Chapter 4 - The Name on the Prescription
By morning, Dominic had turned the penthouse into a command center.
Men came and went through the private elevator. Phones rang in low voices. Laptop screens glowed across the dining table.
Sophie sat in the nursery rocker with Matteo asleep in her arms, trying to ignore the fact that two armed guards had been posted outside the door.
She had not slept.
Neither had Dominic.
At dawn, he entered the nursery without knocking.
He had changed out of his suit into a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The carefully controlled image from Bellavita was gone. He looked tired enough to collapse.
But his eyes were clear.
“Dr. Bennett’s office was hacked,” he said.
Sophie looked up.
“By whom?”
“We don’t know.”
“That means you don’t know yet.”
Dominic’s mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
“What about the pharmacy?”
“The order was placed by someone using a burner phone. Pickup was arranged through a courier service.”
“Can the courier be found?”
“He disappeared.”
Sophie looked down at Matteo.
The baby had tiny fingers curled around one of hers.
“This wasn’t just about making him cry,” she whispered.
“No.”
Dominic sat in the chair across from her.
“The Carusos have been looking for leverage. My son is leverage.”
Sophie felt anger rise in her chest.
Not fear.
Not yet.
Anger.
“He’s a baby.”
“To them, he is my weakness.”
“No,” Sophie said. “He’s your son.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You think that changes the way men like them see him?”
“No,” she replied. “But it should change the way you do.”
The words landed hard.
She expected Dominic to snap.
Instead, he looked away.
Later that morning, Detective Elena Marquez arrived.
She wore a long gray coat and carried herself with the kind of confidence Sophie recognized immediately. Not the theatrical confidence of a gangster. The real kind. The kind earned by walking into bad rooms and coming out alive.
“Mr. Moretti,” the detective said as she entered, “I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I’m here because someone may have committed a crime against your child.”
Dominic gave a humorless smile.
“I’m touched by the concern.”
“Don’t be. I’m concerned about the child.”
Her eyes moved to Sophie.
“And you must be the waitress.”
“Sophie Lane.”
“Detective Marquez.”
The detective took a seat and opened her notebook.
“Tell me exactly what you noticed at the restaurant.”
Sophie explained the crying, the rigid body, the hard stomach, and the signs of discomfort. She described the quiet room, the burping, the soothing movement.
Then Detective Marquez asked about the probiotic drops.
“Do you still have the bottle?” she asked.
Dominic placed it on the table.
The detective slipped it into an evidence bag.
“There may be fingerprints,” she said.
“Do you actually intend to investigate this?” Dominic asked.
She looked at him coldly.
“An infant may have been intentionally given an inappropriate substance. Of course I intend to investigate.”
Sophie liked her immediately.
The detective’s phone rang before she could ask another question.
She listened for less than ten seconds.
Then her expression changed.
“What?” Dominic demanded.
Detective Marquez looked at him.
“The pharmacy security footage was recovered.”
“And?”
“The person who picked up the drops was wearing a delivery uniform.”
“Which company?”
She turned the screen toward him.
Sophie leaned closer.
The logo on the jacket was familiar.
Bellavita Delivery Services.
The restaurant’s private courier partner.
Mr. Halpern’s company.
Sophie’s stomach dropped.
“No,” she whispered.
Dominic looked at her.
“You know him.”
“My manager,” Sophie said. “He was the one who told me to stay away from you.”
“That proves nothing,” Detective Marquez said quickly.
But Sophie remembered the way Mr. Halpern had grabbed her arm.
Stay back.
Heads down.
Nobody says anything.
Had he been trying to protect the restaurant?
Or stop her from reaching Matteo?
Her phone began ringing.
Mr. Halpern’s name flashed across the screen.
Dominic’s men moved instantly.
“Put it on speaker,” Dominic said.
Sophie hesitated.
Then she answered.
“Hello?”
Mr. Halpern’s voice came through, weak and shaking.
“Sophie, listen to me. You can’t stay with Moretti.”
“Why?”
“You don’t understand what you walked into.”
“Then explain it.”
There was a pause.
Then he whispered, “The baby was never supposed to stop crying.”
The line went dead.
Every person in the room went still.
Dominic’s face changed.
The last trace of exhaustion vanished beneath something lethal.
“Find him,” he said.
Detective Marquez stood.
“No one does anything outside the law.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You have a warrant?”
“Not yet.”
“You have a suspect fleeing after admitting knowledge of a crime.”
“I have probable cause,” she said. “And I will get the warrant.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“And if he disappears before then?”
Detective Marquez did not flinch.
“Then I will find him.”
Sophie looked down at Matteo.
His tiny chest rose and fell peacefully.
For the first time since the restaurant, he looked comfortable.
Safe.
But Sophie knew safety could be an illusion.
Someone had used her workplace to reach Dominic’s child.
Someone had planned for Matteo’s pain.
May you like
And now, because Sophie had crossed a line no one else dared touch, the people behind it knew her name.
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