Chapter 1 - The Poisoned Glass and the Midnight Warning
“She’s drunk!” Victoria Langford announced as Allison Reed collapsed in front of two hundred guests.
Three champagne glasses shattered beside the twenty-nine-year-old maid.
“I haven't had alcohol,” Allison whispered. “Only water.”
Victoria, the elegant fiancée of Tampa Mafia boss Julian Ricci, grabbed Allison's wrist and accused her of embarrassing the family.
But Julian noticed something Victoria hadn't expected.
Allison's breathing was uneven. Her eyes wouldn't focus. And the water glass she'd been drinking from carried a strange odor beneath the lemon.
Julian immediately called for an ambulance.
Then he ordered his security chief, Daniel, to preserve the glass.
Security footage revealed Victoria approaching Allison's drink and reaching into her designer purse.
Six minutes of additional footage had been deliberately erased.
The operations manager, Harold Kent, had disappeared.
At the hospital, Allison revealed another disturbing detail. The previous day, she'd seen Victoria leaving Julian's private records room with a man wearing a gold watch with a dark green face.
Julian recognized the watch.
It belonged to his younger brother, Michael.
Allison had also overheard Victoria discussing a photograph from St. Anne's Children's Hospital. It showed a little boy who, according to Victoria, was supposed to be dead.
The investigation uncovered a suspicious change to Julian's father's $120 million family trust.
Then another server arrived at the hospital with symptoms identical to Allison's.
Recovered security footage showed Michael beside Victoria, reaching toward the water glasses.
His lips formed three silent words.
“She knows everything.”
Minutes before midnight, Daniel received a desperate message from the hospitalized server.
THE MAID WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
THEY NEED JULIAN TO SIGN BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Julian opened an envelope Victoria had left on his desk.
Inside was a trust authorization naming an unfamiliar beneficiary.
Elliot Ricci.
Then a young man called Daniel and claimed to be the person Julian's father had left everything to.
“Why shouldn't I sign?” Julian demanded.
“Because someone in your mansion will die if you do.”
The call disconnected.
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And at that exact moment, Victoria knocked on Julian's locked office door.
“Julian, sweetheart. It's almost midnight. Open up.”
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