Chapter 5 - The Face Behind the Ring
“It’s Mrs. Caruso.”
Lorenzo whispered the words.
Elena stared at the frozen frame.
The woman on the security video wore a dark robe.
Her face was partially visible.
Older.
Silver hair.
Mrs. Caruso.
Lorenzo looked toward the nursery door.
“Find her.”
Marco immediately left.
Elena’s stomach twisted.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“She loved Sofia.”
“So did Vittorio, according to him.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“I saw her face when she talked about Sofia.”
Lorenzo gave a bitter laugh.
“I’ve built my entire life on people looking sincere while lying to me.”
Matteo slept against his father.
Lorenzo shifted him carefully.
The movement was no longer awkward.
Only hours had passed, yet something had changed.
“What was she carrying?” Elena asked.
Marco had forwarded the recording.
Lorenzo replayed it.
Caruso entered at 1:13 a.m.
She approached the small refrigerator.
Opened it.
Removed one bottle.
Then disappeared behind the camera angle near the counter.
Thirty seconds later, she returned the bottle.
“What happened at Matteo’s next feeding?”
Lorenzo searched the logs.
“He refused it.”
“Who fed him?”
“Nurse Pierce.”
“Did he get sick?”
“Vomiting. Severe crying.”
Elena felt cold.
Marco returned alone.
“She’s gone.”
Lorenzo’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“Caruso left through the kitchen delivery entrance eight minutes ago.”
“Security?”
“The guard says she told him you sent her to collect something.”
Lorenzo carefully handed Matteo to Elena.
Then stood.
“Find her.”
“We are.”
“Now.”
Marco left again.
Elena looked at the paused footage.
Something bothered her.
“Lorenzo.”
He was already dialing.
“Wait.”
He ignored her.
“Lorenzo.”
He looked over.
“The ring.”
“What about it?”
“Why would Mrs. Caruso wear Vittorio’s ring?”
His eyes narrowed.
Elena replayed the footage.
The ring was on Caruso’s right hand.
Large.
Far too large.
It slipped toward her knuckle when she tilted the bottle.
“She wanted someone to think Vittorio had been there.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Or she stole it.”
“Why?”
“To frame him?”
“For what?”
Neither knew.
Then Elena remembered Sofia’s wording.
Someone who believes they are protecting the Rossi family.
“Maybe she wasn’t hurting Matteo.”
Lorenzo’s expression became dangerous.
“We watched her touch his bottle.”
“We watched her take it from the refrigerator.”
“And return it.”
“Yes.”
Elena zoomed mentally through the sequence.
“What if she was checking it?”
Lorenzo frowned.
“She marked the bottles?”
“No. Pierce did.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know.”
She hated those words.
There had already been too much not knowing.
Lorenzo’s phone rang.
Marco.
He answered.
“Talk.”
A pause.
Then Lorenzo’s face changed.
“Where?”
He listened.
“We’re coming.”
He ended the call.
“They found Caruso’s car.”
“Where?”
“Near the old chapel on the western property.”
“Was she inside?”
“No.”
Elena looked down at Matteo.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You said that before.”
“This time I mean it.”
“And every important secret so far has been hidden by someone who thought they were protecting you.”
“This isn’t about protecting me.”
“It’s about Matteo.”
“Exactly.”
He stepped toward her.
“You stay here with him.”
Elena wanted to argue.
Then she looked at the baby.
Lorenzo was right.
Someone needed to make the child more important than the mystery.
“I’ll stay.”
Lorenzo paused.
“Thank you.”
He left.
Pierce came to the nursery.
For the next hour, Matteo slept.
Elena barely breathed.
At 1:17 a.m., her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
No response.
Then breathing.
“Elena?”
Mrs. Caruso.
“Where are you?”
“Listen to me.”
“Lorenzo is looking for you.”
“I know.”
“He saw the footage.”
Silence.
“He thinks I poisoned Matteo.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Elena exhaled.
“Then come back.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Lorenzo finally suspects Vittorio, and if I return, he’ll stop.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Vittorio didn’t poison the baby.”
