Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Tried to Bury the Truth
"Touch that tablet, Dominic, and your father could die before he reaches the hospital."
Victoria Sterling spoke so sharply that even the paramedics stopped moving.
Dominic Romano turned toward his fiancée.
For eleven months, he had believed every medical report placed on his desk. He had believed that his father was deteriorating, that the violent outbursts described by his private physician were symptoms of irreversible neurological damage, and that Victoria had sacrificed her own time to supervise Antonio's care.
Now his father was clinging to the sleeve of a pregnant housekeeper as though she were the only person in the mansion he trusted.
And Victoria was terrified of an electronic tablet.
"Explain what you just said," Dominic ordered.
Victoria's expression softened immediately.
"Darling, your father is critically ill. You're frightening him. That device was removed because it agitated him."
"Then why are you frightened of it?"
"I'm frightened of what you're doing to this family."
Dominic held out his hand toward his head of security.
"Marco. Get the tablet."
Marco Bellini, forty-two, had served the Romano family for almost twenty years. His loyalty had never been questioned.
He retrieved the device from the cabinet.
Victoria watched him carefully.
"Dominic, please."
"Enough."
Marco pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
"The battery's dead," he said.
"Charge it."
A paramedic approached Dominic.
"Sir, we need to transport your father immediately. His blood pressure is unstable."
Dominic stepped aside.
"Take him to St. Catherine's. Dr. Evelyn Brooks will supervise his treatment. Nobody else gives him medication without her authorization."
Victoria stiffened.
"But Dr. Mercer has managed his care for months."
"Then Dr. Mercer can explain his decisions to Dr. Brooks."
Antonio's wheelchair moved toward the elevator.
Emily followed instinctively.
One of the guards blocked her.
"You're staying here."
"She comes with us," Dominic said.
Victoria's mouth fell open.
"You're taking the woman who stole his medication?"
"I'm taking the woman my father refused to let go."
For the first time that morning, Victoria had nothing to say.
At St. Catherine's Medical Center, Dr. Brooks examined Antonio while a hospital pharmacist reviewed his prescriptions.
Emily waited outside the intensive care unit, sitting on a hard plastic chair with both hands resting on her stomach.
Her daughter had been unusually active since the ambulance ride.
"Easy, Grace," she whispered. "Mommy's trying."
Dominic stood across the corridor, speaking quietly into his phone.
"Freeze all nonessential transfers from Romano Holdings. Nobody touches my father's accounts until I say otherwise."
He ended the call.
Then he approached Emily.
"Why did you enter his room?"
She looked up.
"Because nobody else would."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the only answer I have."
Dominic studied her face.
She looked exhausted. Her uniform was wrinkled, her hair had escaped its bun, and a faint red mark crossed her wrist where one of the guards had grabbed her.
"Do you understand whose house you work in?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Do you understand what people usually do when they're afraid of me?"
Emily hesitated.
"They tell you what you want to hear."
"And you?"
"I think your father has heard enough lies."
The words landed harder than she intended.
Dominic looked away.
He had negotiated with politicians, threatened men who controlled entire ports, and survived betrayals that would have destroyed lesser men.
Yet this frightened young woman had managed to make him feel ashamed with one sentence.
Before he could respond, Dr. Brooks appeared.
"Mr. Romano, we need to talk."
They entered a consultation room.
Emily remained by the door until the physician motioned her inside.
"She stays," Dominic said.
Dr. Brooks opened Antonio's chart.
"Your father is severely dehydrated and malnourished. We are also investigating a potentially dangerous combination of prescribed medications."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"Was he poisoned?"
"I can't make that determination yet. Some of these medications can be appropriate individually, but their combined effects, timing, and dosage raise serious questions."
"Could they explain his confusion?"
"They may have contributed to his sedation and reduced responsiveness. His stroke remains a significant medical condition, but we should not assume all his symptoms came from that injury."
Emily covered her mouth.
Dominic remained motionless.
"How long?"
"That depends on the records. We need to investigate."
Dominic asked the question he feared most.
"Would he have died if she hadn't called the ambulance?"
Dr. Brooks looked at Emily.
"Given his condition on arrival, delaying emergency treatment could have been fatal."
Silence filled the room.
Dominic turned toward the young housekeeper.
She was staring at the floor.
"Emily."
She looked up.
"Thank you."
It was the first time she had heard him speak without sounding like a command.
At 8:40 that evening, Marco delivered the tablet to Dominic's private office inside the hospital's executive wing.
"The technicians recovered some files," he reported. "Most are old."
Dominic opened the device.
The screen displayed a communication application designed for stroke survivors.
Several messages had been saved.
The first was dated eleven months earlier.
Dominic. I am not confused. Someone is stealing from us.
The second was more disturbing.
Do not trust the medical reports.
The third contained only four words.
The betrayal is inside.
Dominic scrolled farther.
