Chapter 4 - The Man Lorenzo Called Family
Vittorio Rossi entered the mansion smiling.
That frightened Elena more than anger would have.
He removed his leather gloves calmly, handed them to a stunned guard, and looked around the foyer as though arriving for Sunday dinner.
“What is all this?”
Nobody answered.
Lorenzo stood near the staircase.
The second page of Sofia’s letter remained in his hand.
Marco held Dr. Halberg several feet away.
Pierce stood beside Mrs. Caruso.
Elena held Matteo.
Vittorio’s gaze traveled across them.
Then stopped on the baby.
“There’s my little soldier.”
Matteo immediately turned his face into Elena’s chest.
Elena felt his body stiffen.
She noticed.
So did Lorenzo.
Vittorio’s smile faded by half an inch.
“Who is she?”
“My maid,” Lorenzo said.
“Your maid is holding your son?”
“She has a name.”
Vittorio’s eyes moved to Lorenzo.
“Excuse me?”
“Her name is Elena.”
A subtle tension passed through the room.
Perhaps nobody had ever heard Lorenzo correct Vittorio that way.
Vittorio recovered.
“Elena, then.”
He approached.
Matteo whimpered.
Elena instinctively stepped backward.
Vittorio stopped.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Lorenzo answered.
“He’s afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That’s what we’re finding out.”
Vittorio saw the bottles on a nearby table, carried downstairs by Mrs. Caruso.
Then he noticed Halberg.
His eyes remained steady.
Too steady.
“What happened, doctor?”
Halberg looked at Lorenzo.
“Tell my uncle.”
Lorenzo’s tone was almost casual.
“Tell him why you knew someone might have poisoned my son before anyone accused you of it.”
Vittorio gave a dismissive laugh.
“This is insane.”
“Is it?”
“Lorenzo, you haven’t slept properly in weeks.”
“Answer for him again and I’ll assume you’re involved.”
Silence swallowed the foyer.
Vittorio stared at his nephew.
“Careful.”
Lorenzo almost smiled.
It was not pleasant.
“You taught me that word when I was twelve.”
Elena watched them.
Until that moment, Lorenzo had been the most powerful person in every room she had seen him enter.
With Vittorio, something changed.
Lorenzo became younger.
Not visibly.
Emotionally.
A boy remembering the man who had taught him the rules of survival.
Vittorio had helped raise him after Lorenzo’s father died.
Marco had mentioned that much during Elena’s first week.
He had been mentor, adviser, surrogate father.
Family.
Which made Sofia’s warning terrifying.
The danger would come from someone who believed they were protecting the Rossi family.
Vittorio lifted the medical file.
“I came because this was delivered to me.”
Lorenzo’s gaze fixed on it.
“By whom?”
“Anonymous courier.”
“Why you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Open it.”
Vittorio hesitated.
Only for a heartbeat.
But Elena saw it.
Lorenzo did too.
“Open it.”
Vittorio placed the file on a console table.
Inside were Sofia’s hospital records.
Lorenzo moved toward them.
Pierce followed.
She scanned several pages.
Then her face changed.
“These aren’t the records in the hospital system.”
“What?” Lorenzo asked.
Pierce pointed.
“Here. Medication administered at 2:15 a.m.”
Lorenzo leaned closer.
“What about it?”
“That entry isn’t in the digital record I saw.”
Halberg suddenly looked ill.
Pierce continued.
“And this dosage…”
She stopped.
Lorenzo’s voice became dangerous.
“Say it.”
“It’s higher than what I administered.”
Halberg shook his head.
“That proves nothing.”
Pierce turned on him.
“It proves the chart was altered.”
“After the fact, perhaps.”
“By whom?”
“You had access.”
“So did you.”
Vittorio interrupted.
“This is becoming a circus.”
Lorenzo slammed the file closed.
“My wife died.”
The entire foyer froze.
“My son nearly died.”
He stepped toward Vittorio.
“And your concern is whether this looks dignified?”
Vittorio lowered his voice.
“My concern is you.”
“No.”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“Your concern has always been the Rossi name.”
“The name is why you’re alive.”
“The name is why half my life has been spent preparing for people to hurt me.”
“And that preparation kept you alive.”
“It may have killed my wife.”
Vittorio’s expression changed.
There.
Not guilt.
Pain.
Real pain.
Elena saw it.
“You think I hurt Sofia?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I loved that girl.”
“So did I.”
Lorenzo’s voice broke on the final word.
For one second, the feared Lorenzo Rossi disappeared.
Only a widower remained.
Vittorio softened.
“Then don’t let grief make you stupid.”
Elena saw Lorenzo’s shoulders tighten.
Vittorio stepped closer.
“You have an empire to protect.”
“I have a son.”
“You have both.”
“No.”
Lorenzo looked at Matteo.
“For the first time in my life, I think I understand that I can only keep one.”
Vittorio stared at him.
Elena understood before anyone said it.
Lorenzo was questioning everything.
The business.
The legacy.
The rules.
The world his family had built around him.
And Vittorio hated that.
“You would throw away everything your father built?”
“If it is killing my child?”
Lorenzo’s answer came instantly.
“Yes.”
Vittorio’s face went cold.
“Your father would be ashamed.”
