Chapter 8 - The Poisoned Cup
Dante was already calling the mansion before Sophia fully understood what Enzo had said.
No one answered the first line.
He called the security desk.
A guard picked up after four rings.
"Where is my mother?"
Sophia could not hear the answer.
She only saw Dante's face harden.
"Find her now."
He ended the call and moved toward the stairs.
"What happened?" Sophia asked.
"Mercer's car came through the west gate using a valid guest credential."
"Whose credential?"
Dante looked at her.
"Vanessa's."
Rosa began crying harder behind them.
Sophia turned back.
"Stay with Enzo's men."
Rosa grabbed her wrist.
"Miss Sophia."
"What?"
"Mr. Mercer asked me about Mrs. Moretti's medicine."
Sophia froze.
Dante stopped halfway to the stairs.
"What medicine?"
Rosa's face crumpled.
"Her heart pills."
Dante's voice dropped.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing."
Rosa shook her head frantically.
"I swear."
"He knew she takes them in the evening."
Dante was moving again before she finished.
Sophia ran after him.
They reached the SUV at the same time.
"Hospital on standby," Dante ordered.
Enzo climbed into the front passenger seat and started making calls.
The return drive felt endless.
Sophia called Elena's personal number.
No answer.
She called the kitchen.
No answer.
She called one of the maids she knew.
A young woman named Clara picked up.
"Sophia?"
"Where is Elena?"
"In her sitting room, I think."
"Go to her."
"Why?"
"Now, Clara."
Sophia heard running footsteps through the phone.
A door opened.
Then Clara screamed.
Dante took the phone from Sophia.
"Clara."
The maid was crying.
"She's on the floor."
Sophia's blood went cold.
"Is she breathing?" Dante asked.
"Yes."
"Do not give her anything."
"Call the ambulance team at the front gate."
"They're already coming."
Dante ended the call.
For the first time, Sophia saw fear break through his control.
His hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone white.
She reached for him without thinking.
Her hand closed over his.
Dante looked down.
Neither spoke.
He turned his palm and held her hand.
Not romantically.
Not completely.
Just like a man who needed one human thing to remain solid.
When the SUV reached the mansion, emergency lights painted the stone facade red and white.
Dante was out before the vehicle fully stopped.
Sophia followed.
Paramedics were carrying Elena down the staircase on a stretcher.
Her eyes were closed.
Her skin looked gray.
Sophia's chest tightened.
"Elena."
A paramedic blocked her.
"Please give us room."
Dante stood beside the stretcher.
"What happened?"
"Possible cardiac event."
"She takes digoxin."
The lead medic looked at him sharply.
"Do you know the dose?"
Dante did.
He recited it instantly.
Sophia looked toward Elena's sitting room.
A porcelain cup sat on the carpet near the sofa.
Tea had spilled across the rug.
Rosa's warning echoed in her head.
Medicine.
"Do not throw away that cup," Sophia said.
Enzo followed her gaze.
"Bag it."
A guard moved toward the room.
Then Sophia noticed something else.
A small silver pill case sat open on Elena's side table.
One compartment was empty.
Another contained pills of two slightly different colors.
Sophia stepped closer.
"Dante."
He looked back.
She pointed.
His expression changed.
"Those aren't all the same."
The paramedic came over.
He examined the case without touching it.
"We need to take this with us."
Dante nodded.
Elena was rushed to a private hospital on the Upper East Side.
Sophia rode in the second car with Enzo while Dante followed the ambulance.
Nobody spoke.
At the emergency entrance, hospital staff took Elena directly behind secure doors.
Dante paced once.
Only once.
Then he stopped because pacing revealed too much.
Sophia sat with both hands clasped between her knees.
At 2:17 a.m., a cardiologist came out.
"Mr. Moretti?"
Dante stood.
"Your mother is stable."
Sophia closed her eyes.
Air returned to the room.
The doctor continued.
"She experienced a dangerous rhythm disturbance, but we treated it quickly."
"What caused it?"
"We are running toxicology and medication levels."
Dante's gaze hardened.
