Chapter 8
The manual lock attempt failed.
A harsh buzz sounded through the nursery.
Leo startled.
Hunter rocked him gently, turning her body to absorb the movement before it reached him.
“Easy,” she whispered. “Easy, sweetheart.”
Lorenzo looked toward the door with a fury so quiet it seemed to pull warmth from the room.
The unseen woman’s voice returned, strained now.
“You’re making this worse.”
“No,” Lorenzo said. “You did that when you locked my son in a room with a poisoned bottle.”
Static.
Then, “You don’t know it was poisoned.”
Hunter’s breath caught.
Mallory nearly dropped the sealed packet.
Lorenzo’s eyes sharpened.
“I said putting something in his milk.”
The intercom went dead.
The room became so still that the monitor sounded enormous.
The woman outside had corrected the word.
Poisoned.
She had reacted to knowledge not yet proven aloud.
Lorenzo did not smile.
This was not victory.
His infant son lay weak in Hunter’s arms because someone in the mansion had treated his body like an obstacle.
Mallory whispered, “Oh my God.”
Hunter looked toward the unopened bottle near the crib.
It sat there innocently.
White plastic.
Soft nipple.
A thing designed to feed.
Now it looked like a weapon.
Lorenzo took out a silk handkerchief from his pocket and carefully moved the bottle farther from the crib without touching it directly.
“Do not touch that again.”
No one argued.
Mallory finished preparing the sealed feed under Lorenzo’s gaze but paused before offering it.
Hunter looked at Leo.
“He just fed. Don’t force him.”
Mallory nodded, professional instinct returning.
“We won’t. We wait for the medical team.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Can you keep him stable?”
“I can help monitor him. I can’t do everything from a locked room.”
Another truth.
Lorenzo respected truths even when he hated them.
He moved to the door, lowering his voice.
“Whoever you are, listen carefully. If my son worsens because this door stays locked, there will be no room in this house deep enough to hide you.”
Hunter shivered.
The threat was terrifying.
The restraint was worse.
From the hallway came no answer.
Only footsteps moving away.
May you like
Fast.
Read Chapter 9 👉 Because the woman outside slipped once, and Lorenzo heard enough to know the nursery had become a trap for more than Hunter.
