quiet room.
Luca lifted his head, his dark eyes red-rimmed with profound sorrow.
"Tell me everything she did, Benny."
"Daddy needs to know every single thing."
Benjamin looked toward the closed door nervously before leaning closer to his father's ear.
"Every night after you went to your study, she would come into my bedroom with the blue bottle," Benjamin recounted, his voice trembling.
"It tasted bitter, like spoiled metal, and it made my throat burn."
"When I told her I didn't want it, she pinched my arm hard under the blanket so it wouldn't leave a bruise where anyone could see."
"She told me that if I spat it out, you would send me away to a boarding school across the ocean and that you would marry her properly and have a better son."
"And she said... she said if I ever told Claire, she would make sure Claire’s sick mother lost her house."
Hearing the sheer calculated cruelty inflicted upon his innocent child caused Luca’s breath to catch in his throat.
He kissed Benjamin’s small, bruised forearm where the needle marks had been concealed beneath long pajama sleeves.
"Nobody is sending you away, Benjamin," Luca swore, his voice resonating with an unbreakable vow.
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"And nobody will ever hurt you or threaten Claire ever again."
"You are a Moretti, and the people who tried to destroy our family will pay for every single tear you shed tonight."
