Chapter 2 - THE BOTTLE LORENZO FINALLY LOOKED AT
Lorenzo turned toward the locked door.
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
I could hear movement retreating down the hallway.
Evelyn woke with a violent start.
“What happened?”
Lorenzo switched on his phone flashlight.
“Don’t move.”
Whatever reputation he carried outside that room, the fear in his voice then belonged to one thing only.
Leo.
I covered myself and kept the baby against my shoulder.
He was still weak, but for the first time since I entered the room, he wasn’t screaming.
Lorenzo looked at the bottle beside Evelyn.
“How much did he take?”
She blinked.
“Maybe two ounces.”
“He didn’t drink any,” I said.
Evelyn’s face changed.
“You don’t know that.”
“The bottle was full when I came in.”
Lorenzo picked it up.
Evelyn immediately stood.
“Mr. Rossi, please don’t—”
He stared at her.
She stopped.
That reaction mattered.
Lorenzo called his pediatrician directly.
Dr. Maya Chen arrived twenty-seven minutes later with an ambulance team after mansion security finally opened the nursery. The head of security, Marco DeLuca, blamed an electrical malfunction for the lock.
Lorenzo did not believe him.
Neither did I.
Dr. Chen examined Leo and ordered him transported to Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
Then she noticed me.
“You nursed him?”
Shame and grief collided inside me.
“My daughter died three weeks ago.”
Her expression softened without becoming pity.
“I’m sorry.”
Lorenzo heard.
His eyes went to the floor.
The gun had disappeared back inside his jacket.
“Did he feed normally?” Dr. Chen asked.
“Immediately.”
That made her turn toward Evelyn.
“When was the last time he fed successfully from a prepared bottle?”
Evelyn gave a vague answer.
Dr. Chen asked again.
This time Evelyn said, “Yesterday afternoon.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“You told me he hadn’t eaten properly in two days.”
Evelyn looked trapped between answers.
On the way out, Dr. Chen sealed the untouched nursery bottle in a specimen bag.
She also took several other prepared bottles from the refrigerator.
Lorenzo walked beside the stretcher.
Before leaving, he turned to Marco.
“Nobody removes anything from this house.”
Marco gave a stiff nod.
“Of course.”
Lorenzo looked toward the dead electronic lock.
“And find out who locked that door.”
Marco’s answer came too quickly.
May you like
“Probably nobody.”
That was the first time Lorenzo looked at his most trusted man like a suspect.
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