Chapter 4 - The Baby Everyone Was Losing
Lorenzo Rossi had stopped believing doctors three days before Maya entered the nursery.
He never admitted it.
Not to Dr. Samuel Grant, the pediatric specialist he had flown in from New York.
Not to the private nutritionist.
Not to the neonatal consultant.
Not even to Gabriel Torres, the security chief who had served him faithfully for twelve years.
But somewhere between the fifth rejected formula and Leo's third emergency hospital visit, Lorenzo stopped expecting answers.
He expected bad news.
Every morning.
Every phone call.
Every time someone knocked on his office door.
Leo is worse.
Leo lost weight.
Leo refused another feeding.
Leo's heart rate dropped.
Leo needs another test.
The words accumulated inside him until Lorenzo barely recognized himself.
Before Elena died, fear had been something that happened to other people.
Lorenzo controlled environments.
He controlled negotiations.
He controlled men who thought they could intimidate him.
Then his wife bled to death after complications from childbirth, and Lorenzo discovered there were things even he could not command.
He held Elena's hand when the monitors changed.
She had been conscious for less than a minute near the end.
"Leo," she whispered.
"He's safe."
"Promise me."
"Anything."
"Don't let this life take him."
Lorenzo hadn't understood.
He thought she meant enemies.
Violence.
The dangerous world surrounding the Rossi name.
He promised.
Then spent eight weeks watching his son fade for reasons no one could explain.
Now a maid stood in the nursery holding Leo after accomplishing in minutes what highly paid specialists failed to accomplish in weeks.
Lorenzo didn't know whether to trust her.
But he trusted what he saw.
Leo had eaten.
A meaningful amount.
And he wasn't vomiting.
That fact terrified Lorenzo more than failure had.
Because it meant the doctors might not have been wrong.
The information they received might have been wrong.
Someone might have manipulated what they saw.
Emergency power illuminated the nursery.
The main security system remained down.
Lorenzo took a small backup radio from a locked drawer.
Static.
Then a voice.
"Boss?"
Gabriel.
Lorenzo pressed the transmit button.
"Nursery."
"We lost the east wing network."
"Door is locked externally."
Silence.
Then Gabriel's tone hardened.
"Stay inside."
"I wasn't planning on sightseeing."
"We're coming."
"Bring Dr. Grant. Nobody touches the kitchen, feeding room, nursery supplies, or Evelyn's medication."
"Understood."
"And Gabriel?"
"Yes?"
"Nobody leaves the estate."
The radio clicked off.
Maya looked at him.
"You're locking everyone in?"
"Someone locked us in first."
The sound of security personnel arrived minutes later.
Metal scraped.
A tool struck the locking mechanism.
Finally the door opened.
Gabriel entered with three guards.
He stopped when he saw Maya holding Leo.
His hand moved automatically toward his weapon.
Lorenzo raised a hand.
"Don't."
Gabriel looked between them.
"What happened?"
"Seal the wing."
"It's sealed."
"The exterior gate?"
"Locked."
"Staff?"
"Accounting for everyone now."
Lorenzo pointed toward Evelyn.
"Medical assessment."
Two guards moved toward the nurse.
Then Lorenzo looked toward Maya.
"You're coming with me."
She stiffened.
"Where?"
"My office."
"I'm not leaving Leo until a doctor checks him."
Gabriel's eyebrows lifted.
Nobody challenged Lorenzo in front of his security team.
Lorenzo surprised everyone by nodding.
"Fine."
Dr. Grant arrived twelve minutes later wearing trousers beneath a hastily buttoned shirt.
He looked exhausted.
Then he saw Leo.
His exhaustion disappeared.
"What happened?"
"He ate," Lorenzo said.
Dr. Grant stopped.
"How much?"
Maya quietly explained.
The doctor examined Leo.
Heart rate.
Breathing.
Temperature.
Hydration.
He looked at Maya several times but asked no personal questions.
"He's stable."
Lorenzo stood very still.
"Say that again."
"Stable."
"Why?"
"I don't know yet."
"He ate."
"I understand."
"So why hasn't he eaten before?"
Dr. Grant's face tightened.
"Mr. Rossi, we've observed feeding difficulty repeatedly."
"Observed?"
"Through reports and several supervised attempts."
"Who prepared those feedings?"
Dr. Grant glanced toward Evelyn.
"Usually nursing staff."
Lorenzo's eyes became dangerous.
Maya noticed.
So did everyone else.
The doctor continued quickly.
"I also personally attempted feeding twice."
"And he refused."
"Yes."
"What bottle?"
"Prepared according to his plan."
"Prepared by whom?"
Dr. Grant stopped.
That question had apparently never mattered before.
"One of the nurses."
"Which?"
"I don't remember."
Lorenzo looked toward Gabriel.
"Find out."
Gabriel nodded.
Dr. Grant tested a fresh sealed bottle from supplies stored outside the nursery.
Leo rejected it after a few attempts.
Lorenzo's brief hope vanished.
Then Maya noticed something.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at her.
She smelled the bottle.
"What's wrong?" the doctor asked.
"I don't know."
She smelled it again.
"Did the first bottle smell like that?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's faint."
