Chapter 6 - The Assistant with the ScarAaron Ellis arrived in a navy sedan and a suit too expensive for a doctor’s assistant.
He did not come through the front gate like a man entering enemy territory. He came like someone who had been there before and expected doors to open.
That was his first mistake.
His second was asking for Renata.
His third was smiling when the guard said she was waiting inside.
We watched him from Lorenzo’s office through security glass. Leo slept in a medical bassinet beside Dr. Rowe. Every breath he took seemed to pull the whole room with it.
Lorenzo stood behind his desk.
Massimo stood by the door.
I stood where nobody had asked me to stand and nobody had dared tell me to leave.
On the screen, Aaron Ellis followed two guards through the side entrance. He was handsome in a polished, empty way. Brown hair. Smooth face. Calm eyes.
Then he removed his glove to text someone.
A white scar marked his thumb.
Travis made a choking sound from the corner where two guards held him.
“That’s him.”
Lorenzo did not look at Travis.
“Bring Ellis to the blue room,” he said.
Massimo nodded.
Ten minutes later, Aaron Ellis sat in a velvet chair under a painting of Lorenzo’s dead wife.
He finally understood something was wrong.
His smile thinned when Lorenzo entered.
“Mr. Rossi,” Ellis said. “I wasn’t expecting—”
“No,” Lorenzo said. “You were expecting a dead woman.”
Ellis’s face barely moved.
Barely.
But I saw it.
So did Lorenzo.
The room was silent except for the low hum of hidden recording equipment. Massimo had told me every word would be saved. Evidence, he said. For what court, I did not know. Men like Lorenzo Rossi had their own versions of justice, but something about Leo had changed the rules.
Lorenzo wanted proof.
He wanted names.
He wanted the whole rot exposed before he cut it out.
Ellis folded his hands. “I don’t understand.”
I stepped from behind Lorenzo.
Ellis saw me.
For the first time, fear cracked his face.
“Hello, Aaron,” I said.
His eyes darted to Lorenzo. “This woman is unstable. She recently lost a child. Dr. Hale was concerned she might become attached to—”
Lorenzo struck him.
Not with a fist.
With silence.
He simply looked at him, and Ellis stopped talking.
Dr. Rowe entered carrying a folder. She placed it on the table.
“These are feeding logs from the last three weeks,” she said. “All signed by Dr. Hale’s team. Every log claims Leo refused oral intake.”
Ellis swallowed.
Dr. Rowe laid down another sheet.
“These are weight records pulled from the smart bassinet before someone tried to erase them. They show Leo was not offered the amounts recorded. Bottles were weighed before entering the nursery, but not after.”
Massimo placed a plastic bag on the table.
Inside was a pacifier.
“This was found inside Renata’s locked cabinet,” he said.
Dr. Rowe’s voice sharpened. “It tested positive for a bitter compound used to create feeding aversion.”
My stomach turned.
They had not only starved him.
They had trained him to fear eating.
Lorenzo’s face went completely still.
Ellis began sweating.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
Massimo leaned in. “Your fingerprint is on the case.”
Ellis looked trapped for half a second.
Then he made a different choice.
“You don’t understand what your uncle is trying to prevent,” he said.
Lorenzo tilted his head. “There he is.”
Ellis shut his mouth.
But it was too late.
Lorenzo sat across from him. Calmly. Almost politely.
“Silvio,” he said. “Dr. Hale. Renata. You. Marcone money. My son. Clara Hayes. Connect them.”
Ellis laughed once. It sounded weak.
“You think this is about money?”
“It is always about money.”
“No,” Ellis said. “This is about blood.”
The room changed.
Lorenzo did not blink.
Ellis looked toward the painting of Alessia.
“She knew,” he whispered.
Lorenzo’s voice dropped. “Knew what?”
Ellis smiled, and it was awful because it carried relief. Like he wanted to finally say the thing.
“Your wife knew Leo wasn’t safe before he was born.”
My heart twisted.
Lorenzo leaned forward.
Ellis continued, “She recorded everything. Names. Transfers. Meetings. She hid it somewhere in this house. Silvio has been looking since she died.”
“Why not just kill Leo?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Ellis looked at me with contempt.
“Because a dead infant brings police, grief, publicity. A fading heir brings doctors, sympathy, signatures. If Leo was declared permanently impaired, Silvio could control the trust. If he died later, after the transfer, everything moved cleanly.”
The room spun.
“So Clara was a backup plan,” Dr. Rowe said.
Ellis’s eyes flicked to me. “She was insurance. Dr. Hale said a lactating maid might keep the child alive long enough if the decline happened too fast.”
I felt sick.
I had thought I broke the rules.
But they had built the rules around me.
Lorenzo stood.
Ellis finally looked afraid.
“Where is Silvio?” Lorenzo asked.
“I don’t know.”
Massimo grabbed Ellis’s injured thumb and bent it back.
Ellis cried out.
“Where?” Lorenzo repeated.
“At the old opera house,” Ellis gasped. “Marcone’s men arranged transport. Silvio is meeting Hale tonight.”
Lorenzo released him.
Massimo hauled Ellis from the chair.
As the guards dragged him out, Ellis twisted toward me.
“You think feeding that baby makes you innocent?” he spat. “Ask Dr. Hale why your daughter didn’t have to die.”
Everything stopped.
“What did you say?” I whispered.
Ellis smiled through his pain.
“Lily Hayes was never the target.”
Then Massimo dragged him away.
May you like
I stood frozen beneath Alessia Rossi’s portrait while Leo slept in the next room and Lorenzo watched me with a face full of questions neither of us was ready to ask.
Because if Lily had not been the target, then someone had destroyed my baby just to move me into position.
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