Chapter 4 - THE PEARL IN THE BLOOD
I dropped to my knees beside Thomas.
I didn’t need my stethoscope. The wound was center mass, directly through the heart. He was gone.
Antonio stood over us, his jaw locked tight. He wasn’t looking at the body. He was looking at the pearl earring in Thomas’s hand.
“That’s Lucia’s,” Antonio said.
I carefully pried the earring from the doctor’s fingers. The pearl was large, flawless, set in vintage platinum. It was heavy in my palm, warm with blood.
“Why would he have this?” I asked, wiping my hands on my slacks.
“Because he didn’t just come here to drop off a ledger,” Antonio said. He knelt down, ignoring his failing strength, and rifled through Thomas’s coat pockets.
He pulled out a folded piece of heavy cardstock.
It was a birth certificate.
Antonio opened it.
Name: Leonardo Moretti. Date of Birth: October 14, 2019. Mother: Lucia Moretti. Father: Unknown.
Antonio’s finger traced the word Unknown.
“Michael filed the paperwork,” Antonio whispered. “He erased me. He made sure the boy legally belonged to no one, so he could claim guardianship if anything happened to Lucia and me.”
“Antonio, we need to call the police,” I said firmly, standing up. “There is a dead man in your hallway. Your son has kidnapped a child you didn’t know existed. This is beyond medical care.”
“No police.”
“I’m a mandated reporter!” I shot back. “I have a license to protect.”
Antonio slowly stood up. He walked toward me until we were inches apart.
“Caroline. If the police come, Michael will know immediately. I have judges on my payroll, and so does he. If he panics, Leo dies. You want to protect a life? Help me get my grandson back. Then you can arrest whoever is left standing.”
I looked into his eyes. He wasn’t threatening me. He was begging me.
I took a deep breath. “Where do we start?”
“Teresa,” Antonio said. “If she knows about the boy, she knows where Michael took him.”
“But she’s gone. Her room is empty.”
“Teresa doesn’t run,” Antonio said, turning toward the back of the house. “She hides. In plain sight.”
I grabbed my medical bag and followed him.
We moved past the kitchens, through a heavy oak door, and out into the freezing Chicago night. The wind whipped through my thin sweater, but Antonio didn’t seem to feel the cold.
We walked across the dark, manicured lawn toward a massive glass structure at the edge of the property.
The greenhouse.
It was entirely dark.
Antonio pushed open the glass door. The air inside was thick, humid, and smelled heavily of orchids and damp earth.
“Teresa!” Antonio called out.
No answer.
I clicked on my penlight, sweeping the narrow beam across rows of exotic ferns and blooming lilies.
Then the beam caught a flash of silk.
Sitting on a wrought-iron bench at the back of the greenhouse was Teresa.
She was wearing a dark green evening gown. She looked perfectly composed, her hands folded in her lap.
But as we got closer, I saw the pistol resting on the bench beside her.
“Hello, Antonio,” she said smoothly, her voice completely devoid of fear.
“Where is he?” Antonio demanded, stepping into the light of my pen.
“Safe from you,” Teresa replied. She looked at me. “You should have left when you cut that robe, Nurse Parker. You’re in family business now.”
“Michael is going to kill the boy,” Antonio said, his voice vibrating with anger.
Teresa laughed, a dry, humorless sound. “Michael loves Leo. He raised him for seven years while you mourned a wife who hated you.”
Antonio flinched as if he’d been struck. “Lucia loved me.”
“Lucia was terrified of you,” Teresa spat, standing up. She grabbed the gun. She didn’t point it at Antonio; she held it at her side. “She found out what you did to Vincent. She knew you had your own brother killed to secure your empire. When she found out she was pregnant, she knew she couldn’t bring another child into this house to be turned into a monster. So, she asked me to help her.”
I stared at her. “You poisoned her?”
“I made her sick,” Teresa corrected. “A slow, careful dosage. Just enough to convince you and the world she was dying. Thomas Franklin provided the chemicals. He thought he was helping a battered wife escape.”
“Where did she go?” Antonio asked, his voice breaking.
“She didn’t go anywhere,” Teresa whispered. “Because Michael found out.”
Teresa raised the gun, her hands finally shaking.
“Michael didn’t want you to lose an heir. He wanted the heir for himself. He took the boy the night he was born. And he gave Lucia a final, lethal dose of the medicine.”
Antonio staggered backward, leaning against a wooden planting table.
“Teresa,” Antonio rasped. “Where is Leo?”
“At the docks. Pier 41. Michael is putting him on a boat to Italy tonight.”
Teresa looked at the gun in her hand.
“Tell Lucia I’m sorry,” she whispered.
She raised the gun to her own temple.
“No!” I lunged forward.
I hit her arm just as the gun went off.
The bullet missed her head by an inch, shattering the glass roof above us in an explosion of sharp shards and cold wind.
Teresa collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
I kicked the gun away.
Antonio didn’t look at his sister. He turned toward the door.
“Antonio,” I called out.
He stopped. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy set of car keys.
May you like
“You’re staying here, Caroline.”
“The hell I am,” I said, grabbing my bag. “If your son is crazy enough to kill his own mother, you’re going to need a medic when this is over.”
