Chapter 1 - I Used My Last EpiPen to Save the Mafia Boss, and the Hidden Camera Recorded the Man Who Wanted Him DeadThe wineglass shattered before I reached the study.
I was only four.
I should have been downstairs in the staff room with Mama.
She had warned me that morning.
“Whatever happens, Emma, do not leave this room.”
She had said it while fixing the ribbon in my hair.
I promised.
I tried to keep promises.
But the sound that came from upstairs wasn't normal.
Something heavy had hit the floor.
Then everything became silent.
I sat on my little mattress for almost a minute.
One minute can feel very long when you're four years old.
I hugged my stuffed rabbit.
Another minute passed.
Still nothing.
Then I heard a weak scraping sound above me.
Fear filled my stomach.
I climbed down.
Mama wasn't there.
She was working in the west wing.
I knew I wasn't supposed to go upstairs.
But I also knew someone was hurt.
So I ran.
My pink rabbit backpack bounced against my shoulders as I climbed the servant staircase.
At the top, the mansion was silent.
The hallway lights were dim.
The study door stood slightly open.
Firelight spilled across the marble.
For a second, I saw nothing.
Then I saw him.
Alejandro Moretti.
Mr. Moretti.
The man everybody feared.
He was lying beside his desk.
His expensive black suit was twisted beneath him.
A wineglass lay broken near his hand.
His face was gray.
His lips were turning blue.
One hand clawed desperately at his throat.
His chest moved.
But barely.
“Mr. Moretti?”
His eyes found mine.
He tried to answer.
Only a rough rasp escaped.
I knew that sound.
I had heard it before.
Six months earlier, I had eaten something I wasn't supposed to eat.
My throat had closed.
My mother had screamed.
A doctor had explained the word.
Anaphylaxis.
I remembered the terrible feeling.
The locked door inside my throat.
The panic.
The inability to breathe.
I smelled the spilled wine.
Something bitter sat beneath the rich smell of grapes.
Poison.
I ran downstairs.
My rabbit backpack swung against my back.
Inside was the EpiPen.
Mama's last one.
She had bought it two days earlier.
It had cost more than she wanted to spend.
That morning, she had taken my hands in hers.
“Emma, listen carefully.”
I had listened.
“This is your only spare.”
“What if I need it?”
“Then you use it.”
“And if you don't?”
“Never give it to anyone unless they truly cannot breathe.”
Now someone couldn't breathe.
I grabbed it.
Then I ran back upstairs.
Two guards were already standing outside the study.
One turned.
“What are you doing here?”
“He needs help!”
“You aren't supposed to be upstairs.”
I pointed toward Alejandro.
“He can't breathe.”
One guard grabbed my arm.
“Get downstairs.”
“He needs this!”
“You touch him, and your mother loses her job.”
Fear filled me.
Mama needed this job.
She needed the money for our apartment.
She needed it for food.
For medicine.
For me.
But Alejandro's eyes were closing.
I pulled my arm away.
“Then fire her.”
The guard froze.
I dropped beside Alejandro.
My hands shook as I opened the backpack.
I pulled out the EpiPen.
I remembered what Mama had taught me.
Blue to the sky.
Orange to the thigh.
Remove the blue safety cap.
Press.
I pulled off the cap.
A guard reached toward me.
“Stop her!”
I screamed.
“No!”
I pressed the injector against Alejandro's thigh.
Click.
The sound echoed through the room.
I held it there.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Alejandro's body jerked.
I pulled it away.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then he gasped.
A real breath.
Then another.
His fingers suddenly closed around my wrist.
His eyes opened.
He stared at me.
“You…”
His voice was weak.
But alive.
I started crying.
“You're breathing.”
He looked at the injector.
Then at me.
“How?”
“My last one.”
Before he could say anything else, one of the guards looked toward the bookshelf.
His face went completely white.
I followed his eyes.
A tiny red light blinked behind a row of leather-bound books.
A camera.
Hidden.
Recording.
Everything.
The guard whispered:
“Boss…”
Alejandro slowly turned his head.
“Don't touch it.”
The guard froze.
Alejandro's eyes hardened.
“Who knew about the camera?”
No one answered.
Then the security director entered.
He looked at Alejandro.
Then the broken wineglass.
Then me.
“Mr. Moretti…”
Alejandro raised one hand.
“Lock the house.”
Every door clicked shut.
“No one leaves.”
His gaze moved to the hidden camera.
“And find out who was watching me die.”
I looked toward the hallway.
For the first time, I wondered whether the person who had poisoned him was still inside the mansion.
Then Mama appeared.
Her face was terrified.
“Emma!”
She ran toward me.
But Alejandro spoke first.
“She's safe.”
Mama stopped.
He looked at her.
“She saved my life.”
Mama's eyes filled with tears.
Then Alejandro looked at me.
“What is your full name?”
“Emma Carter.”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I noticed.
“Carter?”
Mama went pale.
“Sir…”
Alejandro stared at her.
“You never told me her father's name.”
May you like
My mother said nothing.
And suddenly, I realized the hidden camera wasn't the only secret inside that mansion.
Related Stories
