Chapter 1: The Girl Who Refused to Let Him Die
“Did I ask for your opinion, Victor?””
Lucas Moretti's voice was barely audible, but every man in the marble hallway froze.
Victor Romano stood beside the medical team, one hand resting casually inside his expensive charcoal jacket. His expression was carefully arranged into concern, but his eyes were fixed on the six-year-old girl hiding behind her mother's legs.
Grace Carter held Lily so tightly that the little girl's pink pajamas were wrinkled beneath her fingers.
“No, sir,” Victor replied.
“Then stop giving me one.””
Lucas struggled to sit upright. The doctor immediately placed a hand against his shoulder.
“Mr. Moretti, please. Your breathing is still unstable. You need to remain still.””
Lucas ignored him.
His gaze returned to Lily.
“What's your name, sweetheart?””
“Lily.””
“And how old are you?””
“Six.””
“Why were you in my hallway?””
Lily looked at her mother before answering.
“Because I heard you fall.””
A few guards exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Lucas looked at the little girl's bare feet. One of her pink socks was missing, and her brown hair was tangled around her cheeks.
“You heard me fall, and you came looking?””
She nodded.
“Were you scared?””
“A little.””
“Then why didn't you run away?””
Lily's lower lip trembled.
“Because you looked like me when I can't breathe.””
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Lucas had spent thirty-eight years learning that fear was the most reliable currency in the world. Men feared his money, his connections, his temper, and the consequences of disappointing him.
But this little girl had looked at him while he was dying and thought about someone other than herself.
He slowly extended his hand.
“Come here.””
Grace immediately tightened her hold.
“Sir, please. She's only a child. She didn't mean to cause trouble.””
Lucas looked at her.
“What makes you think she's in trouble?””
Grace swallowed.
“I know the rules. Children aren't allowed inside the residence. I should never have brought her here.””
Victor stepped forward.
“Lucas, we need to remember what this place is. The staff signed confidentiality agreements. Bringing an unauthorized child into the residence is a serious security violation.””
Lucas turned his head.
“Did you forget what happened five minutes ago?””
Victor blinked.
“What do you mean?””
“I was dying on this floor. This child was the only person who did anything.””
“The medical team was already being called.””
“And yet she was the one who got me breathing.””
Victor's jaw tightened.
Lucas noticed.
He noticed everything.
“Elias,” he called.
A tall man with a scar across his left eyebrow stepped out from behind the medical team.
“Yes, boss?””
“Find out who brought the child into the house. I want to know exactly what happened.””
Grace's face went pale.
“Sir, please. I can explain.””
Lucas lifted one hand.
“I wasn't asking you to explain anything yet.””
He turned toward the doctor.
“Get me upstairs. And make sure the girl gets something to eat.””
The doctor hesitated.
“Mr. Moretti, I strongly recommend we take you to the hospital.””
“Then strongly recommend it again after I can breathe without feeling like somebody is sitting on my chest.””
Elias helped Lucas to his feet.
As the guards moved to clear the hallway, Lily suddenly stepped forward.
“Wait!””
Everyone turned.
She held out her little inhaler.
“You can have mine.””
Lucas looked at the pink plastic device.
“Sweetheart, you need that.””
“But you don't have one.””
A strange expression crossed his face.
For the first time that evening, the corners of his mouth moved.
“I'll get another one.””
“Promise?””
Lucas bent slightly, ignoring the doctor's disapproving look.
“I promise.””
Lily considered him carefully.
“Okay. But don't forget.””
“I won't.””
Grace finally managed to lead her daughter toward the servants' staircase. Before disappearing around the corner, Lily turned and waved.
Lucas watched until she was gone.
Then his expression changed.
“Elias.””
“Yes, boss?””
“Bring me the security footage from the hallway.””
Victor answered before Elias could.
“We've already checked the cameras. There was nothing unusual.””
Lucas slowly turned.
“I didn't ask you, Victor.””
Victor's face remained calm.
“Of course.””
“Elias. The footage. Every camera covering the west hallway, the study, and the east staircase. Last twelve hours.””
“Understood.””
“And nobody touches the files.””
Victor gave a faint laugh.
“You're making this sound like an investigation.””
Lucas stared at him.
“Maybe it is.””
Twenty minutes later, Lucas sat in his private bedroom while the doctor checked his oxygen levels.
The Moretti mansion was enormous, but the bedroom was surprisingly simple. Dark wooden furniture, gray walls, heavy curtains, and a photograph of Isabella beside the bed.
She was smiling in the picture.
Her brown curls fell across one shoulder, and her fingers rested on the piano keys.
Lucas looked at her for a long time.
“Your son is going to grow up without you,” he whispered.
The words tasted like ash.
Daniel had been five when he died.
Lucas still remembered the little boy's yellow raincoat hanging beside the front door. He remembered the toy dinosaur under his bed. He remembered the last drawing Daniel had given him.
