Chapter 4 - The Night Shift
At nine-thirty PM, I pushed open the doors to Alessandro’s bedroom suite.
The room was dimly lit by a single reading lamp beside the massive four-poster bed. Alessandro was sitting up against a pile of pillows, wearing a dark velvet robe, an unread book resting in his lap.
I set the tea tray down on his nightstand, placing the amber bottle of medication beside his reading glasses.
"He left the bottle with you," Alessandro stated quietly, not looking up from his book. It wasn't a question.
I froze. "Sir?"
Alessandro closed the book slowly, setting it aside. He turned his deep, dark eyes toward me. The tired, defeated look he had carried for three years was completely gone, replaced by the sharp, terrifying intelligence of a man who had once ruled an empire.
"Marco," Alessandro said, his voice dropping into a whisper. "He gave you the bottle to bring to me."
I stepped closer to the bed, lowering my voice so it barely carried across the nightstand. "How did you know?"
"Because for three years, Marco has insisted on delivering my evening medication himself," Alessandro said, a dark, bitter smile touching his lips. "Every single night. Without fail. But tonight, after our trip to the park—after he saw me laugh, after he saw me living again—he sent you."
I reached into my apron pocket and pulled out the small piece of wax paper, unfolding it to reveal the glossy white pill.
"I found this at the bottom of the bottle, sir," I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs. "It’s different from the others. And... I found this."
I placed the tiny silicone-covered listening device on the white bedsheet between us.
Alessandro stared at the bug. He didn't look surprised. He reached out with two long fingers, picking up the tiny device and holding it up to the light.
"He put it in Lily’s toy," I said, tears of anger pricking my eyes. "Six months ago."
"Marco built a cage around me," Alessandro said softly, his voice trembling with a terrifying, icy rage. "When the bomb took my legs and killed my family, I was broken. I wanted to die. Marco stepped into the void. He took over the accounts, the security, the organization. He told me he was protecting me. He made sure I stayed isolated, miserable, and drugged in this room."
He looked up at me, his eyes burning with a dark, fierce fire.
"Do you know what this pill is, Elena?" Alessandro asked, holding the small wax paper package.
"No, sir."
"It’s Digoxin," Alessandro whispered. "A powerful heart cardiac glycoside. In tiny, controlled doses, it treats heart failure. But given consistently over months to a man who doesn't need it... it causes slow, undetectable heart failure. It mimics a natural decline. A tragic end for a grieving, paralyzed man."
The horror of his words filled the cold room.
"He’s been poisoning you," I gasped, covering my mouth. "For three years..."
"Not for three years," Alessandro corrected me, his jaw tightening into iron. "The poisoning only started six months ago. When I began refusing to sign over the final legal power of attorney for the overseas family trusts."
He reached out, grasping my forearm with a grip so firm and strong it startled me.
"Elena," Alessandro said, looking directly into my eyes. "Marco thinks he controls this house. He thinks he controls the men outside those gates. But he forgot one fundamental truth about the Romano family."
"What truth, sir?"
"I built this organization," Alessandro declared, his voice ringing with a terrifying authority that made the air in the room feel heavy. "Marco was merely the man who held my coat. He believes my body is broken, which means my mind is gone. He is about to learn how wrong he is."
He leaned closer, lowering his voice to a razor-thin whisper.
"I need you to do something dangerous, Elena. Highly dangerous. If you say no, I will have my personal driver take you and Lily to a safe house in Canada tonight, and you will never have to see this place again."
I looked at Alessandro. I thought of my daughter, who had spent the afternoon laughing on his lap. I thought of the three years of pain this man had suffered, trapped in a house surrounded by the snakes who had destroyed his life.
"What do you need me to do, Alessandro?" I asked, using his first name for the very first time.
May you like
Alessandro smiled—a cold, beautiful, deadly smile.
"Tomorrow morning, Marco will come up to check if I took my medicine," Alessandro whispered. "You are going to drop that bottle on the floor. And you are going to make sure Marco hears what you say next."
