Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN HIS SON CHOSEBy sunrise, the Rossi estate had become a sealed fortress.
Steel shutters covered the lower windows. Guards searched every room, vehicle, tunnel, and stretch of cliffside. No employee was allowed to leave. Phones were collected, bags opened, bedrooms emptied.
The missing nurse’s name was Celeste Warren.
The missing guard was Peter Vale, a man who had worked for the Rossi family for nine years.
Both had disappeared through a maintenance exit three minutes before the lockdown began.
Someone had known the estate’s security system well enough to disable cameras, open an alarmed door, and erase the vehicle record.
That frightened Lorenzo more than an army at the gate.
An outside enemy could be seen.
An enemy inside the family had already been invited to dinner.
Hunter spent the morning in a medical suite being examined by two female physicians while Leo slept in a heated bassinet nearby.
They took her blood. They tested her milk. They reviewed her hospital records, delivery notes, prenatal screenings, and prescription history.
Hunter answered every question.
She did not mention that the hospital had discharged her with a pamphlet about grief and a bill she could not pay.
She did not mention that her landlord had threatened to change the locks.
She did not mention Tommy’s final text message.
You should have given me the money.
The doctors eventually cleared her of infection, drugs, and medications that might harm Leo.
Dr. Halloran stood at the end of the examination table reading the preliminary results.
“Her milk has unusually high fat content,” he said. “That may explain why the baby is tolerating smaller amounts.”
Lorenzo stood near the window holding Leo.
He had not released his son for more than ten minutes at a time since Hunter placed the baby in his arms.
“He rejected donor milk,” Lorenzo said.
“Donor milk is processed. Pasteurization changes some enzymes and immune components. Direct nursing also provides body warmth, scent, heartbeat regulation and skin contact.”
Lorenzo looked at Hunter.
“He chose her.”
Halloran’s mouth tightened.
“Babies do not make emotional decisions in the adult sense.”
“He cries when she leaves the room.”
“He associates her with food.”
“Men have built empires for less.”
Hunter looked down to hide the strange reaction that passed through her.
She was not sure whether it was amusement or fear.
A physician handed Halloran another report.
He read it twice.
“What?” Lorenzo asked.
“The baby gained almost two ounces after two feedings.”
“That is good.”
“It is very good.”
Lorenzo’s expression remained controlled, but his hand moved across Leo’s back with quiet relief.
Halloran continued.
“We should proceed cautiously. Small feedings every two hours. Weight checks. No formula until we understand why he rejected it.”
Hunter buttoned the clean blouse one of the housekeepers had brought her.
“I can pump between feedings so you have extra.”
Lorenzo’s gaze shifted to her.
“You will nurse him directly.”
“I need to sleep eventually.”
“You will have a room beside the nursery.”
“I have an apartment.”
“You have a room beside the nursery.”
Hunter met his eyes.
“This arrangement needs rules.”
One of the doctors pretended to be deeply interested in a tray of instruments.
Lorenzo’s face became still.
“You are negotiating?”
“I’m feeding your child. That does not mean you own me.”
Something almost like respect moved across his expression.
“What rules?”
“I am paid legally and on time. I can leave when Leo is medically stable or when a replacement is found. I get privacy when I feed him unless a doctor needs to be present. No guns pointed at me.”
Lorenzo glanced at the pistol beneath his jacket.
“That happened once.”
“It was memorable.”
His mouth nearly moved.
Not a smile.
But close.
“What else?”
“My medical care is covered while I’m doing this. Nursing hurts because I’ve been binding my chest. I need help.”
“Done.”
“And I want the money you promised the staffing agency paid directly to me. Not through them.”
“Done.”
Hunter hesitated.
She had one more demand.
It was the most dangerous.
“If Tommy Vance comes near me, you call the police.”
The almost-smile vanished.
“I will handle Tommy Vance.”
“No.”
“You said he killed your child.”
“I said he pushed me. The fall killed her.”
“That distinction matters to you?”
“It matters in court.”
Lorenzo’s gaze hardened.
“Courts released him.”
“Then we gather evidence and send him back.”
“You still believe the law protects people like you?”
“No,” Hunter said. “But I know what men like you do to people like him.”
Silence filled the medical suite.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“And that troubles you?”
“I don’t want anyone killed because of me.”
“He killed because of you.”
“My daughter did not die so I could become like him.”
Lorenzo studied her for a long time.
“Police,” he finally said. “If possible.”
“That isn’t the same promise.”
“It is the only one I will make.”
Hunter should have argued.
Leo began to stir.
The weak sound he made pulled her attention away from everything else.
She took him from Lorenzo and settled into the chair.
The moment the baby recognized her, his body relaxed.
Lorenzo saw it happen.
The grief on his face was quieter now.
More dangerous because it had nowhere to go.
“You can stay,” Hunter told him.
He seemed surprised.
