Chapter 1 - The Last EpiPen
The wineglass struck the wooden floor before Alejandro Moretti did.
It rolled beneath the desk, leaving a dark red trail across the polished boards. Alejandro stumbled sideways, caught the edge of a leather chair, and collapsed beside the bookshelves.
Four-year-old Emma Morales stood frozen in the doorway.
Her yellow dress was slightly wrinkled from sleeping in the car. A rabbit backpack hung from one shoulder, and a stuffed bunny was tucked beneath her arm. She had entered the private study because Alejandro had promised to read her a story before she went home.
Instead, she found him struggling to breathe.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Alejandro tried to answer, but no words came. His hand pressed against his throat. His eyes were open, yet unfocused.
Emma dropped the stuffed bunny.
“Mr. Moretti… wake up!”
She ran toward him, her small shoes slipping near the spilled wine. Alejandro’s breathing had become thin and strained. His face was losing color.
Emma knew that look.
Her mother had shown her pictures. Nurses had practiced with her. Teachers had repeated the same instructions until she could say them from memory.
Get the medicine.
Call an adult.
Do not wait.
Emma tore open the rabbit backpack. A coloring book, a pink water bottle, and two crayons fell onto the floor. At the bottom was a plastic case marked with her name.
She pulled out her prescribed EpiPen.
Her hands trembled.
It was the last one in her backpack.
She had used the other injector two days earlier after accidentally eating a cookie containing peanuts at preschool. Her mother had already ordered replacements, but they had not arrived.
Emma crawled beside Alejandro.
“Please work,” she whispered. “It’s my last one.”
She used it exactly as she had practiced.
For several terrible seconds, nothing happened.
Then Alejandro drew in a sharp breath.
Emma jumped back. Alejandro coughed, rolled slightly onto his side, and dragged air into his lungs. His hand closed around the edge of the carpet.
The study door opened.
Matteo Rossi, head of security for the Moretti estate, rushed inside with two guards.
“Call emergency services!” Matteo shouted.
One guard knelt beside Alejandro while the other spoke into his radio.
Alejandro blinked. His gaze found Emma.
“You…” His voice was weak. “You helped me?”
Emma nodded quickly.
Alejandro looked toward the broken glass and the red stain on the floor.
“Who gave me that wine?”
A faint mechanical click sounded above the bookshelves.
Everyone looked up.
A tiny blue light had appeared beneath the carved wooden frame near the ceiling. The hidden security camera, supposedly disabled months ago, had activated by itself.
Emma pointed at the blinking light.
“That lady touched your glass.”
Matteo pulled a tablet from inside his jacket. His fingers moved rapidly across the screen.
The camera had recorded the study for only forty-seven seconds before Alejandro entered. The video began with an empty room. Then a woman stepped into view.
She approached the desk.
She removed something from her silver evening bag.
She poured it into Alejandro’s wine.
Matteo froze the footage as the woman turned toward the camera.
Her face was clear.
Alejandro stared at the image.
The woman on the screen was Sofia Vale.
His fiancée.
The woman who had shared his home for nearly two years.
The woman who managed the Moretti Foundation.
The woman he had planned to marry in six weeks.
Matteo’s voice dropped.
“Boss… the person who poisoned the wine was the one you trusted to control the foundation accounts.”
Alejandro’s expression turned cold.
Not shocked.
Not confused.
Cold.
“Lock the estate,” he ordered.
Matteo hesitated. “The doctor is on the way.”
“Lock every gate. Search every vehicle. No one leaves.”
Alejandro looked back at the frozen image of Sofia.
A silver bracelet gleamed on her wrist.
Emma picked up her stuffed bunny and hugged it against her chest.
“She saw me,” Emma whispered.
Alejandro turned toward her.
“Who saw you?”
“The lady.”
Emma looked toward the dark hallway beyond the study.
May you like
“She knew I was watching.”
At that moment, every light in the estate went out.
