Chapter 5 - THE TEA SHE GAVE HIM EVERY NIGHT
“Who told you it couldn't hurt me?”
Dominic's voice was so controlled that Vanessa began crying harder.
She stood beside the dining table, twisting the diamond ring on her finger.
“A medical adviser. Someone who knew how exhausted you'd become.”
“His name.”
“Dominic, please.”
“His name, Vanessa.”
She looked toward the door.
“I can't tell you.”
He stared at her.
Three weeks ago, he would've believed she was protecting someone else's privacy.
Now he wondered whether she was protecting the person who wanted him dead.
“What did you put in my tea?”
“Drops. Just a few drops of something I was told would help you relax.”
“You drugged me.”
“I was trying to make you rest.”
“You never asked me.”
“You would have refused!”
Dominic took a step backward.
That was the first thing she'd said that sounded completely truthful.
He would have refused.
And she'd decided his consent didn't matter.
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
“You've been angry for months. You barely sleep. Every conversation becomes another argument about your warehouses, your employees, your audits.”
Dominic went still.
“My audits?”
She looked away.
“Your business is consuming you.”
“Three weeks ago, I ordered an independent review of Fulton Cold Storage.”
“That's your decision.”
“And that's when you started putting something in my drinks.”
Vanessa's silence was answer enough.
Dominic felt a terrible coldness settle inside him.
“Did you touch my orange juice yesterday?”
“No.”
“Did you know there was something dangerous in it?”
“No. I swear.”
He studied her.
She looked frightened.
But fear didn't prove innocence.
“Until I know exactly what you've done, our wedding is suspended.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“Dominic!”
“You're not leaving the estate until Raphael has finished asking questions. You'll have your own attorney, and nobody will threaten you. But don't come near my food, my medicine, or my bedroom.”
He turned away.
Behind him, Vanessa spoke through tears.
“If my father's foundation is destroyed, elderly people will lose their care.”
Dominic stopped.
“And if I had drunk that juice, I might have lost my life.”
He left her standing beneath the chandelier.
For a moment, he couldn't remember ever feeling so alone.
An hour later, Raphael brought him another report.
“The bottle planted in Elena's room was purchased recently through a private medical supplier. It wasn't her husband's original prescription.”
“Can you trace the purchaser?”
“Not yet. The account was billed through an intermediary.”
“Connected to the foundation?”
“Possibly.”
Raphael placed a second sheet on the desk.
“There's also a problem with our security system.”
Dominic looked up.
“Explain.”
“The pantry camera stopped recording for eleven minutes yesterday morning. The system says I authorized a maintenance interruption.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Could someone have used your credentials?”
Raphael's face tightened.
“Someone did.”
Dominic stood.
“Who has administrative access?”
“Me. Two technical supervisors. And corporate finance has an emergency override for estate operating systems.”
Dominic frowned.
“Why would finance need that?”
“Your father's administration created it years ago. I never questioned it.”
Dominic remembered Vanessa's words.
An adviser.
Someone who knew how exhausted you'd become.
For the first time, he wondered whether the danger extended beyond his household.
Raphael started toward the door.
Then he hesitated.
“Boss, there's something else.”
Dominic waited.
“I found my name in Mateo Rossi's security file.”
“You said you weren't involved.”
“I didn't remember being involved.”
“What's the difference?”
Raphael swallowed.
“The complaint was handled during the week your father was hospitalized. We were managing threats against the family. I signed dozens of reports.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Did you read Mateo's?”
“Not carefully enough.”
Before Dominic could respond, Elena appeared in the doorway.
She had come to collect Lily's rabbit from the study.
But she'd heard enough.
“What report?”
Raphael looked at her.
Elena's face changed.
“Mr. Costa, what report?”
Raphael lowered his eyes.
“The report about your husband.”
Elena approached him.
“Mateo said he spoke to security before they fired him.”
Raphael said nothing.
She pressed her hand against the desk.
“He came home that night and told me he had begged someone to let him speak to Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic turned toward Raphael.
“Answer her.”
Raphael's voice was barely audible.
“I remember him now.”
Elena went perfectly still.
“He was wearing a brown coat,” Raphael continued. “He had a lunch tin. He kept asking for five minutes with Dominic.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“He had that coat for seven years.”
Raphael looked at Dominic.
“I was told he'd been caught stealing restricted medical inventory.”
“By whom?” Dominic demanded.
Raphael shook his head.
“I believed the report.”
Elena's voice broke.
“What did you do?”
Raphael met her eyes.
“I escorted him off the property.”
For several seconds, Elena couldn't speak.
Then she whispered, “You were the man he told me about.”
Raphael didn't deny it.
Elena stepped backward.
“He came home shaking. He said the guard wouldn't even look at his evidence.”
Dominic stared at the man who had protected him for twelve years.
“Raphael, tell me everything.”
Raphael took a long breath.
May you like
Then he spoke the words that would change the investigation.
“I was the man who turned Mateo away. And I gave the evidence he left behind to someone I trusted.”
