CHAPTER 2 – The Boy They Needed to Break
CHAPTER 2 – The Boy They Needed to Break
Silvio smiled as though he had been expecting me all along.
His white gloves never seemed to wrinkle.
His dark suit was perfectly pressed.
Only his eyes betrayed him.
They held no warmth.
No hesitation.
Just calculation.
Mrs. Higgins adjusted the sleeping Leo in her arms with surprising tenderness, almost like a loving grandmother.
It made my stomach turn.
Because now I knew.
The gentleness was only another mask.
Silvio slowly removed the flash drive from my trembling fingers.
"I was wondering," he said softly, "when you'd become curious enough to ruin your own life."
I tried to scream.
His hand tightened over my mouth.
"Quiet."
The word came out almost politely.
"You don't want Mr. DeLuca hearing anything... yet."
My pulse hammered inside my ears.
Leo wasn't asleep naturally.
His little head hung too heavily against Mrs. Higgins's shoulder.
His arms dangled without resistance.
Drugged.
Again.
Mrs. Higgins noticed where I was staring.
"He becomes so peaceful after his medicine."
Medicine.
She actually called it medicine.
I lunged forward before I could stop myself.
"You monsters!"
Silvio caught my wrist before I reached them.
The pressure was crushing.
"You care far too much for a child you've known less than two weeks."
His smile widened.
"That makes you dangerous."
Behind us, elevator doors chimed somewhere down the hallway.
Every servant in the penthouse was preparing for tonight's charity gala.
Crystal glasses.
Fresh flowers.
Security teams.
Luxury everywhere.
And hidden beneath it—
A conspiracy built around a three-year-old boy.
Silvio leaned closer until I could smell expensive cologne covering something colder.
"You have two choices."
He held up the flash drive.
"You forget everything."
His voice remained calm.
"Or tonight..."
His eyes shifted toward Leo.
"...people will believe you caused whatever happens."
The words stole the air from my lungs.
He wasn't threatening me.
He was explaining the plan.
Mrs. Higgins gave a disappointed sigh.
"I warned you not to hire another nanny."
Silvio chuckled.
"Oh, she's much more useful than the others."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"Everyone needs someone to blame."
They released me.
Just like that.
No ropes.
No locked room.
No bruises except the fingerprints already forming around my wrist.
Because they knew something terrifying.
Nobody in this house would believe me.
Not the new employee.
Not the woman whose hospital debts had magically disappeared after Matteo rescued her.
By the time I reached my bedroom, my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
The hidden camera was gone.
Every drawer had been searched.
My laptop lay open.
The hard drive had been removed.
Someone had cleaned my room with surgical precision.
A single envelope rested neatly on the pillow.
Inside was a typed note.
Stop asking questions.
Or your mother dies before sunrise.
I stared at those words until they blurred.
Then I looked at my phone.
Seven missed calls.
All from Saint Catherine Memorial Hospital.
My heart nearly stopped.
I answered immediately.
A nurse's cheerful voice greeted me.
"Miss Carter? We were just calling to confirm your mother's transfer to the new oncology suite."
"What?"
"Mr. DeLuca personally donated enough to cover her treatment."
Relief crashed into me so violently my knees nearly gave out.
She was alive.
For now.
But someone had known exactly how to frighten me.
They had access to everything.
Even the hospital.
That evening, the DeLuca penthouse transformed into something out of a magazine.
Politicians.
Judges.
Business moguls.
Celebrities.
People who smiled for cameras while pretending not to notice the armed men guarding every entrance.
Outside, Manhattan glittered beneath thousands of lights.
Inside, danger wore tuxedos.
I found Matteo alone in his study adjusting his cuff links.
He looked exhausted.
More tired than powerful.
He glanced up.
"You've been avoiding me."
"I need to tell you something."
His expression sharpened immediately.
"What happened?"
For one second...
One perfect second...
I almost told him everything.
Silvio.
Mrs. Higgins.
The poison.
The hidden camera.
The threats.
Then the study door opened.
Silvio walked in carrying a folder.
He smiled politely.
"Sorry to interrupt."
His eyes met mine for only a heartbeat.
It was enough.
One tiny shake of his head.
One silent warning.
Your mother.
Matteo noticed neither of us speaking.
"Emma?"
I forced a smile that felt like broken glass.
"It can wait."
Silvio's grin deepened almost invisibly.
"Excellent."
He handed Matteo several documents.
"The mayor has already arrived."
Matteo nodded.
"I'll be there."
As Silvio turned away, he deliberately brushed past me.
Without looking at me, he whispered barely loud enough to hear.
"Good girl."
Every instinct inside me screamed to attack him.
Instead...
I stood perfectly still.
The ballroom shimmered beneath enormous crystal chandeliers.
Reporters crowded the entrance.
Camera flashes exploded every few seconds.
Leo stood beside his father wearing a tiny navy-blue tuxedo.
His small hand gripped mine so tightly it almost hurt.
He hadn't smiled once all afternoon.
He kept scanning the room.
Searching.
Waiting.
Then he froze.
Across the ballroom...
Mrs. Higgins appeared carrying a silver tray of sparkling apple juice.
Leo's breathing changed instantly.
His fingers dug painfully into my hand.
"No..."
he whispered.
So quietly I almost missed it.
"No juice."
I knelt beside him.
"You don't have to drink anything you don't want."
His frightened hazel eyes lifted toward mine.
"They get mad."
"Who gets mad?"
Before he could answer—
Mrs. Higgins arrived.
Her smile was flawless.
"I made his favorite."
She held out the glass.
Leo's entire body began trembling.
Matteo frowned.
"Leo."
His voice was gentle but firm.
"You've barely had anything today."
Mrs. Higgins offered the cup again.
"Just a sip, sweetheart."
Every muscle in my body locked.
This was it.
The moment from the recording.
The breakdown they had planned.
If Leo drank from that glass...
Whatever happened next would unfold in front of two hundred powerful witnesses.
I looked across the room.
Silvio stood near the orchestra.
Watching.
Waiting.
Almost...
Excited.
Mrs. Higgins pushed the cup closer.
Leo started crying before it even reached his lips.
The room slowly began turning toward us.
Exactly as planned.
I had only seconds to decide.
Stay silent...
Or expose the conspiracy in front of every camera in New York.
And before I could make that choice—
A sharp crack echoed through the ballroom.
The crystal glass exploded in Mrs. Higgins's hand.
Apple juice splashed across the marble floor.
Every guest gasped.
At the far end of the room, Matteo DeLuca stood with a smoking pistol still raised.
His eyes never left Mrs. Higgins.
May you like
Then, in a voice so cold the entire ballroom fell silent, he said—
"Nobody gives my son another drink until I taste it first."