“Then who did?”
Mrs. Caruso began crying quietly.
“Someone worse.”
Elena stood.
Pierce looked over.
“Who?”
“Dr. Halberg altered Sofia’s medication.”
“We know.”
“No. You know part of it.”
“What part don’t we know?”
“He wasn’t trying to kill her.”
Elena went cold.
“What?”
“He was trying to keep her unconscious.”
“Why?”
“So she couldn’t tell Lorenzo what she discovered.”
“The money?”
“Yes.”
“Who ordered it?”
“Vittorio.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“So Vittorio did cause her death.”
“No. That’s what I believed too.”
Mrs. Caruso’s voice trembled.
“Sofia woke up.”
Elena’s grip tightened on the phone.
“When?”
“Briefly. After Halberg left.”
“And?”
“She told me there was another person.”
“Who?”
“I never heard the name.”
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘The man Lorenzo trusts with his life.’”
Elena stared through the nursery doorway.
Marco.
Sofia’s second page had specifically mentioned him.
Marco knows more than he admits.
“Marco?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must know something.”
“I know Marco discovered Vittorio’s financial theft months before Sofia did.”
“Then why didn’t he tell Lorenzo?”
“Because Vittorio told him where the money was going.”
“Where?”
Mrs. Caruso became quiet.
“Into an escape fund.”
Elena frowned.
“For whom?”
“For Lorenzo.”
That made no sense.
“Explain.”
“Vittorio believed the family business would eventually destroy him. He had been quietly moving legitimate money into protected accounts so Lorenzo could leave someday.”
Elena sat down.
The supposedly stolen money had not been stolen for greed.
It was a rescue plan.
“So Sofia misunderstood.”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“She discovered someone else had begun taking money from those same accounts.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Mrs. Caruso—”
“I only know Sofia found a second ledger.”
“Where is it?”
A pause.
“In the chapel.”
Elena stood.
“Is that why you went there?”
“Yes.”
“Why wear Vittorio’s ring in the nursery footage?”
“Because I knew the camera was being watched.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena nearly shouted.
“Then how did that help?”
“I wanted whoever was monitoring Matteo to believe Vittorio was interfering. I needed them frightened.”
“Did you tamper with the bottle?”
“I replaced it.”
Elena stopped.
“What?”
“I saw someone take a bottle toward Lorenzo’s office. Later it returned. I switched it with a clean one.”
“So the bottle Matteo rejected that night—”
“Was safe.”
“Then why did he become sick?”
Silence.
Mrs. Caruso whispered:
“Because it had already happened too many times. He had learned to fear the taste.”
Elena looked at Matteo.
His little chest rose and fell.
His body had remembered what adults could not see.
“Why didn’t you tell Lorenzo?”
“Because Sofia made me promise not to accuse anyone until I had proof.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“So protect her son.”
Another silence.
Then Mrs. Caruso said:
“I found the ledger.”
“Give it to Lorenzo.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Someone followed me.”
Elena stood.
“Who?”
A sudden sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Mrs. Caruso gasped.
Then whispered:
“Oh, God.”
“What?”
“Elena, lock the nursery.”
“Who is there?”
“Lock it now.”
The call ended.
Elena immediately bolted the door.
Pierce stood.
“What happened?”
“Caruso is in trouble.”
Elena called Lorenzo.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then Marco.
No answer.
Her pulse raced.
She tried Lorenzo a third time.
This time someone answered.
But nobody spoke.
“Lorenzo?”
Breathing.
Then a man’s voice.
Not Lorenzo.
“Elena Marlow?”
She froze.
“Yes.”
“You have something I need.”
“Who is this?”
“You have Lorenzo’s son.”
Her blood went cold.
Pierce saw her face.
Elena whispered:
“What do you want?”
The man laughed softly.
“I want you to open the nursery door.”
Elena looked toward it.
A shadow appeared beneath the threshold.
May you like
Someone was standing outside.
Then came three slow knocks.
