Chapter 4
The lock clicked with finality.
Not the soft click of a nursery privacy latch.
A security lock.
Heavy.
Electronic.
External override.
Lorenzo knew every sound in his mansion. This one belonged to the emergency containment system—a feature designed to protect Leo from intruders, not trap him inside with unanswered danger.
Hunter jerked backward, instinctively shielding Leo.
The baby startled but did not cry.
Lorenzo moved between them and the door so quickly Hunter barely saw him cross the room.
He did not shout.
That frightened her more.
His hand pressed against the control panel.
Dead.
The red light pulsed faster.
Outside the door, a woman whispered, “You were never supposed to find out.”
The voice was low.
Filtered by the door.
Familiar enough to terrify everyone and identify no one.
Hunter’s eyes widened.
“Who is that?”
Lorenzo did not answer.
Because he did not know.
And because saying that aloud inside his own mansion would cost him something.
He reached for his phone.
No signal.
His eyes moved to the ceiling camera.
The tiny lens stared back with its indicator light off.
Hunter followed his gaze.
“They turned it off.”
“They?”
She looked toward the nurse.
Nurse Mallory’s eyelids fluttered.
The glass on the floor sat near her chair, a faint smear at the rim.
Lorenzo crossed to the nursery intercom.
Static.
He tried the secondary wall panel.
Locked.
Someone had sealed the room from the security core.
Someone with access.
Someone close.
Hunter adjusted Leo’s blanket, her hands trembling but careful.
“He needs a doctor.”
Lorenzo turned back, and for the first time she saw panic trying to break through his control.
He looked not at the door, not at the nurse, but at Leo.
His son.
His only child.
Weak, premature, finally feeding, and trapped inside a nursery that had become a crime scene.
Lorenzo’s voice dropped.
“Keep him warm. Keep him steady. Do not put him near that bottle.”
“I won’t.”
Nurse Mallory groaned.
Hunter stepped back.
Lorenzo immediately placed himself between the nurse and the baby too.
Mallory opened her eyes slowly.
Confusion crossed her face.
Then fear.
Not at being unconscious.
At seeing Lorenzo standing over her.
He noticed.
“Who gave you the glass?”
She blinked.
No answer.
May you like
Outside, faint footsteps moved away from the door.
Read Chapter 5 👉 Because the unconscious nurse began to wake, but her fear suggested she might not be the person controlling the lock.
