Chapter 2 - The Bottle That Made Everyone SickThe next morning, Leo fed again.
The same thing happened.
No vomiting.
No choking.
No spasms.
He gained five ounces in twenty-four hours.
Dr. Gallagher called it extraordinary.
Lorenzo called it suspicious.
Hunter called it hungry.
She continued feeding him whenever the hospital schedule allowed.
That was when she noticed something.
The bottles.
Every bottle prepared by the nursery nurse smelled slightly sweet.
The donor milk did not.
The formula did not.
Only the prepared bottles.
Hunter mentioned it to Dr. Gallagher.
He dismissed it at first.
Then he tasted a drop from an unused bottle.
He frowned.
“There is something in this.”
Lorenzo ordered testing.
The result came back that afternoon.
A mild sedative.
Enough to make a newborn lethargic.
Not enough to kill.
But enough to suppress appetite.
Lorenzo went silent.
“Who prepared the bottles?”
The nurse on duty.
She was brought into his office.
She cried.
She denied everything.
“I didn't add anything.”
“Then who?”
“I don't know.”
Security checked the cameras.
One camera had been disabled.
The nursery camera.
For exactly eleven minutes each night.
The same eleven minutes.
During feeding.
Hunter felt sick.
Someone inside the house had been drugging Leo.
“But why?” she asked.
Lorenzo looked at her.
“To make him appear sick.”
“Why would anyone want that?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, Dr. Gallagher entered with another report.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
Leo's bloodwork.
A trace of the same sedative had been found in his system before anyone had ever brought him to the nursery.
Lorenzo's expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means this started in the hospital.”
Hunter stared.
Someone had been drugging Leo since birth.
The question became larger.
Why?
Then Lorenzo's mother arrived.
Victoria Rossi.
Elegant.
Cold.
Beautiful in a way that made people afraid rather than comfortable.
She looked at Hunter.
Then Leo.
Then Lorenzo.
“What is she doing here?”
“She saved my son.”
Victoria's lips tightened.
“She is staff.”
“She found what five doctors missed.”
Victoria's eyes settled on Hunter.
“You should be careful.”
Hunter didn't lower her gaze.
“About what?”
Victoria smiled.
“People in this house have a habit of mistaking kindness for permission.”
Hunter glanced at Lorenzo.
“I've noticed.”
A strange silence followed.
Lorenzo almost smiled.
Victoria didn't.
That evening, Hunter returned to her small staff room.
Her door was unlocked.
She knew she'd locked it.
Inside, her clothes had been searched.
Nothing was missing.
Except one thing.
Lily's photograph.
Hunter's hands shook.
She looked beneath the mattress.
Nothing.
Inside her suitcase.
Nothing.
She began crying.
Not because of the photograph.
Because whoever took it knew exactly what it meant.
It wasn't valuable.
It wasn't evidence.
It was personal.
A threat.
Someone was telling her:
We know who you lost.
Hunter ran downstairs.
She found Lorenzo in the study.
“My room was searched.”
He stood immediately.
“What was taken?”
“A photograph.”
“Of?”
“My daughter.”
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
He called security.
Then looked at Hunter.
“From now on, you sleep in the main house.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I don't need protection.”
“You do.”
“I've managed alone.”
“Not anymore.”
Hunter shook her head.
“I don't want your life.”
“You're already inside it.”
She stared.
May you like
Then he added quietly,
“And someone inside this house knows that.”
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