Chapter 5 - Shadows and Syringes
Brenda’s hand instantly dropped from my shoulder as if she had touched hot iron. She backed away toward the fireplace, her professional demeanor shattering in an instant.
Luca didn’t look at Brenda. His eyes remained locked entirely on his fiancée.
“Luca, darling!” Isabella recovered with lightning speed, pressing a hand to her chest, her voice trembling with manufactured distress. “Thank God you’re here! I was trying to protect your mother! Emma became completely hysterical when I brought in a certified replacement nurse! She almost tipped Mother’s table over!”
Luca ignored her entirely.
He walked past her as if she were made of glass. He went straight to his mother’s side, dropping to one knee beside her armchair. He took the elderly woman’s trembling hand into his own, his thumb gently rubbing the back of her knuckles.
“Breathe, Ma,” he murmured, his voice softening in a way that seemed impossible for a man with such a terrifying presence. “Deep breaths. I’m right here.”
Mrs. Moretti gripped his hand with surprising strength. “She brought a stranger into my room, Luca. She tried to take Emma away.”
“No one is taking Emma anywhere,” Luca said calmly.
He stood up, towering over the room once more. He turned to the two security guards standing at the door.
“Escort this woman off the property,” Luca commanded, pointing at Brenda. “Confiscate her medical kit. Search her vehicle before she leaves the gates. If she resists, call Commissioner Harris directly.”
Brenda gasped. “You have no right! I am an independent contractor!”
“You are trespassing on private property,” Luca countered, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. “Marcus, take her. Now.”
The larger guard stepped forward, firmly gripping Brenda’s arm and leading her out of the room. She didn’t dare fight back; the cold authority in Luca’s tone left no room for debate.
Isabella was shaking now, her skin mottled with red patches of fury. “Luca! This is an outrage! I vetted Brenda through private channels! I was trying to help your family, and you treat me like a criminal in front of the servants?!”
“Who authorized you to enter my study at one in the morning, Isabella?” Luca asked softly.
The room went dead silent.
Isabella’s breath hitched in her throat. Her eyes darted toward me for a fraction of a second, full of venomous realization, before returning to Luca.
“I... I don't know what you’re talking about,” she stammered. “I was in bed all night.”
“The motion sensors in my study tripped at 1:28 AM,” Luca said, pulling a slim silver smartphone from his waistcoat pocket. He tapped the screen and held it out toward her. “High-definition thermal imaging. Infrared night vision. You spent fourteen minutes searching through the holding company archives and photographing documents.”
Isabella went as pale as a corpse.
“I was looking for the guest list for the Autumn Gala!” she cried out desperately. “The caterers needed the finalized count for the seating arrangements, and you had locked the master ledger in your safe! That’s all it was! Why are you looking at me like I’ve committed treason?!”
Luca let out a short, cold humorless laugh.
“The guest ledger is kept on the cloud server, Isabella. You know that. You were looking for my mother’s trust agreements.”
He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
“You will leave the main house,” Luca said. “You will stay in the carriage house on the northern edge of the estate until the Autumn Gala on Saturday. My security team will monitor your movements. You are not to enter the main residence, and you are not to come within fifty feet of my mother or Emma.”
“You are banishing me to the guest quarters?!” Isabella shrieked, tears of pure humiliation spilling over her eyelashes. “We are getting married in six weeks! The press will notice! My father will destroy the shipping permits for the southern terminals!”
“Tell your father,” Luca said, stepping closer to her, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper, “that if he makes a single move against Moretti Enterprises, I will release the offshore banking records of Vance PAC to the federal oversight committee. He knows what’s in those files. And so do you.”
Isabella stared at him, utterly paralyzed. For the first time, she realized that Luca hadn't just tolerated her political family—he had been holding their leash the entire time.
“Get out,” Luca said.
Isabella gathered what remained of her dignity, pulled her designer jacket tight around herself, and marched out of the room. But as she crossed the threshold, she cast one final, toxic look at me—a promise that this was far from over.
Once the doors closed, the silence returned, heavy and suffocating.
“Emma,” Luca turned to me.
“Yes, sir?”
He walked over to the stainless steel tray on the table. He picked up one of the amber prescription bottles, inspecting the label closely.
“You heard her last night,” Luca stated. It wasn't a question.
I looked down at the floor, my heart hammering. “I went down for a glass of water. I saw the light. I heard her on the phone.”
“What did she say?”
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look him in the eye. “She said your mother needed to be declared incapacitated. She mentioned a Dr. Aris. She said substituted vials were being delivered today so they could petition for conservatorship before Mrs. Moretti updated the voting shares.”
Mrs. Moretti let out a soft gasp from her chair.
Luca closed his eyes for a brief second. When he opened them, the darkness in his gaze had turned into cold, calculated resolve.
“Thomas!” Luca called out toward the hallway.
The elderly butler appeared in the doorway instantly. “Yes, Mr. Moretti?”
“Call Dr. Keller. Tell him to bring a complete toxicological screening kit to the house immediately. I want every single pill, liquid, and injectable in this house tested and sealed.”
“Right away, sir.”
Luca turned back to me. His hand reached out, hovering just above my splinted wrist, hesitant to touch it, yet radiating an undeniable intensity.
“You stood between Brenda and those pills with an injured arm,” he said, his voice quiet, almost wonder-filled. “Why didn't you just step aside and let her do it? It wasn't your responsibility to fight them.”
“It is my responsibility,” I answered softly. “Mrs. Moretti is under my care. I took an oath to protect my patients. And... she has been kinder to me than anyone in this city.”
Mrs. Moretti reached out, grabbing my good hand and squeezing it gently with tears shining in her aged eyes. “You are a good girl, Emma. Far too good for this house.”
Luca looked between his mother and me, his jaw tightening with an emotion he seemed unable to name.
“The Autumn Gala is in three days,” Luca said, his voice dropping into corporate steel once more. “Isabella thinks she still has a play to make. She thinks her father’s influence will force my hand in front of the city’s elite.”
He looked directly into my eyes, and something shifted in the air between us.
“Emma, you will be attending the gala.”
I froze. “Sir? I’m staff. Staff doesn't attend the gala.”
May you like
“You are not going as staff,” Luca said firmly. “You will be at my mother’s side as her personal guest. And by the end of that evening, everyone in this city will know exactly where loyalty lies in the Moretti family.”
***
