Chapter 2
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## The Bottle With No Name
For three seconds, nobody in the dining room moved.
Then Dominic turned to his head of security.
“Lock every entrance. Nobody leaves this house.”
Vanessa stared at him. “You cannot be serious.”
“Try me.”
The guests who had come expecting an elegant dinner suddenly found themselves surrounded by armed security officers. Dominic barely noticed. His attention was fixed on the photograph in his hand.
He recognized the room. He recognized the wheelchair. And he recognized the bracelet on Vanessa's wrist.
The image had been taken the previous afternoon.
“Where did you get this?” he asked Clara.
“Your father gave it to me.”
“Who took it?”
“I don't know. I found the photograph folded beneath his blanket after Mrs. Sterling left.”
Dominic examined the picture. The timestamp in the corner had been scratched almost beyond recognition.
“Call Dr. Bennett,” he ordered. “And get me every medication bottle in my father's room.”
Vanessa stepped between him and the hallway.
“Dominic, listen to me. Your father is confused. Clara has been manipulating him for weeks, and now she's using his condition to turn you against me.”
Clara lowered her head.
Dominic noticed.
“Clara, look at me.”
She reluctantly raised her eyes.
“Did you alter this photograph?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you put that bottle in his room?”
“No.”
“Have you given my father any medication?”
“Only what his nurse prepared and documented.”
Dominic nodded to his security chief.
“Separate everyone who has had access to his medications. No one touches anything until the doctor arrives.”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“You're treating me like a criminal.”
“No,” Dominic replied. “I'm treating this like a possible crime.”
The words wiped the smile from her face.
Twenty minutes later, Dr. Samuel Bennett arrived with a medical bag. He had treated Antonio for nearly two years and knew the family well.
Dominic handed him the photograph.
“Tell me what that bottle is.”
Bennett studied the image, then examined the actual bottle recovered from Antonio's bedside table.
“I can't identify a medication without its original label and contents.”
“Can you test it?”
“Yes. But if you suspect tampering, we should preserve it and contact the authorities. Don't administer anything from this bottle.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“This is absurd. It's probably an old prescription.”
“Then you won't mind explaining why its label was covered,” Dominic said.
Bennett examined Antonio, checked his vital signs, and reviewed the medication administration records.
“I want him evaluated at the hospital,” he said. “His sudden movement and attempted speech are encouraging, but we need to rule out medical complications. I also want a complete medication reconciliation.”
Dominic immediately agreed.
As paramedics prepared to transfer Antonio, the old man suddenly seized Dominic's sleeve.
His grip was weak, but deliberate.
“Dad?”
Antonio's lips moved.
“C… Clara…”
Dominic leaned closer.
“Clara?”
Antonio blinked twice.
Then his trembling hand pointed toward the maid.
Clara approached, fighting tears.
“I'm here, Mr. Antonio.”
The old man stared at her as if he were trying to apologize.
Dominic felt something twist inside his chest.
His father had spent two years trapped behind a body that refused to obey him. Yet somehow, amid that helplessness, he had found a way to protect a woman who had nothing to offer him except kindness.
Then the security chief returned.
“Boss, there's something else.”
He handed Dominic a small envelope recovered from Vanessa's locked dressing-room drawer.
Inside was a receipt from a private pharmacy.
It listed repeated purchases of a prescription medication under Antonio's name.
But the signature authorizing the purchases belonged to someone else.
Dominic looked at Vanessa.
She had gone completely white.
“Tell me why your signature is on my father's prescriptions.”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, Dominic's phone rang.
It was the hospital.
The nurse spoke quickly.
“Mr. Moretti, your father is asking us to call you. He's become agitated, and he keeps repeating the same name.”
Dominic stood.
“What name?”
There was a pause.
Then the nurse whispered, “Victoria.”
Dominic's face changed.
May you like
His mother had been dead for six years.
And Antonio had just tried to say her name.
