Anthony didn’t answer the phone.
That told Dominic more than any confession could have.
“Answer it,” Dominic said.
Anthony slipped the phone into his pocket.
“It’s nothing.”
“Then answer.”
“I said it’s nothing.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Your doctor calls while we’re discussing Sofia’s investigation, and you want me to believe coincidence?”
Anthony laughed nervously.
“My doctor?”
“Charles Vane.”
The laugh disappeared.
Bianca stared at him.
“You know him.”
“Everyone knows him.”
“No,” I said. “Not everyone receives his calls at eleven-thirty at night.”
Anthony looked at me.
Something ugly entered his expression.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Dominic moved instantly between us.
“Careful.”
Anthony’s eyes shifted.
“She’s a waitress, Dominic.”
“She saved my son.”
“She interfered.”
“That interference is why Matteo is alive.”
Anthony said nothing.
I watched him.
Then I understood something.
“You knew Matteo was vomiting.”
His face remained blank.
“You were at Bellavita for hours. Marco said Matteo had vomited three times.”
No answer.
“You never looked surprised.”
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“Anthony.”
“I thought he had reflux.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything when Elena asked?”
Anthony’s jaw flexed.
The phone rang again.
Dr. Vane.
Dominic held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
That single word changed the room.
Marco moved.
Anthony stepped backward.
“Don’t.”
Dominic’s voice became deadly calm.
“Phone.”
Finally Anthony surrendered it.
Dominic answered.
He said nothing.
Dr. Vane spoke first.
“Anthony?”
Dominic’s eyes met mine.
Vane continued.
“Did the boy make it through?”
Every person in the room froze.
Dominic’s expression became terrifying.
He pressed speaker.
Anthony lunged.
Marco grabbed him.
Dr. Vane heard the struggle.
“Anthony?”
Dominic finally spoke.
“My son is alive.”
Silence.
Then the line disconnected.
Dominic lowered the phone.
Anthony stopped fighting.
The truth had entered the room.
Not all of it.
But enough.
“What did he mean?” Bianca whispered.
Anthony said nothing.
Dominic stepped closer.
“What did Vane mean?”
Anthony looked at him.
“You don’t understand.”
“Explain.”
“I protected this family.”
“From my six-week-old son?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
Anthony looked toward me.
“That woman shouldn’t be here.”
Dominic grabbed him by the collar.
“She stays.”
I expected violence.
Instead Dominic pushed him into a chair.
“Talk.”
Anthony’s breathing became ragged.
“This started before Matteo.”
“I know.”
“Sofia found records.”
“Of what?”
“Vane made mistakes.”
“Medical mistakes?”
“Yes.”
“And you paid families?”
“To avoid lawsuits.”
Bianca stared.
“With charity money?”
Anthony looked away.
Dominic’s face hardened.
“How many children?”
“Dominic—”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lie again and we’re finished.”
Anthony swallowed.
“Seven.”
I stopped breathing.
Seven children.
“Did any die?” I asked.
Anthony looked at me.
That was enough.
“How many?”
His silence answered.
I moved toward him.
“Was Leo Russo one of them?”
Anthony’s face changed.
Not dramatically.
But I saw recognition.
Dominic saw it too.
“Elena,” he said quietly.
I didn’t hear him.
I crossed the room.
“My son. Leo Russo. Eleven months old. Congenital heart defect. Four years ago.”
Anthony looked down.
“What did Vane do?”
My voice shook.
“What did he do?”
Anthony whispered, “I don’t remember.”
I slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Marco didn’t stop me.
Dominic didn’t move.
I had never hit anyone in my life.
My palm burned.
“Remember.”
Anthony slowly looked up.
“He recommended an experimental medication protocol.”
My heart stopped.
“What medication?”
“He said it could stabilize children before surgery.”
“Was it approved?”
“No.”
The room tilted.
“He used my son as a test?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?”
“He thought it would work.”
“You let him experiment on sick babies.”
Anthony’s voice rose.
“I didn’t know at first!”
“But Sofia found out.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
“And she confronted you?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“She said she was taking everything to Dominic.”
Dominic looked like stone.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Nobody believed him.
Anthony looked at Dominic.
“I swear.”
“Then why was she dead three months later?”
“I didn’t kill her.”
“Did Vane?”
“No.”
“Did you ask someone else?”
“No!”
Dominic leaned close.
“Then why were you following her three days before she died?”
Anthony looked confused.
“What?”
Marco put the photograph on the desk.
Anthony stared at it.
His confusion looked real.
“That’s not what you think.”
“Explain.”
“I followed her because she was meeting Vane.”
“Why?”
“I thought she was going to force him to confess.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I lost her.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Lost her?”
“She left Vane’s clinic through the back entrance.”
Anthony rubbed his face.
“I went home.”
“And three days later she died.”
“Yes.”
The pieces didn’t fit.
Anthony was corrupt.
Cowardly.
Complicit in terrible medical misconduct.
But I wasn’t convinced he killed Sofia.
Then Bianca asked the question nobody had considered.
“Why did Vane call you asking if Matteo made it?”
Anthony looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Wrong answer.”
“I don’t!”
His panic became real.
“I told him Matteo was sick earlier today.”
“Why?”
“Because he has treated him.”
“When?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Since Sofia died.”
Dominic’s face went white.
“You brought Vane into my house?”
“Bianca did.”
Everyone turned.
Bianca froze.
“What?”
Anthony stared at her.
“You called him.”
Bianca shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Stop lying.”
“I’m not.”
Dominic looked at his sister.
“Bianca?”
She backed away.
“I called the number Sofia left.”
“What number?”
“In the nursery.”
She swallowed.
“After Sofia died, I found a card taped behind the changing table. It said, ‘If Matteo gets sick, call this doctor.’”
“Vane?”
“I didn’t know who he was.”
“That makes no sense,” I said.
Sofia was investigating Vane.
Why would she recommend him for her baby?
Unless she hadn’t.
“Do you still have the card?”
Bianca nodded.
We found it upstairs.
The handwriting looked like Sofia’s.
But Dominic stared at it.
“That’s not hers.”
Bianca frowned.
“It looks exactly like it.”
“No.”
He pointed.
“Sofia never wrote the number seven like that.”
Small detail.
Critical detail.
Someone had forged the note.
Someone wanted Vane inside Dominic’s house.
Someone had wanted Matteo’s symptoms dismissed.
Then my eyes moved toward the crib.
There was a baby monitor beside it.
“Does that record?”
Bianca looked.
“Yes.”
“Cloud backup?”
“I think so.”
Marco immediately grabbed the tablet.
Twenty minutes later, we found archived footage.
Most of it was ordinary.
Matteo sleeping.
Bianca feeding him.
Nannies entering and leaving.
Then we reached three nights earlier.
At 2:14 a.m., someone entered the nursery.
A man.
He wore a cap.
Face partly hidden.
He approached the crib.
He opened the formula container.
And poured something inside.
Dominic went perfectly still.
Marco froze the image.
The man turned slightly.
We could see his face.
It wasn’t Anthony.
It wasn’t Dr. Vane.
It was Victor.
My manager from Bellavita.
The man who had grabbed my wrist and whispered:
“We are invisible tonight.”
My blood turned cold.
Dominic looked at me.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He’s my manager.”
Anthony stared at the screen.
Then he whispered something none of us expected.
“That’s Sofia’s brother.”
I turned toward him.
“What?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Victor Bellini.”
Everything inside me went cold.
Victor hadn’t been afraid of Dominic Moretti.
He had been afraid I would save Matteo.
---