Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Told Me My Wife Was MurderedThe room went silent.
I didn't know whether to believe her.
I wanted to.
That was the dangerous part.
For three years, I had accepted the story that Sofia had fallen from a boat during a storm.
Her body had never been found.
But the police had closed the case.
My family had held a funeral.
I had buried a coffin filled with empty air.
Daniel had cried for months.
I had told him his mother loved him.
Then I had watched my son slowly stop asking when she was coming home.
Now Elena stood beside his hospital bed and told me she hadn't died at sea.
She had been running.
“From whom?”
I asked again.
Elena looked toward the door.
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“Because your walls have ears.”
I glanced at Vincent.
He understood.
We moved to a secure conference room.
Only three of us.
Me.
Vincent.
Elena.
I closed the door.
“Talk.”
She sat.
“My sister, Rosa, worked as a private nurse.”
“For Sofia.”
“Yes.”
“What did she discover?”
“She noticed inconsistencies in Sofia's medication.”
“Such as?”
“Her heart medication contained a compound that shouldn't have been there.”
I remembered Sofia's symptoms.
Dizziness.
Weakness.
Fainting.
We had believed it was stress.
“Did she tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Sofia didn't trust your family.”
My jaw tightened.
“She shouldn't have been afraid of me.”
“She wasn't.”
“Then who?”
Elena looked at me.
“Your uncle.”
My blood went cold.
“My uncle is dead.”
“Which one?”
“Salvatore.”
“He isn't.”
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Elena.”
She reached into her pocket.
A photograph.
Salvatore Moretti.
Older.
Alive.
Standing beside a hospital entrance.
Taken six months earlier.
I felt something inside me crack.
My uncle had supposedly died twenty years ago.
A heart attack in Italy.
I had attended the funeral.
He had left me nothing but a family watch.
Now he was alive.
And Elena had proof.
“Where did you get this?”
“My sister.”
“Where is Rosa?”
“Dead.”
I froze.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“How?”
“Elena?”
“Car accident.”
My chest tightened.
“Another accident.”
“Yes.”
I studied her.
“What happened?”
“She had copies of Sofia's medical records.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Rosa told me to find you.”
“Why didn't she?”
“Because she was killed before she could.”
“And you became a cleaner?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To get inside.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Inside what?”
“Your household.”
“You were investigating.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To find Sofia.”
Silence.
I stared at the woman.
She had entered my world deliberately.
For months.
She had cleaned my corridors.
Learned my schedule.
Watched my son.
And saved his life.
“Were you sent by Salvatore?”
“No.”
“By the police?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“My sister.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is the only one I have.”
I stood.
“You expect me to believe you infiltrated my home alone?”
“No.”
“Who helped you?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Your wife.”
My heart stopped.
“Sofia is dead.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You're saying my wife is alive?”
Elena nodded slowly.
“She was alive when Rosa found her.”
“When?”
“The day before the boating accident.”
“What happened?”
“Sofia escaped.”
“With whom?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
Elena's voice broke.
“Your wife wanted Daniel protected.”
I looked at my son's room through the glass.
“Why?”
“Because someone in your organization was planning to use him.”
My stomach tightened.
“Use him for what?”
“Leverage.”
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't explain the poison.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It wasn't leverage.”
“What was it?”
“Blood.”
I stared.
“Your son inherited something from Sofia.”
“What?”
“A genetic heart condition.”
I frowned.
“Doctors said he inherited it from me.”
“They were wrong.”
“What does that mean?”
“The medication used to control it was also being used to test something.”
“What?”
“Gene therapy.”
I felt sick.
“My son was a test subject.”
Elena nodded.
“Without your consent.”
I closed my eyes.
The people I trusted had experimented on my child.
Someone inside my empire.
Someone with access to hospitals.
Someone with access to money.
Someone close.
I thought of the medical board.
My family's private clinics.
The research division.
Then Elena said:
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“The men who attacked Daniel weren't trying to kill him.”
I turned.
“They were trying to take a blood sample.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because someone wants to duplicate Sofia's genetic marker.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
“What about my son?”
“He may be the only living carrier.”
I felt sick.
Then Vincent entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something in the security logs.”
He handed me a tablet.
“Someone authorized the hospital breach.”
I read the name.
My chief medical adviser.
Dr. Samuel Price.
I knew him.
Trusted him.
He had treated Daniel since birth.
I looked at Elena.
She whispered:
“That's who my sister was afraid of.”
The entire puzzle shifted.
May you like
And I realized the betrayal wasn't outside my empire.
It was already inside.
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