Chapter 6
Hunter felt the accusation strike exactly where it was meant to.
The maid.
Not Hunter.
Not the woman holding Leo.
Not the only person in the room who had gotten him to swallow.
The maid.
A disposable name.
A useful target.
Lorenzo did not look at Hunter.
That mattered.
He kept his gaze on the intercom.
“Open the door.”
Static hissed.
The unseen woman breathed softly through the speaker.
“You’re emotional. She’s using the baby.”
Hunter’s face crumpled, but she tightened her hold before tears could distract her.
Lorenzo’s jaw flexed.
“Open. The. Door.”
“You don’t understand what she is.”
Hunter whispered, “What I am?”
The intercom went silent.
Mallory stared at Hunter with dawning horror.
Lorenzo finally looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Hunter’s throat closed.
She knew what people said behind her back.
Grieving maid.
Unstable.
Too attached to the nursery.
A woman who had lost a baby and should not be trusted around one.
She forced herself to speak.
“My son died three months before I came here.”
Lorenzo’s expression shifted slightly.
Not pity.
Attention.
Hunter looked down at Leo.
“He was premature too. I know the sounds babies make when they’re too tired to cry.”
The room quieted except for the monitor.
Mallory’s eyes filled.
Hunter continued, voice shaking.
“When Leo refused bottles, everyone said it was medical. Maybe some of it was. But I knew that look. Pain. Hunger. Fear. I thought I was imagining it because I missed my baby.”
She looked at Lorenzo.
“I wasn’t imagining it.”
Lorenzo held her gaze for one long second.
Then the door control panel blinked.
Not open.
Scanning.
Someone outside was trying a new command.
Lorenzo moved instantly, standing between the panel and Hunter.
Mallory whispered, “If they override the lock from central security, they can release the inner latch.”
“Can they enter?”
“Yes.”
Hunter’s arms tightened around Leo.
Lorenzo’s face became stone.
“No one enters until I know who is behind that voice.”
He turned toward Mallory.
“Medical cabinet. Is there anything inside that can help him without using the bottles?”
Mallory nodded weakly.
“Yes, but I need to stand.”
Lorenzo looked at Hunter, then Leo, then the door.
May you like
“Slowly.”
Read Chapter 7 👉 Because Lorenzo needed the nurse alive and useful, but he no longer trusted anyone except the woman holding his son.