Lorenzo took it.
He couldn't detect anything.
Maya explained.
"When I was pregnant, smells became stronger. Some still bother me."
She hesitated.
"This smells bitter."
Dr. Grant frowned.
"Formula can have an unusual odor."
"Not that."
The bottle was sealed into evidence.
Then the doctor prepared another feed from a newly opened container retrieved from a locked supply cabinet downstairs.
Leo drank a small amount.
Not much.
But enough.
The room changed.
Everyone understood.
The issue wasn't necessarily Leo.
It might be what he had been offered.
Lorenzo walked slowly toward the window.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he turned.
"How many people have access to his feeding supplies?"
Gabriel answered.
"Seven."
"Names."
"Evelyn Harper. Day nurse Cynthia Wells. Dr. Grant when present. Mrs. Bell from household management. Two kitchen nutrition staff. Me."
"And me," Lorenzo said.
Gabriel nodded.
Lorenzo looked toward Maya.
"Eight people."
Maya shook her head.
"I don't have access."
"You did tonight."
"Because somebody removed the guard."
Gabriel stiffened.
"The guard wasn't removed."
Lorenzo turned.
"What?"
"According to the schedule, Anthony Doyle was assigned outside the nursery."
"Where is he?"
"We can't find him."
Silence.
Gabriel's radio crackled.
A guard's voice came through.
"We found Doyle."
"Location?"
"East service stairwell."
"Condition?"
"Alive. Unconscious."
Gabriel looked at Lorenzo.
"Someone hit him from behind."
Maya's skin prickled.
Whoever orchestrated this had planned everything.
The disabled systems.
The drugged nurse.
The missing guard.
The locked door.
The message.
Lorenzo's gaze moved toward Maya again.
Not accusatory this time.
Something worse.
Recognition.
Their problems were connected.
Leo began fussing.
Maya looked down.
"He's tired."
Lorenzo approached.
For the first time since entering the room, he held his hands out.
Maya hesitated.
Then placed Leo into his father's arms.
The transformation was immediate.
Lorenzo's shoulders softened.
His entire posture changed.
He supported the baby's head with surprising gentleness.
Leo opened his eyes.
Lorenzo stared down at him.
"You scared me."
The words were barely audible.
Maya looked away, suddenly feeling like she was witnessing something private.
Then Leo's tiny hand closed around Lorenzo's finger.
The feared mafia boss of Chicago shut his eyes.
Only for a second.
When he opened them again, the vulnerability was gone.
But Maya had seen it.
So had Gabriel.
Lorenzo handed Leo to Dr. Grant.
Then faced his security chief.
"I want every camera reviewed."
"We lost fifteen minutes."
"Recover it."
"We'll try."
"Don't try."
Gabriel nodded.
Lorenzo looked toward the sleeping nurse.
"Test whatever is in that glass."
Then the bottles.
"Test those too."
Maya spoke.
"And the feeding logs."
Three men looked at her.
"What?" Lorenzo asked.
"If someone is manipulating what Leo eats, the records might not match reality."
Dr. Grant nodded slowly.
"She's right."
Lorenzo studied Maya.
"How do you know?"
"I kept records when I was pregnant."
"That's different."
"Not really. People trust paper because paper doesn't argue."
A strange almost-smile touched Gabriel's mouth.
Lorenzo didn't smile.
But he considered her point.
"Get every feeding log."
Gabriel turned to leave.
Then stopped.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We completed the staff count."
"And?"
"One person is missing."
Lorenzo's expression sharpened.
"Who?"
Gabriel looked at Maya first.
Then back at Lorenzo.
"The new maintenance contractor."
Maya didn't understand.
Lorenzo did.
"Name."
"Marcus Cole."
Maya stopped breathing.
Cole.
Daniel's last name.
Gabriel continued.
"He started three days ago."
Lorenzo looked directly at Maya.
"Relative?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know anyone named Marcus."
Gabriel held up a personnel photograph on his phone.
Maya stared at the screen.
The man wasn't Daniel.
But she had seen him before.
Sitting inside the black sedan outside her apartment.
Her voice disappeared.
Lorenzo noticed.
"You know him."
"He was watching my building."
"When?"
"Last week."
The room went silent.
Gabriel's expression hardened.
Lorenzo turned toward his security team.
"Find him."
The guards moved instantly.
Maya's heart raced.
"Mr. Rossi."
He looked back.
"Whoever hired that man knew where I lived and where I worked."
Lorenzo's eyes turned cold.
"And they knew how to get into my son's nursery."
He stepped closer.
"Which means from this moment forward, Maya Bennett, you're not leaving my sight until I understand why."
She should have been terrified.
Instead, strangely, she felt safer than she had in weeks.
Then Gabriel's radio crackled again.
A guard spoke.
"We found the contractor's room."
"And him?"
"No."
"What did you find?"
There was a pause.
"A photograph."
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
"Of what?"
The answer changed everything.
"Ms. Bennett leaving the hospital."
Maya felt the floor disappear beneath her.
The men hunting Daniel hadn't started following her after she returned to work.
They had been watching since the day Lily died.
May you like
And someone inside Lorenzo Rossi's mansion had invited them in.
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