Chapter 2 - The Medicine Bottle
Adrian placed one finger against his lips.
Sofia immediately copied him.
The shadow remained outside.
Adrian moved quietly from the bed.
His bare feet touched the carpet without sound.
He opened the nightstand drawer.
His pistol remained inside.
He didn't take it.
Not with Sofia sitting three feet away.
Instead, Adrian crossed toward the door.
The shadow moved.
Footsteps retreated.
Adrian stepped into the hallway.
Empty.
At the far end, the private elevator displayed a glowing downward arrow.
Someone had just left the floor.
Adrian returned to the bedroom.
Sofia was sitting exactly where he had left her.
“Was that Uncle?” she asked.
“I don't know.”
“Mommy says don't talk to strangers.”
“Your mother is correct.”
He crouched in front of her.
“Can you describe the man you called Uncle?”
Sofia thought.
“He smells funny.”
Adrian almost smiled despite himself.
“What kind of funny?”
“Like Grandpa.”
“That narrows absolutely nothing.”
Sofia giggled.
Adrian continued gently.
“Hair?”
She touched her own head.
“Gray here.”
She pointed at her temples.
“Glasses?”
“No.”
“Tall?”
She lifted one hand dramatically.
“Big.”
Half the men Adrian knew qualified.
“Did Mommy call him Uncle?”
“No.”
“Then why do you?”
“He said.”
“He told you to call him Uncle?”
Sofia nodded.
Adrian stood.
That mattered.
Someone had deliberately established familiarity with a child.
He picked up his phone.
Six missed messages.
Two from security.
Four from his younger brother, Luca.
Adrian called security first.
“Who accessed the residential elevator between midnight and six?”
The security supervisor hesitated.
“I’ll check.”
“Now.”
Keyboard clicks.
“Mr. Moretti, there was no registered access.”
Adrian looked toward the elevator.
“Someone just used it.”
Silence.
“That shouldn’t be possible.”
“That sentence is why people lose jobs.”
“I understand.”
“Lock the building down quietly. Nobody leaves without my authorization.”
“Yes, sir.”
Adrian ended the call.
Elena appeared at the far end of the hallway.
Her face went pale when she saw Sofia.
“Sofia!”
The little girl jumped from the bed.
“Mommy!”
Elena rushed forward and dropped to her knees.
“I woke up and you were gone.”
“I read lion.”
“You what?”
Sofia pointed toward Adrian.
“He sleeped.”
“Slept,” Adrian corrected automatically.
Elena stared at him.
“You slept?”
“Apparently.”
“For how long?”
“Almost six hours.”
Elena looked genuinely stunned.
She knew about his insomnia.
Everyone in the household did.
Then she noticed his expression.
“What happened?”
Adrian closed the bedroom door behind her.
“I need you to answer something carefully.”
Elena hugged Sofia closer.
“Okay.”
“Has anyone been entering this floor when you're downstairs?”
“No.”
“Sofia says otherwise.”
Elena looked at her daughter.
“What?”
Sofia began playing with her teddy bear.
“Uncle.”
Elena’s eyebrows drew together.
“What uncle?”
“The big one.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
“I don't know what she means.”
Adrian believed her.
That was inconvenient.
Distrust was easier.
He showed Elena the black thread.
“Recognize this?”
“No.”
Adrian retrieved the medication bottle.
“This was prescribed eight months ago.”
Elena examined it.
“Dr. Keller?”
“Yes.”
“And it doesn't help?”
“Nothing helps.”
“Except apparently children's literature.”
Adrian looked at Sofia.
She smiled proudly.
Elena almost laughed.
Then Adrian became serious again.
“I need Sofia downstairs with you today.”
“Of course.”
“And don't discuss this conversation.”
Elena studied him.
“You think someone has been coming into your bedroom.”
“I think somebody may have been doing more than that.”
Adrian called Dr. Samuel Keller.
The physician answered on the fourth ring.
“Adrian?”
“I need you at the penthouse.”
“It’s six-thirty in the morning.”
“Congratulations on knowing the time.”
“What happened?”
“I slept.”
Silence.
“Excuse me?”
“Six hours.”
Another silence.
Then Keller’s tone changed.
“Did you take anything different?”
“No.”
“Alcohol?”
“No.”
“Supplements?”
“No.”
“Then that's encouraging.”
“I want my medication tested.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
Keller arrived ninety minutes later.
He had treated Adrian for six years and was one of the few people willing to argue with him.
He examined the bottle.
“The seal isn't original.”
Adrian looked up.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Keller pointed.
“See the tiny distortion along the edge? Pharmacy heat seals are uniform.”
Adrian felt something cold settle inside him.
“Test it.”
Keller removed several capsules and placed them in a sterile sample container.
“This could take time.”
“How much?”
“A normal toxicology panel, a day. Comprehensive testing, longer.”
“You have six hours.”
“That's not how laboratories work.”
“Today it is.”
Keller sighed.
“I'll call someone.”
Before leaving, he checked Adrian’s blood pressure and pulse.
“Both better than I've seen in months.”
“Because I slept.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian looked at him.
“What could make someone unable to sleep for three years?”