“During the feeding.”
“I thought you required privacy.”
“I said I get privacy unless I choose otherwise.”
He sat in the chair across from her.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Leo nursed.
Morning light slipped between the armored shutters and crossed the floor in thin silver lines.
“What was Sophia like?” Hunter asked.
Lorenzo’s gaze moved toward the bassinet.
“She hated this house.”
Hunter looked around at the polished medical room.
“The house specifically?”
“The size. The guards. The rules. She said every room looked prepared for a photograph instead of a life.”
“Why did she live here?”
“Because marrying me gave her enemies.”
“Did she know what you were before she married you?”
His expression cooled.
“Everyone knows what a Rossi is.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Lorenzo leaned back.
“We met when she represented a community center my company intended to purchase. She called me a parasite in front of six attorneys.”
Hunter smiled before she could stop herself.
“You liked that?”
“No one had insulted me in years.”
“So you fell in love.”
“I bought the building and gave it to the center.”
“That sounds like bribery.”
“It was.”
“Did it work?”
“No. She refused dinner for four months.”
Hunter looked down at Leo.
“Persistent.”
“She called it harassment.”
“She sounds smart.”
“She was.”
The past tense sat between them.
Lorenzo’s eyes became distant.
“She believed I could change.”
“Did you?”
“For her.”
“Only for her?”
His gaze returned to Hunter.
“At first.”
Before she could ask more, there was a knock.
A guard entered carrying a sealed evidence bag.
“We found this in Celeste Warren’s room.”
Inside was a small plastic vial labeled with a nutritional supplement brand.
Halloran took it.
“That formula additive was prescribed to increase calorie intake.”
“We tested the powder,” the guard said. “It contains traces of a veterinary emetic.”
Hunter looked at Leo.
“What does that mean?”
“It causes vomiting,” Halloran said. “Severe vomiting in a premature infant could lead to dehydration and organ failure.”
Lorenzo rose.
“Who had access?”
“Celeste, the medical staff, kitchen staff and anyone entering the nursery supply room.”
Halloran turned the vial over.
“This would not show on normal toxin screens unless we were specifically looking for it. The amount could be adjusted to make the feeding intolerance appear natural.”
Hunter felt cold.
“They were starving him on purpose.”
Lorenzo’s face became something she never wanted directed at her.
“Find Celeste.”
The guard nodded.
“There is more.”
He placed a phone on the table.
“It belonged to Peter Vale. We recovered it beneath the maintenance stairs. One text was sent before he disappeared.”
The message appeared on the screen.
THE MAID CHANGED EVERYTHING. THE CHILD ATE. MOVE TO SECOND OPTION.
Hunter stared at the words.
“What is the second option?”
No one answered.
Leo released her and gave a small, satisfied breath.
Then glass exploded above Hunter’s head.
Lorenzo moved before the sound fully registered.
He threw himself across Hunter and the baby, driving them to the floor behind the medical bed.
A bullet struck the wall where Hunter’s head had been.
Guards flooded the room.
“Shooter on the east ridge!”
Hunter curled around Leo.
He began screaming, louder than she had heard him cry before.
It should have frightened her.
Instead, the sound filled her with savage relief.
A starving child did not scream like that.
Lorenzo lay over them, shielding both bodies with his own.
Another shot cracked against the armored window.
“Move!” he ordered.
A hidden panel opened behind the bookcase. Two guards rushed Hunter into a reinforced corridor.
Lorenzo followed, firing instructions into his radio.
“Seal the ridge. No one leaves the property. I want the shooter alive.”
The passage ended inside a windowless safe room equipped with monitors, food, water, weapons and a medical station.
The steel door closed.
Leo continued crying.
Hunter rocked him, whispering until his voice weakened.
Lorenzo stood in the center of the room, blood running from a cut above his eyebrow where flying glass had struck him.
Hunter reached toward him.
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing.”
“You covered us.”
His expression made the answer seem obvious.
“You had my son.”
The words stung unexpectedly.
Not because they were cruel.
Because they were true.
Hunter had not expected him to protect her.
Only the child.
She looked down, ashamed of the disappointment.
Lorenzo noticed.
His voice changed.
“And you.”
Hunter lifted her eyes.
“I covered you both.”
A guard’s voice came through the intercom.
“We found the shooting position. Rifle abandoned. No suspect.”
“Prints?”
“None.”
“Camera footage?”
“The ridge cameras were disabled.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes briefly.
“Again.”
Someone inside the estate was controlling security.
Hunter’s phone vibrated in her skirt pocket.
She had not surrendered it because no one considered a maid important enough to search after the first lockdown.
The message came from an unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
It showed Hunter entering the Rossi estate three days earlier.
Beneath it were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE BABY DIE.
Then another photograph appeared.
May you like
Her apartment door.
Tommy stood in front of it, smiling.
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