Chapter 2 - The Girl Who Watched.
Luca did not look at Serena when the twitch disappeared.
He had negotiated hostile acquisitions with men who could lie without blinking, and he knew the first rule of discovering deception was never to announce how much you knew.
So he let his shoulders sag.
He let confusion replace suspicion on his face.
Then he handed the syringe back.
Serena stared at it as if she had expected a fight.
“I’m tired.”
Her expression softened too quickly.
“Of course you are.”
“I don’t want the injection today.”
Serena’s smile returned, but only at the edges.
“Skipping treatment can cause severe complications.”
“Then call Marcus.”
“I will.”
“No.”
Luca met her eyes.
“Call him in front of me.”
The air tightened again.
Maya watched the exchange from beside his wheelchair.
Elena stood at the far end of the hall, hands clasped so tightly her knuckles had turned white.
Serena pulled out her phone.
She hesitated just long enough for Luca to notice.
Then she dialed.
Dr. Marcus Vale answered on the fourth ring.
His voice came through the speaker smooth and irritated.
“What happened?”
Luca kept his voice calm.
“I’m delaying this morning’s dose.”
A pause followed.
Marcus recovered quickly.
“That would be unwise.”
“Why?”
“Your nerve pain and spasms are being medically managed.”
“My nerve pain?”
Luca looked down at his legs.
“I haven’t felt nerve pain in months.”
Another pause.
Serena stepped closer.
“He means the pain the medication prevents.”
Luca ignored her.
“What exactly is in the syringe, Marcus?”
The doctor named two medications Luca recognized and one he did not.
Luca repeated the unfamiliar name.
“What does it do?”
Marcus cleared his throat.
“It reduces involuntary muscular activity.”
Maya’s fingers tightened around Luca’s sleeve.
“She makes your legs sleep.”
Serena snapped toward her.
“That’s enough.”
The child recoiled.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Do not speak to her like that.”
For a moment Serena looked genuinely stunned.
Luca had defended Serena against everyone for years.
He had trusted her after the crash more completely than he had trusted himself.
That trust was now becoming evidence against him.
Marcus spoke quickly through the phone.
“Luca, we can discuss dosage after I review your chart.”
“You will bring the original prescription, every dosage log, and every pharmacy invoice to the house today.”
“That is unnecessary.”
“It wasn’t a request.”
Marcus disconnected without saying goodbye.
Serena stared at the dark phone screen.
Luca saw anger flash through her panic.
He filed that away.
“I need to rest.”
“I’ll take you upstairs.”
“No.”
Serena looked at him.
Luca turned toward Elena.
“Elena will.”
The maid’s eyes widened.
Serena’s jaw tightened.
“Luca, Elena has work to do.”
“So do you.”
He drove the wheelchair forward before she could answer.
Maya hurried after him.
Serena called the child’s name.
Maya did not stop.
Elena followed, and the three of them entered the private elevator at the end of the hall.
The doors closed on Serena’s expression.
Only when the elevator began to rise did Luca speak.
“How long?”
Elena looked at the floor.
“Sir?”
“How long have you been afraid of her?”
Elena’s eyes filled instantly.
Maya leaned against the mirrored wall.
Elena whispered.
“Since the hospital.”
Luca felt his stomach turn.
“The hospital after my accident?”
Elena nodded.
She had worked for the Moretti family for nine years and had known Luca before Serena entered his life.
He remembered Elena bringing clean shirts to the rehabilitation wing, adjusting flowers, speaking softly to nurses, never interfering.
He had assumed she was simply being kind.
Now he wondered what she had been watching.
“What happened?”
Elena glanced at Maya.
The child’s face was solemn.
“Tell me.”
Elena swallowed.
“Mrs. Vale told the nurses that only she and Dr. Vale were allowed to approve changes to your medication.”
“Serena is not my wife.”
Elena looked frightened by the correction.
“She told them she was your fiancée and medical proxy.”
Luca went still.
He had never signed a medical proxy naming Serena.
At least, he did not remember signing one.
The elevator doors opened onto the second floor.
Elena did not move.
“There is more.”
Luca waited.
“Three weeks after you came home, I found a nurse crying near the service entrance.”
“What nurse?”
“Her name was Claire Bennett.”
Maya’s head lifted.
“My mom.”
Luca turned so fast the wheelchair shifted.
Maya’s lower lip trembled.
Elena closed her eyes.
Claire Bennett had been one of the home rehabilitation nurses assigned after Luca’s discharge.
Luca remembered her vaguely because she had disappeared from his care after only a few weeks.
Serena had said Claire stole medication.
Luca had believed her.
“What happened to Claire?”
Maya answered before Elena could.
“She went away.”
The words were too careful for a six-year-old.
Luca felt a deeper fear forming beneath the medical questions.
Elena crouched beside Maya.
“Your mother did not go away because of you.”
Maya looked toward Luca.
“My mom said Mr. Luca was getting better.”
His chest tightened.
“She told me she saw your knee move before the red lady came in.”
Luca’s voice nearly failed.
“When did she tell you that?”
“Before she disappeared.”
The elevator doors began to close automatically.
Luca stopped them with the wheelchair control.
“Disappeared?”
Elena’s face was wet with tears now.
“Claire was fired, sir.”
She hesitated.
“Two days later, no one could reach her.”
Maya reached into the pocket of her pink dress.
She pulled out a small brass key attached to a faded blue string.
“My mom gave me this and told me never to give it to the red lady.”
Luca stared at the key.
A tiny stamped number was visible on one side.
314.
May you like
Maya placed it in his palm.
“She said if your legs ever woke up, I had to give it to you.”
