Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER AT THE DOOR
Anthony Gambino arrived at breakfast carrying stuffed bears.
Natasha had expected a monster.
Instead, Anthony looked like a younger, smoother version of Simon. Perfect navy suit. Warm brown eyes. Easy smile.
He kissed both babies on the forehead.
Then he noticed Natasha.
“So you're the miracle waitress.”
“Former therapist.”
“Current miracle.”
Simon watched his brother carefully.
Anthony noticed.
“What?”
Simon placed the medical-supplier report on the table.
Anthony read it.
His smile vanished.
“You think I poisoned Vanessa?”
“I think your company supplied something found in her system.”
“My company employs eight thousand people.”
“And yesterday somebody sedated Eli.”
Anthony’s face changed.
He looked toward the baby.
“What?”
For several seconds, Natasha believed his shock.
Then Anthony turned on Simon.
“And you think I did it?”
“I think I'm asking.”
“No, you're accusing.”
The brothers stood.
Natasha stepped between them.
Both men stared at her.
“If either of you starts throwing punches beside two infants, I’m billing overtime.”
Anthony blinked.
Simon actually exhaled a laugh.
The tension cracked.
Barely.
Anthony agreed to open his company's records.
For two days, Marcus's investigators worked through invoices, employees and delivery routes.
The result was unexpected.
Someone had been using Anthony's company.
The authorization signatures were forged.
Security footage had been deleted.
One employee responsible for the relevant shipments had disappeared.
His name was Dr. Leonard Vale.
Natasha recognized it.
“He treated Sophie.”
Simon turned sharply.
“What?”
“He was a consulting neurologist at my hospital.”
The coincidence felt impossible.
Simon had Marcus pull Vale's history.
The doctor had worked at three pediatric hospitals, two rehabilitation centers and Anthony's company.
At every institution, complaints had quietly followed him.
Improper medication.
Altered records.
Unexplained transfers.
Nothing had ever resulted in prosecution.
Simon looked at Natasha.
“Sophie’s death.”
Her mouth went dry.
“No.”
“We reopen it.”
“No.”
“Natasha.”
“I spent two years learning how to wake up without hearing her mother screaming.”
His expression softened.
“This may prove you didn't fail her.”
“That doesn’t bring her back.”
“No.”
Simon stepped closer.
“But it might stop him from hurting someone else.”
That sentence changed everything.
Natasha agreed.
Sophie Bennett's archived medical records revealed a medication order entered twenty minutes before her cardiac arrest.
Natasha had never seen it.
Neither had Sophie's primary physician.
The authorization carried Leonard Vale's credentials.
Natasha sat staring at the screen until tears blurred the letters.
For years, she had believed that her therapy session had overstimulated Sophie.
It had not.
Someone had administered a medication Sophie should never have received.
Simon crouched beside Natasha's chair.
She covered her mouth.
“I left the profession because of him.”
Simon said nothing.
“I stopped helping children because I thought I killed one.”
His hand moved toward hers, then paused.
He gave her the choice.
Natasha closed the distance.
Their fingers touched.
It was the first time Simon Gambino had touched her without an emergency between them.
And it frightened her more than his guards ever had.
Marcus interrupted twenty minutes later.
“We found Vale.”
Simon stood.
“Where?”
“Not where. When.”
Marcus placed a photograph on the desk.
It showed Leonard Vale entering the Gambino penthouse three months earlier.
The timestamp was the night Vanessa died.
Beside him walked another person.
A woman.
Simon stared at her.
Natasha watched the blood drain from his face.
“You know her?”
Simon whispered one word.
“Mother.”
Natasha looked again.
Elegant silver hair.
Pearls.
A black coat.
Beatrice Gambino.
The twins' grandmother.
Simon’s mother had been inside the penthouse the night Vanessa died.
She had lied about it.
But the photograph contained something even stranger.
May you like
Beatrice was not following Leonard Vale.
She appeared to be chasing him.