“Dozens of conditions.”
“What about something administered deliberately?”
Keller stopped packing his equipment.
“That's a different question.”
“Answer it.”
“Stimulants. Certain corticosteroids. Thyroid compounds. Some combinations could cause persistent sleep disruption.”
“For three years?”
“If repeatedly administered.”
Adrian looked toward the medication bottle.
Keller followed his gaze.
“Don't jump ahead of the evidence.”
“I don't jump.”
“No. You usually kick the door down.”
Adrian said nothing.
Keller lowered his voice.
“If somebody has been tampering with your medication, don't confront anyone until we know what we're dealing with.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“You're giving me operational advice?”
“I'm giving advice to a patient who owns too many guns.”
After Keller left, Adrian entered his private office.
His chief of security, Marco Bellini, was waiting.
Marco had served Adrian’s father before working for Adrian. Fifty-four, silver at the temples, broad-shouldered, disciplined.
Sofia’s description flashed through Adrian’s mind.
Gray here.
Big.
Adrian studied him differently.
Marco noticed.
“Problem?”
“Security logs were altered.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Someone deleted elevator activity from the local server.”
“Who has authorization?”
“Four people.”
“Names.”
“Me. You. Luca. And Victor.”
Victor Moretti.
Adrian’s uncle.
His father’s younger brother.
Adrian leaned back.
Victor had effectively helped raise Adrian and Luca after their mother died.
He had also been Adrian’s closest adviser during the brutal year following their father’s death.
“Pull three years of access records.”
“That could take days.”
“Start.”
Marco hesitated.
“Adrian, if someone compromised internal security—”
“They knew my medical schedule.”
Marco understood.
“Inside the family.”
“Maybe.”
Adrian opened his desk drawer.
Inside was another bottle.
Vitamins.
Same pharmacy-style cap.
“Test everything I ingest.”
“Food?”
“Everything.”
Marco nodded.
At noon, Luca Moretti arrived unannounced.
Thirty-two, charming, restless, impeccably dressed.
He entered Adrian’s office carrying coffee.
“I hear Sleeping Beauty finally got some rest.”
Adrian looked up.
“How did you hear that?”
Luca stopped.
“What?”
“Who told you I slept?”
Luca laughed.
“Elena.”
“Elena hasn't spoken to you.”
The smile faded.
“Okay. Marco, maybe?”
“Marco hasn't either.”
Luca placed the coffee down.
“Why are you interrogating me?”
“I'm asking a question.”
“Fine. Victor told me.”
Adrian’s expression remained neutral.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“What time?”
“I don't know. Seven?”
Adrian looked at the clock.
Victor knew before Dr. Keller arrived.
Before Marco had been briefed.
Before Adrian had told anyone outside the bedroom.
“How did Victor know?”
Luca frowned.
“I assumed you told him.”
“I didn't.”
The brothers stared at each other.
Luca slowly put the coffee aside.
“Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly happened last night?”
Adrian told him only part of it.
Sofia entered.
Adrian slept.
A security breach occurred.
He did not mention her sentence.
Luca paced toward the windows.
“Maybe Victor heard from staff.”
“Maybe.”
“You think he entered the floor?”
“I didn't say that.”
“You didn't need to.”
Adrian watched his brother.
Luca had spent three years urging him to delegate more authority.
For understandable reasons.
Adrian’s insomnia had made him impatient, suspicious, and sometimes reckless.
More than once, Luca had taken over negotiations because Adrian was too exhausted to attend.
If Adrian weakened permanently, Luca benefited.
That fact was ugly.
But facts didn't care about family.
Adrian’s phone rang.
Dr. Keller.
He answered.
“Tell me.”
Keller didn't waste time.
“The capsules aren't what I prescribed.”
Adrian stood.
Luca watched him.
“What are they?”
“A mixture. Low-dose stimulant compounds and something else we're still identifying.”
“How long would repeated exposure affect sleep?”
“Potentially indefinitely while exposure continued.”
Adrian’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“There’s more,” Keller said.
“Say it.”
“The dosage pattern is sophisticated. Whoever prepared these wasn't improvising.”
Adrian looked at Luca.
Luca’s face had gone pale.
Keller continued.
“And Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“Stop drinking anything in your office.”
Adrian’s eyes moved toward the untouched coffee Luca had brought.
“Why?”
“Because we tested the sample Marco sent from your coffee machine.”
Adrian stared at the cup.
Keller spoke slowly.
“The same compound was already in this morning’s reservoir.”
Luca stepped backward.
“I didn't make that coffee.”
Adrian said nothing.
“I swear to you.”
A knock came at the office door.
Marco entered.
He was holding an old security photograph.
“Found something.”
He placed it on the desk.
The image showed a man entering Adrian’s private floor at 2:37 a.m. eight months earlier.
The face was partially hidden.
But the hand was visible.
On one finger was a distinctive Moretti family signet ring.
Adrian looked at Luca’s hand.
Empty.
Then at his own.
Empty.
Only one man still wore their father’s original ring.
The office door opened behind them.
May you like
Victor Moretti walked in.
And he was wearing it.
