Chapter 1 - The Trapped Room
The heavy mahogany door clicked shut with a terrifying finality.
I spun around, pulling Mia tightly against my legs to shield her.
Adrian Moretti stood perfectly still, blocking our only exit.
His dark, calculating eyes shifted from the printed medication schedule on the desk to my trembling five-year-old daughter.
The air in the study suddenly felt incredibly thin.
"What exactly did she just say?" Adrian asked, his voice dangerously quiet.
I swallowed hard, my protective instincts screaming at me to run.
"She is just a child with an active imagination," I lied quickly.
Adrian slowly took a step forward, closing the distance between us.
He crouched down so he was at eye level with Mia.
"Mia, sweetheart, I need you to tell me exactly who you saw touching my mother's drink," he said softly.
Mia peeked out from behind my jeans, pointing a tiny finger at a framed photograph on the bookshelf.
"That lady with the pretty red hair," Mia answered honestly.
Adrian followed her gaze, and all the color instantly drained from his face.
The woman in the photograph was smiling warmly with her arms wrapped around him.
"That is my sister, Isabella," he whispered, mostly to himself.
He stood up abruptly, running a frustrated hand through his dark hair.
"Mr. Moretti, please just let us leave," I begged, taking a step toward the door.
"You cannot go anywhere now," he replied, pulling a sleek black handgun from his tailored jacket.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs as I prepared to fight for my daughter's life.
But he didn't point the weapon at us.
Instead, he racked the slide and aimed it directly at the closed study door.
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"If Isabella knows your daughter saw her poisoning my mother, neither of you will survive the trip back to Manhattan," he stated grimly.
Before I could process his terrifying warning, the brass handle of the door began to turn.
