Chapter 5 - Isabel’s Warning
Elena stopped the recording.
Lorenzo did not move.
“Play it.”
She looked at him.
“My mother just said not to trust you.”
“I heard her.”
“And you want more?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if she hated me, I want to know why.”
Elena pressed play.
Isabel’s voice returned.
“When Sofia came to me, she was frightened. Not because Lorenzo had harmed her. Because she believed the people around him had spent his whole life deciding what he was allowed to know.”
Lorenzo’s expression shifted.
Elena glanced at him.
The recorder continued.
“Lorenzo Rossi was raised to think information was power. His father never taught him that hiding information could also be a weapon.”
Lorenzo sat slowly.
Isabel went on.
“Sofia believed Lorenzo would protect Matteo, but she also knew he would trust family first. That was the danger.”
Elena understood.
The warning had not been against Lorenzo himself.
It had been against his instincts.
His inheritance.
His family loyalty.
“If Matteo becomes ill, Elena, trust what the child is telling you before you trust anyone’s title. Doctors can be wrong. Families can lie. Powerful men can be frightened. And frightened men sometimes mistake control for protection.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
Elena almost stopped the recording again.
Then Isabel’s voice softened.
“I met Sofia twice. She loved her husband. She loved her child. And she made me promise that if she did not survive, I would leave you what she discovered.”
Papers rustled on the recording.
“There is a financial ledger hidden inside this box beneath the false bottom. It proves that someone continued the Saint Catherine’s research program privately.”
Lorenzo stood.
Elena removed the papers.
Then lifted the inner lining.
A small notebook lay beneath.
Lorenzo opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Hospitals.
Shell companies.
Medical supply firms.
One name appeared repeatedly.
B. ROSSI.
Bianca.
Lorenzo’s face became unreadable.
Elena whispered, “Your aunt.”
“Yes.”
“What was she doing?”
He turned pages.
“Funding clinics.”
“That doesn’t sound criminal.”
“It is when the clinics don’t exist.”
The notebook showed payments routed through offshore accounts.
Dr. Adrian Vale appeared several times too.
Elena frowned.
“He lied.”
“Or Sofia was documenting payments made to him.”
“Either way, he knew more.”
Lorenzo’s phone buzzed.
Antonio.
“Boss, house is secure.”
“Bianca?”
“Gone.”
“Marco?”
“Also gone.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“Track them.”
“We are.”
“Any staff missing?”
A pause.
“One nanny.”
Lorenzo looked at Elena.
“Which?”
“Marta Ruiz.”
Elena knew Marta.
Quiet.
Forty.
Kind to Matteo.
Worked mornings.
“Why would she leave?”
Antonio said, “Security footage shows her exiting two hours before the lockout.”
“Find her.”
“We’re trying.”
Lorenzo hung up.
Elena returned to the recording.
Isabel’s voice continued.
“The person running the program became interested in infants with inherited sensitivities because they could be used to test specialized nutritional products.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“Used?”
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
The recording continued.
“Sofia feared Matteo’s medical profile had been marked before birth.”
Lorenzo whispered, “They knew.”
“Who?”
“Bianca knew what Sofia carried.”
“What do you mean?”
“My aunt handled family medical trusts.”
His face changed.
“She had access to everything.”
Elena looked at the ledger.
“Would she hurt her own nephew’s baby for money?”
Lorenzo’s laugh was bitter.
“You haven’t met enough Rossis.”
“I’ve met you.”
“That should have been enough.”
“No.”
The answer surprised him.
Elena continued.
“You pointed a gun at me.”
“I remember.”
“You threatened me.”
“I remember that too.”
“And yet you lowered it the second Matteo needed you.”
Lorenzo looked away.
“That doesn’t make me good.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“What does it make me?”
“A father who’s trying.”
His face softened.
Only slightly.
It was enough.
Matteo began to fuss.
Elena reached for him.
Lorenzo moved first.
“I’ll try.”
She stopped.
He lifted Matteo.
Awkwardly.
Carefully.
He rested the baby against his chest.
Matteo squirmed.
Lorenzo looked panicked.
“He hates this.”
“He’s repositioning.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he’s a baby.”
“That is not helpful.”
Elena adjusted Lorenzo’s arm.
“Support here.”
Matteo settled.
Lorenzo looked down.
The little boy’s cheek rested over his father’s heart.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Matteo fell asleep.
Lorenzo whispered, “He’s asleep.”
“Yes.”
“On me.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to keep confirming everything.”
“You keep sounding surprised.”
“I am.”
Elena smiled.
The warmth lasted only seconds.
A knock came at the apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Lorenzo immediately stood.
Matteo remained against him.
Elena reached for the recorder.
Another knock.
“Who is it?” Elena called.
A woman answered.
“Marta.”
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed.
The missing nanny.
Elena moved toward the door.
Lorenzo stopped her.
“Wait.”
“Marta?”
“Yes.”
“Open the door,” the woman whispered.
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because they followed me.”
Lorenzo handed Matteo to Elena.
He drew the pistol.
“Who followed you?”
Marta’s voice cracked.
“Bianca’s men.”
Lorenzo opened the door just enough.
Marta fell inside.
Her coat was torn.
She was crying.
Lorenzo locked the door.
“Where is Bianca?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you run?”
“Because I found this.”
She pulled a small plastic vial from her pocket.
Dr. Vale’s name was printed on it.
Elena stared.
“What is that?”
Marta looked at Matteo.
“The powder they told me to put in his formula.”
Lorenzo’s entire body went still.
“You poisoned my son?”
“No!”
Marta sobbed.
“I didn’t know. They told me it was medication.”
“How many times?”
“Three.”
Elena felt sick.
“That’s when he stopped eating.”
Marta nodded.
“I thought it was medicine for reflux.”
Lorenzo’s gun lifted.
Elena stepped between them.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“She poisoned him.”
“She was lied to.”
“She almost killed him.”
“And killing her won’t feed him.”
Lorenzo stared at Elena.
Marta trembled behind her.
Finally, Lorenzo lowered the gun.
Elena breathed.
“Who gave it to you?” he asked.
Marta looked at him.
“Dr. Vale.”
Silence.
Lorenzo’s face changed.
“That’s impossible,” Elena said.
“I watched him bring it.”
“Did he tell you what it was?”
“He said Matteo needed it.”
Lorenzo took the vial.
“Why did you stop giving it?”
“Because Sofia’s old nurse called me.”
Elena froze.
“What nurse?”
Marta looked at her.
“Your mother.”
Elena’s heart seemed to stop.
“My mother is dead.”
Marta shook her head.
“No.”
Elena stared.
“I spoke to Isabel Marlowe three days ago.”
The room disappeared around her.
“That’s not possible.”
“She told me if Matteo stopped eating, I had to find you.”
Elena’s knees weakened.
Lorenzo caught her elbow.
“My mother died six years ago.”
Marta reached into her coat.
She pulled out a phone.
“I saved the voicemail.”
She pressed play.
Elena heard three words.
Her mother’s voice.
May you like
“Elena, forgive me.”
Then someone knocked on the apartment window from the fire escape.
