Chapter 2 - THE MEDICINE THAT WAS NEVER PRESCRIBED|
"What have you been putting in my father's medicine?"
Luca Moretti's voice was so quiet that I barely recognized it.
The man who could silence an entire room with one glance was standing before his wife, staring at her as though she were a stranger.
Vanessa's lips trembled.
"Luca, darling, you're misunderstanding everything."
"Then explain the recording."
"I was helping your father."
"By asking how long it would take him to lose his memory?"
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Behind us, the projector continued illuminating the wall.
On the screen, Vanessa stood beside Frank's medication cabinet while the man in the gray coat examined several prescription bottles.
I felt Frank's hand tighten around mine.
"Claire," he whispered, "please don't let her touch my medicine again."
Those words broke something inside me.
For weeks, I had watched this elderly man struggle to remember simple things.
Sometimes he forgot whether he had eaten breakfast.
Other mornings, he couldn't remember where his favorite armchair had been moved.
Vanessa had insisted he was developing dementia.
She had even suggested moving him into a nursing facility outside Chicago.
But now I understood why Frank became frightened whenever she entered his bedroom.
"Mr. Moretti," I whispered, "we're going to find out what's happening."
Suddenly, Vanessa lunged toward the table.
"That recording is fake!"
She grabbed the projector cable.
The image vanished.
Several guests gasped.
Luca didn't move.
Instead, he looked at his head of security, Gabriel Russo.
"Get a copy of every recording immediately."
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes, boss."
Vanessa spun toward him.
"You work for this family, Gabriel!"
"Exactly, ma'am," he replied.
"And Frank Moretti is part of this family."
I had never seen Vanessa look so humiliated.
Then she pointed directly at me.
"This is Claire's fault!"
Every face turned toward me.
"She hates me because she wants my husband!"
I felt the blood drain from my cheeks.
"That's not true."
"She's been manipulating Frank for months!"
Luca stepped between us.
"Enough."
But Vanessa wasn't finished.
"Think about it, Luca."
"Your father suddenly starts making accusations after spending every afternoon with your precious little maid."
Frank struggled to stand.
"Don't you dare blame Claire."
His voice was weak, but the anger behind it was unmistakable.
"She was the only person who listened when I said something was wrong."
Then he turned toward his son.
"I tried to tell you, Luca."
His eyes filled with tears.
"Every Thursday, that man came through the back entrance."
"I saw him take papers from your study."
"I saw Vanessa change my medicine."
Luca looked devastated.
"Why didn't you call me directly, Dad?"
Frank gave a painful little laugh.
"She took my phone."
The room went completely silent.
"She told me I was too confused to use it."
I watched Luca slowly turn toward Vanessa.
"Is that true?"
Vanessa looked away.
"Your father needed supervision."
"My father needed his son."
For the first time that evening, Vanessa appeared genuinely frightened.
Then Frank suddenly pressed a hand against his chest.
His knees buckled.
"Mr. Moretti!"
I caught his shoulders before he fell from the chair.
His breathing became shallow.
His eyes fluttered.
"Luca, call an ambulance!"
Luca dropped beside his father.
"Dad?"
Frank tried to speak.
But his words came out slurred.
I supported his head while Gabriel called emergency services.
"Stay with us," I whispered.
"Please, Mr. Moretti."
Frank squeezed my fingers once.
Then his hand went limp.
Luca's face changed.
I had seen him angry before.
I had seen people tremble when he entered a room.
But I had never seen fear like this.
"Don't leave me, Dad," he whispered.
"Not like Mom."
Across the room, Vanessa slowly backed toward the hallway.
Gabriel noticed.
"Mrs. Moretti, the police will want to speak with you."
She stopped.
"You're seriously accusing me of hurting my own father-in-law?"
Nobody answered.
Then I remembered something.
That morning, Vanessa had personally delivered Frank's medication.
She had insisted that nobody else touch his bedside cabinet.
I looked toward Mrs. Ellis, the elderly housekeeper standing near the doorway.
"Please bring Mr. Moretti's medication bottles from upstairs."
Mrs. Ellis immediately hurried away.
Vanessa's expression changed.
"No!"
Everyone turned toward her.
"Those are private medical belongings!"
Luca rose slowly.
"They belong to my father."
A few minutes later, Mrs. Ellis returned carrying a small wooden tray.
Six prescription bottles stood upon it.
I recognized five.
But the sixth was unfamiliar.
It was a dark amber bottle with a plain white label.
Vanessa stared at it.
"That isn't his."
I picked it up carefully by the edges.
There was no pharmacy name.
No prescribing physician.
Only Frank's first name and a handwritten instruction.
Luca looked over my shoulder.
His jaw tightened.
"Gabriel, make sure nobody removes anything from this house."
Then he faced Vanessa.
"You're not going near my father's room again."
She laughed bitterly.
"You can't prove anything."
At that moment, the paramedics rushed inside.
They placed Frank on a stretcher while Luca followed them toward the front entrance.
I was preparing to leave with Mrs. Ellis when someone touched my arm.
Vanessa.
Her perfume was overpowering.
Her fingernails dug into my skin.
"Listen carefully, Claire."
I tried to pull away.
She leaned closer.
"You have no idea what you've uncovered."
Then she whispered six words that made my stomach turn.
"Maria wasn't supposed to die either."
I stared at her.
Maria Moretti.
Luca's mother.
The woman who had died fifteen years ago.
Before I could ask what she meant, Vanessa released my arm and disappeared into the crowd.
May you like
And suddenly, I understood that tonight's recording might reveal something far worse than stolen documents.
It might reveal why Luca Moretti's mother had never come home.
