CHAPTER 2: THE ENEMY INSIDE THE HOSPITAL
Three hours later the laboratory results arrived.
Claire had been right.
Every terrifying detail.
The tubing contained traces of a toxic industrial compound.
A substance never used in modern neonatal care.
The reaction explained everything.
The organ failure.
The cardiovascular collapse.
The neurological distress.
Leonardo hadn't been dying from illness.
He had been poisoned.
Dominic Moretti's fury transformed the hospital.
Elevators locked down.
Security footage seized.
Employees questioned.
Nobody left the building.
The police arrived.
Then federal investigators.
Then lawyers.
Lots of lawyers.
Because poisoning the nephew of Dominic Moretti wasn't merely a crime.
It was a death sentence for whoever committed it.
If Dominic found them first.
Meanwhile Claire remained beside the incubator.
The doctors who mocked her now followed her suggestions carefully.
Not because she outranked them.
Because she was right.
Together they implemented aggressive detoxification measures.
Experimental support treatments.
Emergency interventions.
Hour by hour, Leonardo fought.
And slowly...
Very slowly...
The monitor began changing.
A stronger heartbeat.
Better oxygen levels.
Tiny improvements.
Enough to matter.
Then security discovered something shocking.
The tubing replacement appeared on surveillance footage.
A nurse entered storage shortly before Leonardo arrived.
Not a stranger.
Not an outsider.
One of the hospital's own employees.
Angela Whitaker.
Senior neonatal nurse.
Respected.
Trusted.
Twenty years of service.
No disciplinary history.
No obvious motive.
When investigators confronted her, Angela broke almost immediately.
And her confession stunned everyone.
She wasn't targeting Leonardo.
She wasn't targeting the Morettis.
She had been paid to switch equipment.
She never knew why.
Never asked.
She simply needed money.
The payment came through an intermediary.
Cash.
Untraceable.
But one detail changed everything.
Angela remembered a name.
Victor Kane.
A businessman.
Real estate investor.
Public philanthropist.
And Dominic Moretti's biggest rival.
The room went silent.
Because now the attack looked exactly like what it was.
A message.
One delivered through a newborn child.
Even Dominic looked shaken.
Not because of business.
Because someone had chosen a baby as a weapon.
And there are lines even monsters understand should never be crossed.