Chapter 4 - The Missing Inhaler
Lucia grabbed Sofi and held her tightly.
“What did he say about you?”
Sofi’s lower lip trembled.
“He said Mommy would lose everything.”
“And I would not get my breathing medicine.”
Lucia’s face drained of color.
She reached into the small bag hanging from her shoulder.
Her hand searched frantically.
Then she emptied the contents onto the library table.
Keys scattered across the wood.
A wallet fell beside a packet of tissues.
Sofi’s blue rescue inhaler was not there.
Lucia checked every pocket.
“I put it inside this bag this morning.”
Genevieve folded her arms.
“You are creating drama.”
Lucia stared at her.
“My daughter has severe asthma.”
Alex turned to security.
“Search the staff quarters and every room Sofi entered today.”
Sofi began coughing.
At first, it was soft.
Then her breath caught.
A faint whistle entered her chest.
Lucia dropped to her knees.
“Sofi, look at me.”
“Breathe slowly.”
The child tried.
Her shoulders lifted with every shallow breath.
Alex pulled out his phone and called the medical team stationed for the wedding.
The doctors arrived with oxygen and medication.
Lucia held Sofi’s hand while the nebulizer mask covered her face.
Alex stood beside them, unable to look away.
He had watched executives collapse during negotiations.
He had sat beside his mother while cancer took her final breath.
Yet nothing had prepared him for the terror in a small child’s eyes when she could not pull air into her lungs.
Sofi eventually leaned against her mother, exhausted but stable.
A security officer entered holding a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a blue inhaler.
“We found it in Miss Prescott’s dressing room.”
Genevieve stepped backward.
“That is not mine.”
“No one said it was,” Alex replied.
Her eyes flashed.
“You are blaming me because a housekeeper misplaced her child’s medicine.”
Lucia stood.
“I did not enter your dressing room.”
Genevieve looked toward Charles for help.
He did not move.
Julian examined the evidence bag.
“There is a torn piece of black thread caught beneath the cap.”
He looked at the glove on the desk.
The same black thread frayed along its cuff.
Marcus had taken the inhaler.
Or someone had used his glove while doing it.
Alex ordered Sofi and Lucia moved to the secure east apartment.
Only two guards would know their location.
Lucia resisted.
“I should leave.”
“They know where you live,” Alex said.
“They know what medicine your daughter needs.”
“You are safer here.”
Genevieve laughed bitterly.
“How touching.”
“The billionaire rescues the helpless housekeeper.”
Alex turned toward her.
“I am protecting a witness.”
“You should start worrying about whether you are one too.”
A phone began ringing inside the room.
It was not Alex’s.
It was not Genevieve’s.
The sound came from beneath the sofa.
Julian reached underneath and pulled out a small burner phone.
A new message glowed on the screen.
May you like
THE CHILD SPOKE.
MOVE TO PHASE TWO.
