Chapter 2 - The Secret in the BassinetThe ambulance arrived in less than five minutes.
It felt like fifty.
Paramedics rushed inside.
They took the baby from my arms.
Dominic followed them.
Nobody tried to stop him.
At the hospital, doctors moved quickly.
Dominic stood outside the treatment room.
His four men surrounded him.
He looked like a statue.
I sat in a plastic chair, staring at my hands.
They were shaking.
A doctor finally emerged.
"Mr. Moretti?"
Dominic stepped forward.
"He's alive."
Dominic closed his eyes.
The doctor continued.
"His oxygen level dropped significantly. He appears to have experienced a brief respiratory episode."
"Why?"
"We're running tests."
"Is he sick?"
"We don't know yet."
Dominic looked at me.
"She comes in."
The doctor glanced at me.
"Are you family?"
"No."
Dominic answered.
"She saved him."
The doctor nodded.
I followed.
Inside, the baby slept beneath monitors.
A nurse adjusted his blanket.
I couldn't stop looking at him.
He reminded me too much of Leo.
The same fragile fingers.
The same dark lashes.
I stepped back.
Dominic noticed.
"You have children?"
I hesitated.
"I had a son."
Dominic said nothing.
"He died."
The words still felt like glass in my mouth.
"Four years ago."
"I'm sorry."
I looked at him.
It was the first sincere thing I'd heard from him.
Then a nurse entered.
"Mr. Moretti, we need his medical history."
Dominic immediately called someone.
"I don't have it."
The nurse stopped.
"His mother should."
Dominic's expression changed.
"The mother died."
"During childbirth?"
"No."
He paused.
"Two weeks after."
The nurse looked confused.
"Then who has been caring for him?"
Dominic didn't answer.
I did.
"Whoever has been caring for him should know his feeding schedule."
A bodyguard stepped forward.
"His nanny left."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Why?"
The man looked at Dominic.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"She disappeared."
That word stayed with me.
The doctor returned.
"We've stabilized him."
Dominic exhaled.
"But we're concerned about something."
"What?"
"His feeding."
The doctor explained that the baby was underweight for his age.
"He's been missing feeds."
Dominic looked stunned.
"That's impossible."
The doctor shook his head.
"It isn't."
Dominic turned toward his men.
"Who has been feeding him?"
Nobody answered.
His voice became deadly.
"Who?"
One man finally spoke.
"The household nanny."
"Where is she?"
"We don't know."
Dominic looked at me.
I saw something in his eyes.
Not anger.
Fear.
The next morning, police arrived.
They asked questions.
Dominic answered very little.
I answered everything I knew.
Before I left, Dominic stopped me.
"You said your son died."
"Yes."
"How?"
I looked away.
"A heart condition."
He nodded.
"My son's mother died from complications after giving birth."
I waited.
"We were told the baby was healthy."
He looked toward the nursery.
"Maybe we were wrong."
I didn't understand what he meant.
Then a nurse approached.
"Ms. Carter?"
"Yes?"
"The baby's bloodwork showed something unusual."
My heart tightened.
"What?"
"His blood chemistry suggests prolonged nutritional deficiency."
Dominic's face went cold.
"Someone hasn't been feeding him."
The nurse nodded.
"That's one possibility."
Dominic turned toward his men.
"Find the nanny."
They left immediately.
I thought that was the end of my involvement.
I was wrong.
That afternoon, I received a phone call.
It was Dominic.
"I need you."
I nearly hung up.
"I'm not a nurse anymore."
"I know."
"Then why—"
"Because my son only calms down when you're holding him."
I closed my eyes.
I shouldn't go.
I knew that.
Men like Dominic Moretti didn't ask ordinary women for favors.
They pulled people into their world.
And people disappeared in his world.
But then I remembered the baby.
I went.
When I arrived, Dominic's expression was grim.
"The nanny was found."
"Is she okay?"
"No."
My stomach dropped.
"She's dead."
The room went silent.
Dominic handed me a photograph.
The woman had been found in an alley.
There was one thing beside her body.
A small white envelope.
Inside was a handwritten message:
The baby should have died with his mother.
I looked at Dominic.
He looked at me.
And for the first time, we both understood.
May you like
Someone wasn't trying to hurt his business.
They were trying to kill his son.
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