Chapter 2 - The Poison in the Velvet Bag
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Luca Moretti did not raise his voice.
The silence that filled the private sitting room was far more terrifying than a scream.
He reached down into Vanessa’s Italian leather handbag and pulled out two unmarked amber prescription bottles.
There were no pharmacy labels on the plastic.
There were only handwritten codes scrawled in black marker across the caps.
Luca held them under the chandelier light, his knuckles turning stark white.
Vanessa stepped toward the door, her crimson silk gown rustling against the Persian rug.
"Luca, those are just mild supplements," she stammered, her voice pitching an octave higher.
"I bought them from a holistic specialist to help your mother sleep."
"Holistic supplements do not require an armed driver to pick them up from an alley behind Cook County Hospital," I whispered.
Vanessa whipped her head around, her eyes blazing with raw venom.
"Shut your mouth, Claire!"
"You are a maid who cleans toilets, and you are speaking way out of your place!"
"Claire speaks when I tell her to speak," Luca said, his voice dropping to a gravelly murmur.
He did not look at his wife; his gaze remained fixed on the small white tablets inside the plastic container.
"And right now, Vanessa, she has more credibility in this house than you do."
Rosa reached out from her armchair, her wrinkled fingers clutching the sleeve of Luca’s dark wool coat.
"She put drops in my evening tea, Luca."
"Every night at eight o'clock, she brought the tray herself."
"She insisted that the kitchen staff never touch it."
"She told me it was imported lavender from Tuscany."
"Within twenty minutes, my tongue would go numb, and my thoughts would scatter like dry leaves."
"I couldn't remember my own sister’s name."
"I couldn't remember what year it was."
Tears spilled down Rosa’s hollow cheeks, catching the soft glow of the table lamp.
"I felt like I was drowning in my own head."
"And whenever I cried out for help, she stood over my bed and told me I was losing my mind."
Luca closed his eyes for three long seconds.
When he opened them, the last trace of warmth had vanished from his dark eyes.
"You made my mother believe her mind was dying."
Vanessa laughed nervously, taking another awkward step toward the corridor.
"Luca, be reasonable!"
"Your mother is eighty years old!"
"She gets confused, she misplaces things, and now she is making up wild conspiracies!"
"You're actually going to take the word of an old woman and a hired maid over your lawful wife?"
"My mother built this family with my father while you were still in middle school," Luca said coldly.
He pulled a silver flip phone from his interior pocket and pressed a single speed-dial button.
"Marco," Luca said into the receiver.
"Lock down every gate on the estate."
"No one leaves."
"Not a single car rolls past the perimeter."
"And bring Dr. Sterling up to the third floor immediately."
Vanessa’s pale face turned the color of ash.
"Dr. Sterling?"
"Luca, you don't need a toxicologist for over-the-counter vitamins!"
"We will let Sterling decide what these are," Luca replied smoothly.
He turned his back on his wife and knelt beside Rosa’s chair.
His large, scarred hands gently cradled his mother’s frail, trembling fingers.
"I am so sorry, Mom."
"I should have looked closer."
"I should have known."
Rosa shook her head, stroking his dark hair with infinite tenderness.
"You were running an empire, my boy."
"A snake knows exactly when the lion is looking away."
Vanessa bolted for the open doorway.
She didn't make it two steps into the hallway.
Two massive security guards in tailored black suits stepped into the frame, blocking the exit like brick pillars.
"Step back inside, Mrs. Moretti," the taller guard rumbled.
Vanessa turned back toward the room, her chest heaving against her designer dress.
"This is kidnapping, Luca!"
"I have rights!"
"I am your wife!"
May you like
Luca stood up slowly, towering over her with the menacing grace that kept Chicago under his thumb.
"In this house, Vanessa, your only right is to pray that my mother’s blood tests come back clean."
