Chapter 2 - The Medicine That Was Never Prescribed
Dr. Bellini did not touch the bottle with his bare hands.
That frightened Alessandro more than anything else.
The physician had treated the Conti family for nearly fifteen years. He had delivered bad news in hospital corridors, stitched Alessandro’s shoulder after an accident he refused to explain, and sat beside Rosanna through months of cardiac complications.
Bellini was rarely dramatic.
Now he looked shaken.
“Everyone out except Alessandro, Emma, and Mrs. Conti.”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“Excuse me?”
Bellini looked directly at her.
“I need room to examine my patient.”
“I’m her future daughter-in-law.”
“You’re also not medically necessary.”
Vanessa turned toward Alessandro.
“Are you going to let him speak to me like that?”
Alessandro didn’t answer.
Marco stepped to the side of the doorway.
The message was clear.
Vanessa was no longer controlling the room.
The other maids quickly left.
Vanessa remained.
“Alessandro, this is ridiculous.”
“Go downstairs.”
Her expression hardened.
“We need to talk.”
“We will.”
“When?”
“When I know what’s in that bottle.”
Vanessa looked at the evidence bag.
For half a second, her composure slipped.
Emma saw it.
So did Alessandro.
Then Vanessa lifted her chin.
“I have never seen that bottle before.”
Marco said, “It was recovered from your vehicle.”
“I don’t know how it got there.”
“Convenient,” Emma murmured.
Vanessa snapped toward her.
“You.”
Alessandro’s voice stopped her.
“Don’t.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Something unfamiliar had entered his face.
Not rage.
Rage would have been easier.
This was judgment.
She left without another word.
Marco followed.
The door closed.
Bellini immediately knelt beside Rosanna.
“How long have you been feeling weaker?”
Rosanna looked embarrassed.
“A few weeks.”
“How many?”
“Perhaps six.”
“And you didn’t call me?”
“I thought it was expected.”
Bellini frowned.
“Expected?”
“My condition.”
The doctor exchanged a look with Alessandro.
“What symptoms?”
Rosanna began listing them.
Dizziness.
Fatigue.
Occasional nausea.
Unusual confusion in the evenings.
Shortness of breath stronger than usual.
Muscle weakness.
Bellini’s expression tightened with every answer.
“Your medication has been supervised?”
Rosanna looked toward the door.
“Mostly Vanessa.”
Alessandro closed his eyes briefly.
Bellini stood.
“I want her transported to the hospital for bloodwork.”
“No hospitals,” Rosanna said immediately.
“Mother.”
“No.”
“Rosanna,” Bellini said gently, “I need to know what is happening.”
She shook her head.
“I hate hospitals.”
Emma crouched beside her.
“What if Dr. Bellini arranges something private?”
Rosanna looked at her.
Emma continued softly.
“No waiting room. No noise. Just somewhere he can run the tests he needs.”
The older woman considered this.
Then nodded.
Bellini looked almost grateful.
“I’ll arrange it.”
While he made calls, Alessandro walked toward the window.
His estate spread beneath him.
Gardens.
Fountains.
Stone walls.
Security posts.
For years, the place had been designed to keep danger outside.
No one had considered what would happen when danger received a wedding invitation.
“Mr. Conti?”
Emma’s voice came from behind him.
He turned.
She was holding something.
A folded envelope.
“I think you should see this.”
“Where did you find it?”
“In Mrs. Conti’s medication drawer.”
Rosanna frowned.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Emma handed it to Alessandro.
There was no name on the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
It appeared to be a medication schedule.
Morning.
Afternoon.
Evening.
Several pills listed under each time.
But Alessandro immediately noticed the handwriting did not match Dr. Bellini’s.
Neither did the dosages.
Bellini returned.
Alessandro passed him the paper.
The doctor read it.
Then read it again.
“This is wrong.”
“How wrong?”
Bellini pointed.
“I reduced this medication two months ago. This sheet still lists the old dose.”
He pointed again.
“And this one should not be combined with your mother’s cardiac medicine.”
Alessandro stared.
“Could it explain her symptoms?”
“Possibly.”
“Could someone have done this intentionally?”
Bellini hesitated.
“Yes.”
Rosanna whispered, “Vanessa told me you had changed my medications because the old ones were no longer working.”
Bellini looked at her.
“I never told Vanessa that.”
Alessandro turned away before his mother could see his expression.
Emma didn’t.
She saw the moment he realized this might have been happening for weeks.
Perhaps months.
“Why?” Rosanna asked.
No one answered.
The question was larger than the room.
Why would Vanessa want Rosanna weak?
Why would she risk manipulating prescriptions?
Why four days before the wedding?
Alessandro walked to the antique clock.
He removed a hidden panel beneath the mantel.
Inside was a secure storage module connected to the surveillance system.
Emma stared.
“You were recording the whole room?”
“I started yesterday.”
“Why?”
“Because I became suspicious.”
Rosanna looked at him.
“Of Vanessa?”
Alessandro nodded.
“What made you suspicious?”
He hesitated.
Then reached into his coat and produced another document.
“A financial authorization request.”
He handed it to Rosanna.
