Chapter 3 - The Lab Report
Two hours later, Marcus Vance sat across from Alessandro in the estate's private study. The heavy mahogany doors were locked. On the glass coffee table sat the butter dish, surrounded by small glass vials and chemical swabs.
Marcus was a broad-shouldered man with a military background, known for his relentless logic. He pulled off his rubber gloves and stared at the dark liquid in one of the vials. His face was grim.
"It's arsenic," Marcus said flatly. "A slow-acting, tasteless liquid compound. Blended into the butter, it would have taken weeks to show symptoms. You would have experienced severe stomach cramps, fatigue, and eventual organ failure. Doctors would have likely misdiagnosed it as an autoimmune breakdown or acute gastroenteritis."
Alessandro felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. "If I had eaten that entire slice..."
"You would have been severely sick by tonight," Marcus replied. "In three months—right around your wedding date—you'd be dead. And Isabella would inherit thirty percent of the Romano estate as your legal widow under your current prenuptial draft."
Alessandro leaned back in his leather chair, staring at the ceiling. The woman he had shared his bed with, the woman he had trusted with his future, was systematically poisoning him.
"Why the rush?" Alessandro murmured. "Why now?"
"Because of the audit," Marcus suggested, opening an iPad on the table. "I ran a deep check on Isabella’s family accounts two hours ago after you called me. The Vance family isn't wealthy anymore, Alessandro. Her father lost everything in bad offshore investments six months ago. They owe forty million dollars to a private syndicate in Chicago. If they don't pay by the end of the year, they lose everything. She needed your money fast."
Alessandro slammed his fist onto the wooden desk, making the crystal glasses rattle. "And she was willing to murder me for it. She was going to frame my stomach illness as natural causes."
"What about the maid's kid?" Marcus asked softly. "Emma?"
"Isabella knows Emma saw something," Alessandro said, his mind racing. "She offered the kid money last night, but after what happened at breakfast, Isabella isn't stupid. She knows Emma warned me."
"Then Emma and her mother are in extreme danger," Marcus warned. "Isabella has resources, and she's desperate."
"Get them out of the main house right now," Alessandro commanded. "Move Sarah and Emma to my private cabin in the Berkshire mountains. Put four armed guards on the property. Tell Sarah it's a paid vacation. She doesn't need to know the full terror of what's happening yet."
"And Isabella?" Marcus asked. "Do we call the police?"
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Alessandro looked at the positive poison test on the table. His eyes burned with a dark, ruthless fire.
"No," Alessandro said coldly. "If we call the cops now, her family's lawyers will twist it. They'll claim the child made it up, that the butter was tampered with by the kitchen staff, or that I orchestrated it. I want a complete, undeniable trap. I want her to expose herself entirely."