Matteo startled at the sharpness in his voice.
He began crying.
Elena turned away, rocking him.
Lorenzo did not look at Vittorio again.
“Leave.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Leave my house.”
“Lorenzo.”
“Now.”
Vittorio remained still.
Marco moved between them.
For the first time, Vittorio looked genuinely insulted.
“You choose a frightened maid and a hysterical nurse over blood?”
Lorenzo glanced at Elena.
“No.”
His eyes returned to Vittorio.
“I choose my son.”
Vittorio smiled faintly.
“Then pray you understand what you’re choosing.”
He turned.
Lorenzo noticed the medical file.
“Leave it.”
Vittorio stopped.
“I said leave it.”
He dropped the file onto the table.
Then walked out.
The doors closed.
Only then did Elena exhale.
Marco immediately spoke.
“We need to move Matteo.”
Lorenzo nodded.
“Where?”
“One of the secure properties.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Marco stared.
“Excuse me?”
“He finally ate because the room became less frightening. Now you’re going to surround him with armed strangers and move him somewhere unfamiliar?”
“This house may be compromised.”
“Then remove whoever compromised it.”
“Elena—”
Lorenzo raised one hand.
Marco stopped.
“What do you suggest?” Lorenzo asked her.
Elena was surprised he asked.
“Keep him here tonight. Limit who enters the nursery. I stay with him. One nurse—Pierce, if you trust her. Nobody else handles his food.”
“And security?”
“Outside the door. Quietly.”
Marco looked incredulous.
“You cannot run protective security according to a baby’s preferred noise level.”
Elena looked at him.
“Apparently you can if you want the baby to live.”
Lorenzo almost smiled.
“Do it.”
Marco sighed.
“Yes, boss.”
Halberg remained forgotten for several seconds.
Then Lorenzo turned to him.
“The police are coming.”
Halberg’s eyes widened.
That surprised everyone.
Even Marco.
Lorenzo had called actual law enforcement.
“No private solution?” Marco asked.
Lorenzo looked toward Matteo.
“No more private solutions.”
It was a small sentence.
But Elena sensed its weight.
Perhaps Sofia had finally reached her husband through a letter written months ago.
Police took Halberg into custody after the suspicious vials were documented.
The medical file was copied.
Lorenzo provided the original.
That evening, the mansion grew quiet.
No meetings.
No visitors.
Elena sat in the nursery with Matteo.
He consumed two ounces at seven.
Another ounce shortly after nine.
Not enough.
But more.
Much more.
Lorenzo sat across the room.
No phone.
No pacing.
No questions about measurements.
He simply watched.
At one point Matteo opened his eyes.
Lorenzo leaned forward.
Then stopped himself.
Elena noticed.
“You can come closer.”
“He’ll cry.”
“Maybe.”
“That’s helpful.”
“He’s a baby, not a business negotiation.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“How do I do this?”
The question surprised her.
“Do what?”
“Hold him without making him afraid.”
Elena’s heart softened.
“Wash your hands.”
He did.
“Take off the jacket.”
He removed it.
“The tie too.”
“Why?”
“You look like you’re about to fire somebody.”
For the first time, Lorenzo laughed.
Quietly.
It vanished quickly.
But Matteo heard it.
His eyes moved toward his father.
Elena stood.
She brought Matteo closer.
Lorenzo’s arms rose awkwardly.
“Support his neck.”
“I know that.”
“You asked for help.”
“I’m reconsidering.”
She placed Matteo into his arms.
The infant stiffened.
Lorenzo froze.
“Don’t panic.”
“I’m not panicking.”
“You absolutely are.”
Matteo made a small sound.
Lorenzo’s face became desperate.
“Do something.”
“You’re holding him. You do something.”
“I don’t know what he wants.”
“Neither does he half the time.”
Lorenzo looked down.
His son stared back.
Slowly, Elena began humming.
“Stop.”
She did.
“You.”
“What?”
“He should hear you.”
“I don’t sing.”
“Talk.”
“About what?”
“Anything.”
Lorenzo looked deeply uncomfortable.
Then he whispered:
“My name is Lorenzo.”
Elena covered a smile.
“He knows.”
“I’m new at this.”
“Keep going.”
Lorenzo swallowed.
“I’m your father.”
Matteo blinked.
“I should have held you more.”
The room became still.
“I thought keeping danger away from you was the same as loving you.”
Elena stopped smiling.
Lorenzo’s voice grew rough.
“I was wrong.”
Matteo’s tiny fist closed around Lorenzo’s finger.
Lorenzo stared.
His eyes filled instantly.
The great Lorenzo Rossi did not move for nearly five minutes.
Then his phone buzzed.
He ignored it.
It buzzed again.
Marco entered.
“Boss.”
“Not now.”
“You need this.”
Marco held out the phone.
Security footage filled the screen.
A timestamp from six weeks earlier.
The nursery.
Night.
Someone entered carrying a feeding bottle.
The face was hidden.
But one detail was unmistakable.
A distinctive gold signet ring.
Lorenzo stared at it.
His breathing stopped.
Elena had seen that ring earlier that afternoon.
On Vittorio Rossi’s hand.
May you like
Then the figure in the recording turned toward the camera.
And Elena realized the person wearing the ring was not Vittorio.
