Chapter 2 - The Maid Who Spoke
“Don’t give him the tea.”
Nia’s voice was not loud.
It did not need to be.
In the Costa house, where servants learned to move without being heard and armed men spoke in carefully measured tones, the sentence landed like a gunshot.
Enzo slowly lowered his phone.
Carlo stopped beside the bed.
One of the nurses looked at Nia as though the maid had suddenly started speaking Latin.
“What did you say?” Enzo asked.
Nia’s throat tightened.
She could still retreat. She could apologize, claim she was confused, push her cart downstairs, collect her paycheck, and disappear.
Then Matteo’s monitor screamed.
Thirty-three beats per minute.
Nia stepped inside.
“The tea,” she repeated. “Don’t let him drink it.”
Carlo’s expression changed first.
Only slightly.
But Nia saw it.
“What is this nonsense?” he asked.
“I think it’s poisoning him.”
Silence.
Enzo crossed the room so quickly that Nia barely registered his movement before he stood directly in front of her.
“You think?”
His voice frightened her more than shouting would have.
Nia forced herself not to step backward.
“Foxglove.”
Carlo laughed.
It was too quick.
Too polished.
“A housemaid has diagnosed something 12 specialists missed?”
“I didn’t diagnose him.”
“Then what exactly are you doing?”
“Trying to keep him alive.”
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
Enzo looked from Nia to the tea.
“What does foxglove do?”
Nia hesitated. “It can affect the heart. Cause nausea. Confusion. Vision problems.”
“What vision problems?”
“Yellow or green halos.”
Enzo became completely still.
On the bed, Matteo stirred weakly.
“Yellow,” he whispered.
Everyone turned.
Matteo’s eyelids fluttered.
“Everything… yellow.”
The nurse stared at the monitor.
Enzo slowly turned toward Carlo.
Carlo’s face remained composed.
“This is absurd. Matteo is jaundiced. Of course his vision is abnormal.”
Nia pointed toward the silver canister.
“It’s in there.”
Carlo moved immediately.
“That’s enough.”
His hand reached for the canister.
Enzo reached it first.
He picked it up and stepped away.
“Don’t.”
For the first time, Carlo looked nervous.
“Enzo, you cannot seriously believe—”
“I said don’t.”
The doors opened hard enough to strike the wall.
Dr. Keller entered carrying his medical bag, followed by another physician and 2 security men.
“What happened?”
Enzo held up the canister.
“The maid says this contains foxglove.”
Keller stared at Nia.
Then at Matteo.
“Why?”
“Yellow halos,” Nia said. “Slow heart rate. Vomiting. The tea smells like foxglove.”
Keller’s expression sharpened.
“How would you recognize it?”
“My grandmother grew it.”
He took the canister.
Carlo stepped forward. “Doctor, surely you aren’t entertaining this.”
Keller ignored him.
He opened the lid, smelled the mixture, and frowned.
Then he turned toward the nurse.
“Draw blood again. Specific cardiac glycoside testing. Full electrolyte panel. And call the hospital pharmacy.”
Enzo’s eyes narrowed.
“Why the pharmacy?”
Keller looked at Matteo’s monitor.
“Because if she’s right, we may finally know what we’re treating.”
Carlo backed toward the door.
Nia noticed.
So did Enzo.
“Where are you going?”
“To call Matteo’s aunt.”
“No.”
Carlo stopped.
Enzo gestured toward a guard.
“Lock the doors.”
The click of the lock sounded enormous.
For the next 20 minutes, the bedroom transformed from a death chamber into a battlefield.
Keller issued orders. Blood was drawn. Medication was prepared. The tea and canister were sealed away.
Nia stood forgotten beside the wall.
Her knees trembled.
Carlo stared at her.
Not constantly.
That would have been obvious.
Instead, he looked at her every few minutes, each glance carrying the same silent promise.
You made a mistake.
Nia finally understood something terrifying.
Saving Matteo might be easier than surviving Carlo.
Keller returned from a phone call.
“There’s enough clinical evidence to treat presumptively.”
Enzo looked at him. “In English.”
“We proceed as though she’s right.”
“And if she’s wrong?”
Keller glanced at Matteo.
“He may die either way.”
