Chapter 2 - THE FACE ALEJANDRO NEVER EXPECTED
Alejandro survived the first hour.
The estate physician injected additional epinephrine and opened his airway.
A laboratory found two substances inside the wine.
The first was concentrated peanut protein.
The second was a sedative powerful enough to prevent Alejandro from reaching the alarm.
His allergy was one of the most protected secrets in the Moretti organization.
Only five people knew.
His doctor.
Gabriel.
Bruno.
His uncle Salvatore.
And Alejandro’s late wife, Sofia.
Sofia had been dead for three years.
The list had become short enough to feel like a confession.
Mariana and Emma were moved into a guarded guest suite.
Mariana refused Moretti guards inside the room.
Detective Elena Ruiz arrived from Manhattan after Gabriel called the police.
The decision angered several senior men.
Moretti problems were supposed to remain inside Moretti walls.
Gabriel no longer trusted the walls.
Ruiz watched the footage with Mariana.
The recording began two minutes before Alejandro entered the study.
Bruno appeared through the hidden passage.
He poured powder from the silver vial into the wine.
Then he stirred it with one gloved finger.
He left through the ordinary door.
Alejandro arrived.
He drank.
He collapsed.
Emma entered.
She used the EpiPen.
Bruno returned to finish what he had started.
Mariana pressed one hand over her mouth.
“Why didn’t he hurt Emma?”
“He heard the guards,” Ruiz said.
“He also believed his threat would keep her silent.”
Emma sat on the bed coloring a rabbit blue.
She did not understand that adults in the next room were deciding whether her memory might make her a target.
The camera contained another file.
Its date was three years earlier.
The night Kiara Moretti died.
Ruiz played it.
Bruno entered the study with a folded map.
A second man stood inside the passage.
Only his hand was visible.
A heavy gold ring covered one finger.
The Moretti family crest had been carved into the stone.
Bruno spoke quietly.
“The girl will ride in the second car.”
“The bear will be beside her.”
The second man answered.
“Make sure Alejandro sees enough to blame the Lombardis.”
Mariana looked toward Gabriel.
“Who wears that ring?”
“Family.”
“How many people?”
“Three.”
“Alejandro.”
“His uncle Salvatore.”
“And Salvatore’s son, Marco.”
Alejandro’s ring had been removed while doctors treated him.
Salvatore and Marco had both attended Kiara’s funeral.
They had stood beside Alejandro while he declared war on the Lombardi family.
Hundreds of people had been killed or displaced during the violence that followed.
If the recording was real, the war had been created from inside the Moretti bloodline.
Emma entered the room holding her drawing.
“Is the quiet man awake?”
“Not yet,” Mariana said.
“Did the camera see the bad man?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know I wasn’t lying.”
Mariana pulled her daughter into her arms.
“I always knew you were telling the truth.”
Emma looked toward Ruiz.
“Can we go home now?”
Ruiz crouched beside her.
“Someone sent the bad man into this house.”
“We need to make sure he cannot find you.”
“I have preschool tomorrow.”
“You may need to miss one day.”
Emma appeared more upset about missing preschool than surviving a murder attempt.
That innocence made Mariana’s fear sharper.
A guard entered.
Bruno’s bedroom had been emptied.
His passports were gone.
His car remained in the estate garage.
The tunnel behind the study connected to an old chapel near the eastern wall.
A security camera showed Bruno leaving the property in a florist’s van.
The van belonged to a company controlled by Salvatore Moretti.
Gabriel looked toward the screen.
“I will bring him back.”
Ruiz blocked the doorway.
“You will give us the vehicle information.”
“This is not a request.”
Gabriel’s hand tightened.
Then Emma looked up at him.
“My mommy says people get in more trouble when they hide things.”
Gabriel released a slow breath.
May you like
He handed Ruiz the information.
A four-year-old child had already changed the rules inside the Moretti estate.
