Chapter 5: The Enemy Inside
The nursery erupted into motion.
"Freeze that frame," Lorenzo ordered.
One of the guards enlarged the image until the technician's face filled the screen.
Dr. Halloran leaned closer.
"I've never seen him before."
"He doesn't work for my team."
Another physician shook his head.
"Neither does he work for St. Gabriel's."
Lorenzo's voice turned icy.
"Then someone walked into my house... touched my son... and walked back out alive."
No one answered.
That silence was enough.
Within minutes, the estate went into lockdown.
Steel security gates sealed every exit. Armed guards swept the grounds while the surveillance team traced every camera angle from the previous twelve hours.
Lorenzo never took his eyes off the frozen image.
"Find him."
Two hours later, Marco DeLuca, Lorenzo's head of security, entered the study carrying a thick folder.
"We found how he got in."
Lorenzo looked up.
Marco spread blueprints across the desk.
"He never entered through the main gate."
He pointed toward a service entrance near the west gardens.
"Someone inside disabled the biometric lock for exactly four minutes."
"An inside job."
Marco nodded.
"There are only seven people with access to that system."
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
"I want every one of them questioned."
"No exceptions."
Meanwhile, Hunter sat beside Leo's crib.
For the first time since arriving at the Rossi estate, she wasn't cleaning floors.
She was simply watching a baby sleep.
Leo's tiny fingers wrapped around hers.
He refused to let go.
Mrs. Whitmore smiled softly.
"He likes you."
Hunter blinked back tears.
"I wasn't supposed to survive losing Lily."
The older woman gently squeezed her shoulder.
"Sometimes God leaves one empty pair of arms..."
"...because another child is about to need them."
Hunter couldn't answer.
She simply looked at Leo.
"I'll protect you," she whispered.
"I couldn't save my daughter."
"But I'll protect you."
She never noticed the security camera above the nursery door recording every word.
Downstairs, Marco rushed back into Lorenzo's office.
"We identified the fake technician."
He placed a file on the desk.
The name read:
Ethan Cross.
Former military medic.
Now a contract assassin.
Responsible for six confirmed poisonings across three states.
Lorenzo flipped through the photographs.
Then stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
One image showed Ethan entering a Manhattan restaurant three months earlier.
He wasn't alone.
Across the table sat a woman wearing oversized sunglasses.
Only part of her face was visible.
Marco hesitated.
"We enhanced the image."
He handed Lorenzo another photograph.
His blood ran cold.
"I know her."
Marco remained silent.
The woman wasn't a rival.
She wasn't connected to the Moretti family.
She wasn't law enforcement.
She was someone Lorenzo had trusted for over ten years.
Vivian Mercer.
Sophia's closest friend.
The woman who had organized Sophia's baby shower.
The woman who had cried beside Lorenzo at the funeral.
The woman who still visited every Sunday with flowers.
Lorenzo slowly closed the file.
His voice became almost frighteningly calm.
"Don't arrest her."
Marco frowned.
"Boss?"
"If Vivian helped poison my son..."
"...I want to know who ordered her."
He stood and slipped his pistol into its shoulder holster.
"For the first time in weeks..."
"...Leo is getting stronger."
His eyes hardened.
"Now it's time to find out who wanted him dead."
Outside the office door, hidden in the shadows, someone quietly lowered a phone.
A message had already been sent.
Lorenzo knows.
May you like
Seconds later, the reply appeared.
Then finish the maid before she tells him anything.
