Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT THE MORETTI NAME BURNEDLorenzo had trusted Dr. Samuel Hargrove for nearly fifteen years.
The physician had treated his father, attended family gatherings, and personally supervised Isabella's medical care after the fire.
He had even signed Lorenzo's father's death certificate.
Now his name appeared on a medical authorization for an operation involving Lorenzo's three-year-old son.
"How much control does Hargrove have at the hospital?" Lorenzo asked.
David checked the records.
"He's the chief medical director. Croft Holdings has been funding his research department for six years."
"Can he operate on Nicholas?"
"Technically, yes. The hospital has all the required paperwork."
"Paperwork signed under coercion."
David nodded.
"Which means we need evidence before we can stop them without putting Nicholas in greater danger."
Lorenzo looked at Meline.
She had gone pale.
"What is it?"
"There's something you don't know about Hargrove."
"What?"
"When I was held at the estate, he came to examine me after Nicholas was born."
Lorenzo waited.
"He told Mateo that Nicholas was a healthy baby. Then he asked for a sample of my blood."
"Why?"
"He said he needed to test whether I carried the same genetic condition as Isabella."
Lorenzo looked at his sister.
"Did he ever test you?"
Isabella nodded.
"Several times."
"And what did he find?"
She hesitated.
"That my condition wasn't inherited."
Silence filled the room.
"What?"
Isabella opened her bag and removed an old medical report.
The report contained laboratory results from six years earlier.
It showed evidence of exposure to a rare industrial toxin.
Lorenzo read the document twice.
Someone had poisoned his sister.
The damage had been gradual, creating symptoms that doctors had mistaken for an inherited disease.
"Who administered it?"
Isabella looked at the floor.
"I don't know."
Meline whispered, "Mateo."
Isabella nodded.
"He needed me sick. He needed a reason to keep me dependent on him."
Lorenzo felt something inside him turn cold.
The fire.
The false death.
The missing wife.
The stolen child.
Every piece had been arranged to protect one thing: control of the Moretti fortune.
And Richard Croft had helped him.
"David, get us inside the hospital records system."
"Already working on it."
"Find every payment to Hargrove."
David glanced at Isabella.
"There's one more thing you should see."
He opened a photograph.
It showed Richard Croft standing beside a man outside a private clinic.
The man's face was partially obscured.
But the date was visible.
Eleven years earlier.
The same week Lorenzo's father died.
Lorenzo enlarged the photograph.
He recognized the man's watch.
It had belonged to his father.
"That's not possible."
Isabella stepped closer.
"What's wrong?"
Lorenzo pointed at the picture.
"That man is wearing Father's watch."
"Maybe Richard kept it."
"No."
He studied the photograph.
The man was standing with his back to the camera, but the shape of his shoulders was familiar.
The way he held his left hand was unmistakable.
Lorenzo remembered that gesture from childhood.
His father had injured two fingers in a car accident and never regained full movement.
He slowly looked up.
"Isabella, when did you last see Father?"
She stared at him.
"Before the fire."
"Did you see his body?"
"No. Mateo said the hospital had taken care of everything."
Lorenzo felt the room tilt.
"David, find out where that photograph was taken."
"Boston. A private clinic near the harbor."
"Get the original surveillance footage."
A message appeared on David's tablet.
It came from an unknown number.
The message contained a photograph of Nicholas sleeping in a hospital bed.
Underneath it were seven words.
YOUR SON IS READY FOR HIS PROCEDURE.
Then another message arrived.
COME ALONE, OR HE DIES.
Meline grabbed Lorenzo's arm.
"Don't go."
He looked at her.
"I have to."
"No. That's what he wants."
She took a breath.
"Mateo always uses the people we love to make us do what he wants."
Lorenzo looked at the picture of Nicholas.
Then he looked at his wife.
For the first time, he realized that saving his son would require more than weapons and loyalty.
It would require patience.
"You're right," he said.
Meline looked surprised.
He turned to David.
"Send them a message."
"What should it say?"
Lorenzo picked up his phone.
I ACCEPT.
May you like
Then he added one more line.
BUT I'M BRINGING THE WHOLE FAMILY.
Related Stories