Three figures holding hands beneath a crooked yellow sun.
MOMMY. DADDY. DANIEL.
Lucas had kept it in his desk for three years.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
Elias entered carrying a tablet.
“Boss, I have the footage.””
“Show me.””
Elias placed the tablet on the bed.
The hallway camera showed Lucas entering the west corridor at 7:42 p.m. He was walking normally, speaking into his phone.
At 7:51 p.m., he stopped beside the console table.
He reached into his jacket.
Then his knees buckled.
The footage showed him grabbing the edge of the table before collapsing onto the marble floor.
Lucas leaned closer.
“Rewind.””
Elias did.
Lucas watched again.
“Freeze.””
The image stopped just before he fell.
Something was wrong.
His right hand was clutching his chest, but his left hand was extended toward the console table.
“Zoom in.””
Elias enlarged the image.
A small glass stood on the table.
Lucas stared at it.
“What is that?””
“Water, apparently. The staff said you asked for a glass before heading upstairs.””
“I didn't.””
Elias looked up.
Lucas continued staring at the screen.
“I never drink water from that table. I keep a bottle in my study.””
“Who brought it?””
“Find out.””
Elias switched to another camera.
A man entered the hallway shortly before Lucas.
He wore a black suit.
His face was partially hidden by the angle, but Lucas recognized the walk.
Victor Romano.
The man approached the console table, placed something beside the glass, and looked directly toward the study.
Then he walked away.
Lucas said nothing.
Elias's expression hardened.
“Boss?””
“Keep going.””
Three minutes later, Victor returned.
He looked at the glass.
Then he checked his watch.
Then he walked toward the study.
Lucas felt something cold settle inside his chest.
“That's enough.””
Elias stopped the footage.
“Do you want me to bring him in?””
“No.””
“Lucas—”
“I said no.””
He leaned back against the pillows.
“Not yet.””
Elias studied him.
“You think Victor did something?””
Lucas looked at the photograph of Isabella.
“I think I made a mistake three years ago.””
Downstairs, Grace was sitting in the staff kitchen with Lily asleep across her lap.
A bowl of soup sat untouched on the table.
The little girl had finally stopped crying, but her fingers remained wrapped around her mother's sleeve.
Grace brushed the hair away from Lily's forehead.
“You scared Mommy tonight.””
Lily opened one sleepy eye.
“Did I do bad?””
“No, sweetheart.””
“Then why were those men angry?””
Grace looked toward the kitchen door.
“Sometimes grown-ups get angry when they don't understand something.””
“Mr. Lucas was nice.””
Grace froze.
“Who told you his name?””
“He did.””
Lily yawned.
“He said he would get another inhaler.””
Grace kissed her forehead.
“That's good.””
A shadow fell across the doorway.
Victor stood there.
Grace immediately straightened.
“Mr. Romano.””
He glanced at Lily.
“Put the child in the staff room.””
“She fell asleep.””
“Then carry her.””
Grace slowly stood, lifting Lily into her arms.
Victor stepped closer.
“I need to speak with you.””
“About what?””
“Your daughter's little adventure.””
Grace lowered her eyes.
“I've already apologized.””
“An apology isn't enough.””
He reached into his jacket and placed a white envelope on the table.
Grace stared at it.
“What's that?””
“Your final wages. A little extra for the inconvenience.””
Her stomach tightened.
“Are you firing me?””
“I'm making things easier for everyone.””
Grace looked down at Lily.
“I need this job.””
Victor smiled without warmth.
“Then perhaps you should have thought about that before bringing a child into a dangerous man's home.””
Grace said nothing.
Victor leaned closer.
“And one more thing, Mrs. Carter. Forget what you saw tonight.””
Her heart began to pound.
“I don't know what you mean.””
“Good.””
He turned to leave.
Then he stopped.
“By the way, your daughter used her inhaler on Mr. Moretti?””
Grace nodded cautiously.
Victor's smile disappeared.
“That's unfortunate.””
“Why?””
He looked at her for several seconds.
“Because I would hate for anyone to misunderstand what happened.””
He walked away.
Grace remained standing in the kitchen, holding her sleeping daughter.
Then she noticed something on the table.
A second envelope had been slipped beneath the first.
Her name was written across it.
But it wasn't in Victor's handwriting.
It was in the handwriting of a woman Grace had watched die three years earlier.
Isabella Moretti.
At 11:48 p.m., Lucas received a message from Elias.
*BOSS. WE FOUND SOMETHING ELSE. YOU NEED TO SEE THIS.*
A second message followed.
It contained a photograph.
The photograph showed Victor standing outside Lucas's bedroom three hours earlier.
He was holding a small medical bottle.
Lucas stared at the screen.
May you like
Then he read the final message.
*THE BOTTLE WAS REGISTERED UNDER YOUR WIFE'S NAME.*