“It arrived at my office last week. Supposedly signed by you.”
Rosanna looked at it.
Her hands began trembling.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
“What does it authorize?”
“Temporary control over one of your trusts in the event you become medically incapacitated.”
Emma felt cold.
Rosanna stared at her son.
“Who receives control?”
Alessandro said nothing.
His mother already knew.
“Vanessa,” Rosanna whispered.
Alessandro nodded.
The room fell silent.
Bellini lowered the medication sheet.
“So weakening Mrs. Conti could create the appearance of incapacity.”
“That’s what I’m wondering.”
Rosanna looked devastated.
“I trusted her.”
Alessandro came closer.
“You tried to trust her because of me.”
“I wanted you to be happy.”
“I know.”
“I thought she loved you.”
“So did I.”
Emma quietly stepped away, giving mother and son space.
But Rosanna reached for her.
“Stay.”
Emma stopped.
Rosanna squeezed her hand.
“You stayed when everyone else was afraid.”
Emma shook her head.
“Anyone would have.”
“No,” Rosanna said. “They didn’t.”
Downstairs, Vanessa paced the drawing room.
Marco stood near the door.
Two security officers waited in the hallway.
Vanessa tried her phone.
No signal.
She walked toward the window.
The estate gates were closed.
Her car had been moved.
Her handbag was gone.
For the first time, panic began to penetrate her confidence.
She looked at Marco.
“I need my phone.”
“No.”
“You cannot imprison me.”
“No one is imprisoning you.”
“The gates are locked.”
“For security reasons.”
“Open them.”
“I take orders from Mr. Conti.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You people worship him.”
Marco said nothing.
She walked closer.
“You think he’ll throw away three years because of one misunderstanding?”
Marco’s expression didn’t change.
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“You know me.”
“No,” Marco said.
She paused.
“I thought I did.”
Something in his answer unsettled her.
Vanessa looked away.
“I need the bathroom.”
Marco pointed toward the powder room attached to the drawing room.
She entered and locked the door.
Then she immediately reached beneath her dress.
Taped against the inside of her thigh was a second phone.
She powered it on.
One bar.
Enough.
She typed a message.
HE KNOWS ABOUT THE BOTTLE.
She sent it.
No response.
She typed again.
GET RID OF THE FILES. NOW.
The screen displayed Delivered.
Vanessa exhaled.
Then another message appeared.
Unknown number.
Only five words.
You were told not to fail.
Vanessa’s face went pale.
She deleted the conversation.
When she returned, Marco was waiting.
“Everything okay?”
“Perfect.”
But it wasn’t.
Upstairs, Alessandro’s own phone vibrated.
His security system had detected an unauthorized cellular transmission inside the mansion.
A technician forwarded him the signal report.
Origin:
Drawing room powder room.
Alessandro stared at the screen.
Vanessa had another phone.
She had contacted someone.
This was no longer about a greedy fiancée acting alone.
He looked at Marco when the security chief returned upstairs.
“Find the phone.”
Marco nodded.
“And trace whoever she contacted.”
“I’m already on it.”
Bellini prepared Rosanna for transport.
Emma helped her into a coat.
Before leaving the bedroom, Rosanna looked at the scattered pills still lying beneath the dresser.
“Emma?”
“Yes?”
“Would you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Don’t let them sweep those away.”
Emma glanced down.
“Why?”
Rosanna’s eyes hardened.
“Because somebody wanted me to swallow them.”
At the private medical clinic, blood samples were taken.
Tests were rushed.
Two hours later, Bellini returned to the waiting room.
Alessandro stood.
Emma sat beside Rosanna.
The doctor closed the door.
“I have preliminary results.”
Alessandro read his face.
“Tell me.”
Bellini took a breath.
“Your mother’s condition has worsened because of medication interactions.”
Rosanna gripped Emma’s hand.
“Can it be reversed?”
“I believe so.”
Relief crossed Alessandro’s face.
Then Bellini added:
“But there’s something else.”
He placed a laboratory report on the table.
“We found traces of a compound that was never part of any prescription I gave her.”
Alessandro stared at the document.
“What does it do?”
“In repeated small amounts?”
Bellini looked toward Rosanna.
“It can cause weakness, confusion, and symptoms resembling natural deterioration.”
No one spoke.
Emma felt Rosanna’s fingers tighten around hers.
“How long?” Alessandro asked.
Bellini shook his head.
“I can’t know yet.”
“But someone has been doing this deliberately.”
“It certainly looks that way.”
Alessandro looked out through the glass wall toward Marco.
The security chief was approaching quickly.
He entered without knocking.
“We traced Vanessa’s message.”
“To whom?”
Marco handed Alessandro a tablet.
On the screen was a name Alessandro recognized instantly.
A person who had been inside his family’s financial affairs for twelve years.
Someone who knew the trusts.
The estate documents.
Rosanna’s signatures.
Everything.
Alessandro looked at the name again.
Then at his mother.
Vanessa had not been working alone.
And the person helping her was someone Rosanna had trusted almost as much as her own son.
May you like
The betrayal had started long before Vanessa ever entered the mansion.
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