"Could the wrong dose of her medication do this?"
"Yes."
"Could someone changing her pills do it?"
The doctor paused.
"Potentially."
"We will know more after the labs."
Sophia stood.
"Can we see her?"
"One person for now."
Dante looked at Sophia.
She shook her head.
"Go."
He disappeared through the doors.
Enzo sat beside her.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Sophia asked the question she had avoided.
"Did you find Mercer?"
"No."
"His car?"
"Abandoned near the service entrance."
"Cameras?"
Enzo looked angry.
"He knew the blind spots."
Sophia turned toward him.
"How?"
"That is what bothers me."
"Could Vanessa know them?"
"Some."
"Could Michael?"
"All of them."
Sophia thought of Dante's quiet assistant.
"Where is Michael?"
Enzo did not answer.
Sophia's pulse changed.
"Enzo."
"He has not answered his phone since the engagement dinner."
"You think he helped Mercer."
"I think somebody did."
At 3:04 a.m., Dante returned.
His tie was gone.
His sleeves were rolled to his forearms.
He looked more exhausted than Sophia had ever seen him.
"She's awake."
Sophia stood immediately.
"Can I see her?"
Dante nodded.
"She asked for you."
Elena looked small beneath the hospital blankets.
Sophia had never thought of her as fragile before.
Even with tubes and monitors around her, Elena still looked irritated by the inconvenience.
"You look terrible," she told Sophia.
Sophia laughed through tears.
"You are in a cardiac unit and criticizing me?"
"Someone has to maintain standards."
Sophia sat beside the bed.
Elena squeezed her hand weakly.
"Did you find Rosa?"
"Yes."
Relief softened Elena's face.
"Alive?"
"Alive."
"Good."
Elena closed her eyes for a moment.
Then she whispered.
"The tea tasted bitter."
Sophia leaned closer.
"What?"
"Tonight."
"I thought Clara made it badly."
"Did you see who brought it?"
Elena opened her eyes.
"Michael."
Sophia's stomach dropped.
"Michael brought your tea?"
"He said Rosa had left instructions."
Dante appeared in the doorway behind Sophia.
He had heard.
His face went blank.
"Mama, are you sure?"
Elena looked offended.
"I am old, not hallucinating."
Dante took out his phone.
"Enzo."
Before he could make the call, a nurse entered.
"Mr. Moretti, there is a man at the security desk asking to speak with you."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"Name?"
"Michael Trent."
Sophia and Dante stared at each other.
The missing assistant had walked into the hospital voluntarily.
Dante left Elena's room with Sophia behind him.
Michael stood at the far end of the private corridor between two Moretti guards.
His shirt was wrinkled.
There was dried blood at the edge of his hairline.
His hands were raised where everyone could see them.
Dante stopped ten feet away.
"You have thirty seconds."
Michael looked at Sophia first.
Then Dante.
"I didn't poison your mother."
Dante's voice was dangerously quiet.
"She says you brought the tea."
"I did."
"Then start talking."
Michael reached slowly into his jacket.
Both guards moved.
"Easy," he said.
He pulled out a phone and placed it on the floor.
"Mercer made me bring it."
Dante stared at him.
"Why?"
Michael's face twisted.
"Because he has my sister."
Sophia felt sick.
The same method.
Rosa's grandsons.
Michael's sister.
Human leverage.
"Where is Mercer?" Dante asked.
Michael shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Wrong answer."
"I swear."
He looked at Sophia.
"But I know what he wants."
Sophia's pulse quickened.
"What?"
Michael swallowed.
"He wants Dante to marry Vanessa on Saturday."
The corridor went silent.
Dante's face did not move.
Sophia stared at Michael.
"Saturday is three days away."
"I know."
Michael looked at Dante.
"Mercer said if the wedding does not happen, he starts releasing files from your father's archive."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"What files?"
Michael looked terrified.
"The ones about Maria Rossi."
Sophia stopped breathing.
May you like
Michael's next words were almost a whisper.
"The files that prove her death was not as simple as everyone told Sophia it was."