A final recording appeared, dated the day before Antonio's communication device had supposedly stopped functioning.
He pressed play.
Antonio's face filled the screen.
His speech was painfully slow.
"Son..."
Dominic leaned forward.
"I... trusted... the wrong..."
Antonio struggled to breathe.
Then he forced out one name.
"Victoria."
Dominic felt the blood drain from his face.
The recording continued.
"Not... alone."
A shadow moved across the wall behind Antonio.
The old man's expression changed.
He looked toward someone outside the camera's view.
Then a male voice spoke.
"That's enough, Antonio."
The recording ended.
Dominic replayed the final seconds.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The voice sounded familiar.
Terribly familiar.
His phone rang.
Victoria.
He answered without speaking.
"Darling," she said softly, "I've been worried sick. Can we talk?"
"Where are you?"
"At home."
"Stay there."
"Dominic, I love you."
He stared at the frozen image of his father's frightened face.
"Do you?"
There was a pause.
"Of course."
"Then you'll have no problem answering some questions."
He disconnected.
Back at the mansion, Victoria stood in the library with a crystal glass of whiskey.
Across from her sat Adrian Romano.
Thirty-eight years old.
Dominic's older cousin.
The man who had managed the family's international shipping operations for twelve years.
And the man Victoria had been sleeping with for nearly eighteen months.
Adrian loosened his tie.
"Tell me exactly what he found."
"The tablet."
Adrian's expression darkened.
"I told you to destroy it."
"I thought Mercer had wiped it."
"You thought?"
Victoria slammed her glass onto the desk.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that. Your uncle was supposed to be dead by Christmas."
Adrian moved toward her.
"Keep your voice down."
"That little maid ruined everything."
"Then we deal with the maid."
Victoria folded her arms.
"She's pregnant. Dominic won't let anyone touch her while she's carrying his father's favorite little charity project."
Adrian smiled coldly.
"Everybody has someone they love."
Victoria understood immediately.
"The mother?"
"Margaret Carter. Rehabilitation hospital outside Albany. Expensive treatment. Very little money."
Victoria considered the information.
Then she smiled.
"How unfortunate it would be if her insurance arrangements suddenly became complicated."
Adrian picked up his phone.
"Leave that to me."
Neither noticed the elderly housekeeper standing outside the library door.
Mrs. Whitmore had come to announce dinner.
Instead, she heard something that made her grip the silver serving tray until her fingers hurt.
She had followed Victoria's instructions for months.
She had accepted assurances that Antonio was receiving appropriate care.
But now she had heard enough to understand that the situation was far worse than she had imagined.
And for the first time in her thirty years of service, Mrs. Whitmore was afraid of the family she worked for.
The following morning, Emily received a call from her mother's hospital.
"Miss Carter, I'm sorry, but there's a problem with your mother's financial authorization."
Emily stood in the hospital cafeteria.
"What kind of problem?"
"Her rehabilitation funding has been placed under review. Unless alternative arrangements are made, we may have to postpone certain nonemergency services."
Emily gripped the counter.
"But she's recovering from heart surgery."
"I understand."
"How much do I need?"
The administrator gave her a figure that made her knees weaken.
Emily thanked her and ended the call.
She had worked every available shift.
She had sold almost everything she owned.
It still wasn't enough.
"Something wrong?"
Dominic stood behind her.
Emily quickly wiped her eyes.
"No, sir."
"Don't lie to me."
"My mother needs treatment. There's a billing problem."
"Give me the hospital's name."
She shook her head.
"I don't want your money."
"I didn't offer you money."
"Then what are you offering?"
"Someone who can find out why this happened."
Emily looked at him.
For a moment, she wanted to trust him.
Then she remembered Victoria's accusation and the guards closing around her.
"I don't know if trusting anyone in your family is a good idea."
Dominic accepted the accusation without argument.
"Neither do I."
His phone vibrated.
A message from Marco appeared.
We identified the second voice on the recording.
Dominic opened the attached audio comparison.
His father's warning played beside a recording from a Romano Holdings board meeting.
The voices matched closely enough to demand an explanation.
Adrian Romano.
Dominic stared at the screen.
His cousin.
His childhood protector.
The man who had stood beside him at his mother's funeral.
Then another message appeared.
Sir, there's something else. Surveillance footage shows Adrian entering Victoria's private suite at 2:13 a.m. He didn't leave until 6:47.
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
Emily noticed the change in his expression.
"Mr. Romano?"
He looked at her.
For the first time in years, the most feared man in New York looked genuinely wounded.
"My father wasn't warning me about an enemy."
His voice became almost inaudible.
"He was warning me about my own family."
And at that very moment, Victoria Sterling was preparing a betrayal far more dangerous than an affair.
May you like
She was preparing to convince the world that Emily Carter had tried to murder Antonio Romano.
End of Chapter 2.
