Chapter 5 – THE POISONED TEA CUP

Panic flared in Lorenzo’s eyes.

“She’s going for the safe in the study,” Lorenzo barked, pulling a sleek black handgun from a hidden drawer in the library desk. “She knows the cash reserves are there.”

“No,” Evelyn whispered, her face suddenly turning an ashen gray. “She doesn’t want the money, Lorenzo.”

Evelyn swayed on her feet, clutching her chest. Her breathing grew shallow and ragged.

I rushed forward and caught her before she collapsed onto the rug.

“Mrs. Moretti! Are you okay?”

“My medicine,” Evelyn gasped, her hands shaking violently. “The little blue pills for my heart. Cassandra always brought them to me at night.”

Lorenzo froze.

“She swapped them,” Lorenzo realized, sheer terror replacing his rage. “She’s had the master keys this whole time. She wasn’t just trying to humiliate you, Ma. She’s been poisoning your medication to weaken you.”

“Get a doctor!” I screamed, holding Evelyn’s trembling head in my lap.

“There’s no time,” Lorenzo said, dropping to his knees. “If she took the master keys, she took the antidote. She’s using it as leverage.”

Suddenly, the intercom on the desk crackled to life.

Cassandra’s frantic, breathless voice echoed through the library.

“Lorenzo? Are you there?”

Lorenzo lunged for the button. “If my mother dies, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth.”

Cassandra let out a sharp, hysterical laugh. “Your mother has exactly twenty minutes before her heart stops. I have the digitalis antidote in my pocket.”

“What do you want?” Lorenzo growled.

“Safe passage out of the city. A fueled helicopter on the south lawn in ten minutes. And the deed to the Moretti waterfront properties.”

“Done. Just bring the antidote.”

“I’m not stupid, Lorenzo,” she sneered. “I know your snipers will shoot me the second I step outside. I want Clara to bring me the deed. She meets me in the coat room alone. If I see one guard, I crush the vial.”

Lorenzo looked down at me.

I was holding the woman who had secretly protected me my entire life. My aunt. My family.

I looked up at Lorenzo and nodded.

“Print the deed,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady.

“Clara, no,” Evelyn rasped, gripping my apron. “She’ll kill you.”

“I’m not a maid anymore,” I told her gently, squeezing her hand. “I’m a Moretti. And we protect our own.”

Lorenzo sprinted to the safe, pulled out the waterfront deeds, and handed them to me. His dark eyes were filled with a fierce, burning respect.

“You have five minutes,” Lorenzo said. “I’ll be right behind the door. If she makes a move, drop to the floor.”

I took the papers and ran down the hallway.

The mansion was eerily silent, bathed in the dim light of the crystal sconces.

I reached the coat room near the front entrance. The heavy oak door was slightly ajar.

I pushed it open.

Cassandra was standing in the shadows, still wearing her red satin gown, holding a silver vial in one hand and a heavy, brass fireplace poker in the other.

“Throw the papers on the floor,” Cassandra ordered, her eyes wide and manic.

I tossed the deed at her feet. “Give me the vial.”

Cassandra smiled. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glass bottle.

She held it up.

Then, she deliberately opened her fingers and let it drop.

The glass shattered against the marble floor, the clear liquid pooling into the grout.

“Oops,” Cassandra whispered.

My heart stopped.

She had just signed Evelyn’s death warrant.

“Why?” I screamed, stepping forward.

Cassandra raised the brass poker. “Because a Bellamy always finishes the job. And now, I’m going to finish Vincenzo’s bastard daughter.”

She swung the heavy brass poker directly at my head.

But as the weapon came down, a silver flash caught the light.

A heavy men’s winter coat hanging above Cassandra suddenly fell, dropping over her head and shoulders, blinding her.

She shrieked, swinging wildly.

I didn’t wait. I lunged forward, tackling her to the ground.

As we hit the floor, something hard dug into my knee.

I looked down.

Cassandra’s diamond necklace had snapped in the fall. And hidden inside the large, hollow gold pendant was a second, smaller glass vial.

Share