Chapter 2 - The Silent Interrogation
By 10:00 AM, the Moretti estate on the Hudson was locked down tighter than a federal prison.
Armored black SUVs lined the cobblestone driveway. Heavy-set men in tailored suits and leather holsters stood at every exit, their faces stern and unreadable. The rain outside had turned into a steady, gray downpour, hammering against the leaded glass windows of the estate's private library.
I sat on a plush velvet sofa near the fireplace, holding a cup of sweet tea that one of Vincent’s men had brought me. Lily was asleep beside me, her small head resting in my lap, her tiny hand clutching her rabbit hairclip.
Across the room, standing beside a massive oak desk, was Valeri Vance—Vincent’s chief enforcer and right-hand man. He was a broad-shouldered man with a jagged scar running from his ear to his jawline, holding a tablet displaying digital security logs.
The heavy mahogany doors opened, and Vincent walked in. He had removed his wet coat and thrown off his jacket, rolling his crisp white dress shirt sleeves up to his elbows.
"How is the baby?" I asked immediately, my voice raspy.
Vincent looked at me, a flicker of something unreadable passing through his dark eyes. "The medical team pumped his stomach in the private clinic downstairs. Because he only drank a few ounces before Lily took the bottle, the dosage wasn't lethal. He'll recover fully within twenty-four hours."
A breath I felt like I had been holding for hours finally escaped my lungs. "Thank God."
"God had nothing to do with it," Vincent said coldly, walking over to stand directly in front of me. "Your daughter did."
He looked down at Lily’s sleeping face. "How did she get into the nursery, Elena? That door is kept locked from the outside between feedings."
"Lily knows how to open the low cabinet pass-through," I explained softly, stroking my daughter's dark hair. "When I was preparing the breakfast trays, I told her to play in the service kitchen pantry. When I got hit from behind... I suppose she heard Enzo crying. She’s three, Mr. Moretti. She hears a baby cry, she thinks he needs his bottle."
"She saved my son's life," Vincent said simply. He sat down in the leather chair opposite me, resting his elbows on his knees, staring intently into my eyes. "Now tell me what you saw before you were struck."
I closed my eyes, forcing my memory back to that blurry, terrifying morning.
"I was at the prep counter at 7:15 AM," I recounted slowly. "I finished mixing Enzo's special formula. I tied the red bow. I set the bottle on the silver tray to be carried into the nursery. I turned around to fetch the sterilized nipples from the steaming rack... and I smelled it."
"The perfume," Vincent said.
"Orange blossom," I confirmed, opening my eyes to look straight into his. "It wasn't faint. It was strong, like someone had just sprayed it or was standing right behind me. Then I heard the rustle of heavy silk—not cotton, not cashmere. Silk. I turned my head, saw a shadow near the pantry door, and then something heavy hit the side of my head. The next thing I knew, I was waking up with Lily standing over Enzo's crib."
Valeri stepped forward, tapping his tablet screen. "Boss, we pulled the internal security feeds from the main hall. The video files for the service corridor between 7:10 AM and 7:30 AM were manually wiped from the local hard drive in the security room."
"Who had access to the master security panel this morning?" Vincent asked, his voice chillingly quiet.
"Only three people have the master bypass code," Valeri answered, his eyes darting toward the closed library door. "You, Mrs. Hargrove... and Miss Cassandra."
I held my breath.
Cassandra Vale wasn't just Vincent’s fiancée; she was the daughter of Senator Julian Vale, the man whose political influence allowed the Moretti family’s legitimate shipping operations to dominate the East Coast ports. A marriage between Vincent and Cassandra was meant to seal a multi-billion-dollar alliance.
"Where is Cassandra?" Vincent asked.
"She’s in the morning room with her personal guards," Valeri replied. "She's claiming she was in her private suite doing her hair until 8:00 AM."
Vincent stood up, pulling a silver cigarette case from his pocket, snapping it open, but he didn't light one. He looked down at Lily, whose small shoes were scuffed at the toes.
"Mrs. Hargrove has managed this house for seventeen years," Vincent muttered, almost to himself. "Her loyalty was bought and paid for by my father. But Cassandra... Cassandra has everything to lose if Enzo lives to inherit the estate."
"What do you mean?" I asked, my heart pounding.
Vincent looked at me, a bitter smile touching his lips. "Enzo’s mother died during childbirth nine months ago. Under my father's strict family trust, the entire Moretti shipping empire passes directly to my firstborn male heir upon his twenty-first birthday. If Enzo dies... the inheritance reverts to any future children born from my next legal marriage."
The horror of the situation hit me like a physical blow.
Enzo wasn't just a crying baby in a crib. He was a multi-billion-dollar obstacle standing between Cassandra Vale and absolute control over the Moretti fortune.
"They didn't just want Enzo dead," I whispered, the realization sending a shiver down my spine. "They wanted to frame me for it. An unconscious maid on the floor, a poisoned bottle nearby... it would look like an accident or a negligent staff member making a deadly mistake."
Vincent walked over to the sofa, stepping dangerously close to me. He reached out, his bare fingers gently lifting my chin, turning my bruised face toward the light of the fireplace.
May you like
His touch was surprisingly gentle, starkly contrasting the lethal rage I had seen in the nursery.
"They made two mistakes, Elena," Vincent said, his dark eyes burning into mine with an intense, terrifying promise. "First, they underestimated your daughter. Second... they laid a hand on a woman under my protection in my own house."
