Chapter 3 - The Child's Drawing
"Leo."
Roman was on his knees beside me before I could even process what was happening. The untouchable mafia boss didn't care about his custom suit brushing against the dusty floorboards. He reached into the dark vent.
"Come here, piccolo," Roman said, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. "You're safe. Come to Uncle Roman."
Slowly, a six-year-old boy crawled out of the vent. Leo was Roman’s nephew, the only child of his older brother who had died in a tragic car accident two years ago. Leo lived in the estate, a ghost of a child who rarely spoke, wandering the halls in oversized sweaters.
Right now, he was covered in dust, trembling uncontrollably.
And in his small, dirty hand, he was clutching a crumpled piece of paper.
Adriana rushed forward, her face a mask of panicked affection. "Oh my god, Leo! What are you doing in the walls, darling? You scared us!"
She reached for him.
Leo shrieked, pressing himself flat against Roman's chest. "Don't let her touch me!"
Roman wrapped a large, protective arm around the boy, his eyes snapping up to glare at Adriana. She froze, her hands suspended in the air.
"Why were you in the walls, Leo?" Roman asked gently, brushing dust from the boy's dark hair.
"The bad lady," Leo whispered, his voice shaking. "She said if I didn't stay quiet in my room, I would have to take the sleepy medicine like Grandma. And then I wouldn't wake up."
The dining room erupted into shocked whispers. The guests could no longer pretend this was just a lover's quarrel. This was a hostile takeover from the inside.
"He's lying!" Adriana shrieked, dropping the sweet voice entirely. "He's a disturbed child, Roman! You know he hasn't been right since his parents died!"
"He's six," Roman snarled, his voice vibrating with lethal intent. "He doesn't know how to lie about my mother's poisoning."
Adriana’s eyes darted around the room. She was trapped. But a trapped animal is the most dangerous kind. She pointed a manicured finger directly at my face.
"He didn't mean me, Roman! He meant her!" Adriana screamed, pointing at me. "Ask him! Ask him who told him about the medicine!"
Roman looked down at Leo. "Who, Leo? Who said it?"
Leo looked at me. His large brown eyes were filled with confusion. Adriana had clearly been twisting his mind, threatening him, trying to gaslight a grieving child.
"The lady with the apron," Leo whispered, pointing at me.
My heart stopped.
Adriana smiled. A cold, victorious smile. "You see? The maid is psychotic. She's been poisoning your mother, trying to frame me, and terrorizing your nephew."
"No!" I said, my voice cracking. "I would never hurt him!"
"Take her down to the basement, Marco," Adriana commanded, acting as if she already owned the house.
Marco didn't move. He looked at Roman.
Roman was staring at the crumpled piece of paper in Leo's hand. He gently pried it from the boy's fingers and smoothed it out on the floor.
It was a child's drawing in red crayon. A stick figure of a woman pouring something into a teacup.
"Look at the drawing, Roman," Adriana said quickly. "It's a woman in a maid's uniform. It's Lily."
But I wasn't looking at the crayon drawing. I was looking at the paper it was drawn on.
It wasn't plain printer paper. It had a printed header at the top.
Camden Community Pharmacy. Patient: Elena Mercer.
My mother's pharmacy receipt.
"Where did you get this paper, Leo?" Roman asked.
Leo sniffled. "I found it in my toy box."
I looked at Adriana. The blood roared in my ears. She hadn't just framed me tonight. She had planned this for weeks. She had stolen my mother's receipt from my bag and planted it in the boy's room.
But as Roman turned the paper over, the chandelier light caught on something metallic strapped to Leo's thin ankle.
It slipped down from beneath the cuff of the boy's pajamas.
May you like
A heavy, gold pocket watch.
Roman’s breath hitched. It was his father's engraved pocket watch—an heirloom that had been reported stolen by Adriana two months ago.
