Chapter 3 - THE HOSPITAL BRACELET
The floor seemed to drop out from beneath my feet.
The air in the dining room rushed out of my lungs. Room 412. She knew his room number. She knew about the ventilator.
I had never spoken a word about my brother to anyone in this house, except to the staffing agency that hired me. It was a secret I guarded with my life, because his life depended on the money I made here.
“What did she just say to you?” Alessandro’s voice cut through my panic.
Serena was already turning toward the double doors, flanked by the two guards. But she looked back over her shoulder, a triumphant smirk on her face.
“Just wishing the help a good evening,” Serena said smoothly.
“Stop her!” I screamed.
The sudden volume of my voice shocked the entire room. I had never spoken above a polite whisper in eighteen months. Even Matteo jumped slightly.
Alessandro’s hand went up.
Instantly, the two guards grabbed Serena by the arms, stopping her dead in her tracks.
“Let go of me!” she shrieked, struggling against their iron grips.
I didn't wait for permission. I ran around the massive dining table, my black uniform shoes slipping on the marble. I stopped right in front of Serena.
“Who told you about him?” I demanded, my hands shaking uncontrollably. “Who told you where my brother is?”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Serena sneered, looking at Alessandro. “She’s hysterical. You’re going to let a crazy maid dictate what happens in your home?”
Alessandro walked slowly toward us. He signaled to the guests.
“Dinner is over,” he said quietly.
Nobody argued. Within two minutes, thirty of the most powerful people in the city evacuated the dining room, practically running toward the coat check.
Only four people remained.
Me. Serena. Alessandro. And his brother, Dante, who stood silently by the fireplace.
“Take Matteo upstairs,” Alessandro told Dante without looking at him.
Dante nodded, gently leading the frightened boy out of the room. Matteo looked back at me once, his eyes wide, before disappearing into the hall.
When the doors clicked shut, Alessandro turned his full attention to Serena.
“Empty your purse,” he ordered.
“You have no right—”
“Empty it.”
Serena glared at him, but her hands were shaking. She unclasped her silk clutch and dumped the contents onto a small side table. Lipstick. A gold compact. Keys.
And a thin, white paper band.
I reached forward and snatched it.
It was a hospital visitor’s bracelet. Printed in bold black ink was the date.
Today’s date.
And beneath the barcode, it read: Visitor — Pediatric ICU. Patient: Leo Bennett.
My knees buckled. I had to grab the edge of the table to keep from falling. She had been there. She had stood in my ten-year-old brother’s room while he slept, defenseless, attached to a machine keeping his lungs working.
“You went to his hospital,” I choked out, tears of absolute terror spilling down my face. “Why? Why would you go near him?”
“To ensure you kept your mouth shut,” Serena spat, dropping the innocent act completely. She glared at me with raw hatred. “I knew Elena gave you something before she died. I didn't know what it was, but I knew you were too quiet. Too obedient. I went to the hospital today to leave instructions with a friend of mine. If I don't call him by midnight… your brother’s machine gets unplugged.”
Alessandro stepped forward, grabbing Serena by the throat.
He didn't squeeze, but the sheer size of his hand around her neck pinned her against the heavy mahogany door.
“Who is at the hospital, Serena?” Alessandro’s voice was a low, terrifying rumble.
“Kill me, and the boy dies,” she gasped, clawing at his wrist.
“You won't die quickly,” Alessandro promised.
“Alessandro, stop!” I cried out. Not for her sake, but for Leo’s. “If she doesn't call, my brother dies. Please!”
Alessandro looked at me. For a fraction of a second, the cold mafia boss disappeared, and I saw the father who understood the terror of losing a child. He slowly released Serena. She slumped against the door, coughing violently.
“You are going to make that phone call,” Alessandro said to her. “Right now. And you are going to tell your man to walk away.”
Serena laughed, a wet, ugly sound. “You really think I’m working alone, Alessandro?”
She rubbed her neck, looking at him with a twisted smile.
“You think I orchestrated Florence by myself? You think I forged my way into your bed without help from inside your own walls?”
Alessandro froze. “What are you talking about?”
Serena pointed a shaking finger toward the empty hallway.
“You want to know how I bypassed your security today? How I got into the Pediatric ICU without being family?”
She reached into her discarded pile of belongings on the table and picked up a heavy, gold money clip.
She tossed it onto the floor at Alessandro’s feet.
“I didn't pay the hospital staff to look the other way,” Serena said. “Your brother did.”
I stared at the gold money clip on the floor.
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It was engraved with a large, ornate letter D.
Dante.