Matteo received the treatment while rain hammered the windows.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Then his heart rate moved.
Thirty-four.
Thirty-seven.
Forty.
The nurse leaned closer.
“Doctor.”
“I see it.”
Forty-three.
Forty-seven.
Enzo stared at the monitor as though watching a resurrection.
Carlo’s face drained of color.
Nia closed her eyes.
She had been right.
But relief lasted only seconds.
Matteo suddenly convulsed.
The monitor erupted.
Nurses rushed forward. Keller shouted instructions. Enzo grabbed Nia by the shoulders and pulled her away from the bed as the medical team worked.
“What’s happening?” he demanded.
“I don’t know!”
“You said this would save him.”
“I said I thought he was being poisoned!”
The raw fear in her voice stopped him.
Enzo released her.
Keller worked for what felt like hours but was probably less than 3 minutes.
Finally, the monitor stabilized.
Matteo lay motionless again.
But his heart rate held at 58.
Keller exhaled.
“He’s stable.”
Nobody celebrated.
They were too exhausted.
Enzo looked toward Carlo.
Carlo had moved closer to the door.
“Sit down,” Enzo said.
“Excuse me?”
“Sit.”
“This is insane.”
Enzo removed his pistol.
Nia’s stomach dropped.
Carlo stared at the weapon.
Then slowly sat.
Keller approached Enzo. “The police need to be notified if deliberate poisoning is suspected.”
Enzo almost smiled.
“Doctor, concentrate on your patient.”
Keller understood.
He returned to Matteo.
Enzo looked at Nia.
“How long?”
“What?”
“How long has that tea been coming into this room?”
“I’ve seen it every afternoon since I started working up here.”
“One week.”
She nodded.
Enzo looked at Carlo.
Carlo spread his hands. “Matteo requested herbal tea weeks ago. I purchased the blend. That proves nothing.”
“Where?”
“A specialty supplier.”
“Name.”
Carlo hesitated.
Enzo’s expression hardened.
Before Carlo could answer, Matteo spoke.
“Nia.”
She froze.
It was the first time he had ever said her name.
She approached cautiously.
His eyes barely opened.
“How did you know?”
“My grandmother.”
His cracked lips moved.
“Your grandmother smarter than my doctors?”
Despite everything, Nia almost smiled.
“She would have said yes.”
Something resembling amusement passed across Matteo’s exhausted face.
Then he whispered, “Don’t leave.”
Nia glanced at Enzo.
“I’m supposed to clock out at 7.”
Matteo’s eyes closed again.
“Put it on overtime.”
Enzo stared at her.
Then, incredibly, he laughed.
It was short and humorless, but it broke the tension.
Nia stayed.
At 2:14 a.m., Keller received the preliminary laboratory result.
His face changed as he read it.
Enzo stood.
“Well?”
Keller looked toward Nia before answering.
“The result supports digitalis exposure.”
The room went silent.
Carlo surged to his feet.
“That’s impossible.”
Enzo aimed the pistol at him.
“Interesting choice of words.”
“I mean—”
“I know what you meant.”
Carlo raised both hands.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Maybe.”
Enzo nodded to the guards.
“Take him downstairs.”
Carlo struggled when they grabbed him.
His mask finally shattered.
“You stupid girl!”
Nia flinched.
“You have no idea what you’ve done!”
Matteo’s eyes opened.
His voice was weak, but everyone heard him.
“Carlo.”
His cousin stopped fighting.
Matteo stared at him.
“If I survive this, pray she was wrong.”
Carlo went pale.
The guards dragged him away.
Near dawn, the rain stopped.
Nia sat beside Matteo’s bed because every chair except hers had been pushed aside for medical equipment.
She was exhausted enough to sleep standing.
Matteo woke briefly.
For several seconds, he studied her.
“You saved my life.”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
Nia looked toward the window.
“Because somebody should have.”
His expression changed.
Not gratitude.
Something deeper.
Something wounded.
Before he could answer, Enzo returned holding a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was Carlo’s phone.
“I found something,” he said.
Matteo looked at him.
Enzo placed the phone on the table.
“There are messages about the poison.”
Nia expected relief.
May you like
Instead, Enzo looked directly at her.
“And one of them mentions Nia by name.”
