Chapter 2 - THE PILLS CELESTE CALLED VITAMINS
By sunrise, Valentina Moretti was in the hospital.
Dante had called her physician the moment I told him about the unmarked pills.
The doctor advised urgent evaluation because Valentina had become unusually sleepy and confused.
I rode in the second car with Patricia, the household manager.
She spent the entire journey twisting a handkerchief between her fingers.
"This is going to be a disaster," she whispered.
I looked toward the hospital entrance.
"Only if someone ignores what happened."
Patricia stared at me.
"Serena, you need to understand something."
"What?"
"Celeste Bowmont isn't simply Dante's girlfriend."
I frowned.
"She's been publicly attached to him for years."
"Her father controls one of the investment firms financing the Moretti construction projects."
My stomach tightened.
"So?"
"So people have lost jobs for questioning her."
I thought about Valentina.
The woman who'd asked me to make pepper soup.
The woman who remembered my mother's name and always insisted I sit down when she noticed I hadn't eaten.
I looked back at Patricia.
"Then somebody should've questioned her sooner."
She said nothing.
Inside the hospital, the doctors reviewed Valentina's medication history and ordered tests.
Dante stood outside the treatment room.
His expression was terrifyingly still.
When he saw me, he approached.
"Tell me exactly what you found."
I repeated everything.
Two pale tablets.
No packaging.
Celeste saying they were vitamins.
Valentina becoming drowsy afterward.
Dante listened without interrupting.
Then he asked:
"Did you keep them?"
I nodded.
"I placed the ones she hadn't taken in a labeled container. I didn't know what else to do."
His expression changed.
"Where are they?"
"In the kitchen's locked medication cabinet."
He called his attorney.
"Have the remaining pills preserved and reviewed through the proper medical and investigative channels."
Then he looked at me.
"Thank you."
I shook my head.
"Please don't thank me until we know what happened."
He nodded slowly.
An hour later, Valentina's doctor emerged.
Her condition was stable.
But the initial assessment raised concerns that she'd received medication not listed among her prescriptions.
Further testing was needed to identify it.
Dante closed his eyes.
For a moment, he looked like a frightened son instead of a mafia boss.
Then Celeste arrived.
She walked into the waiting room wearing a cream-colored coat.
"Oh, thank God," she said. "Is Valentina all right?"
Dante looked at her.
"Where did you get the tablets you gave my mother?"
Celeste stopped.
"What tablets?"
"The ones you called vitamins."
Her eyes flicked toward me.
That single movement told me she knew exactly who had spoken.
Then she laughed.
"Serena misunderstood."
I opened my mouth.
Dante raised one hand.
"Let her answer."
Celeste's smile faltered.
"I bought them at a wellness clinic."
"Which clinic?"
She hesitated.
"I don't remember."
Dante stared.
"You gave my seventy-three-year-old mother unmarked pills from a clinic you can't name?"
Celeste's face hardened.
"You're making this ridiculous."
Then Valentina's doctor returned.
He held a medication reconciliation report.
"Mr. Moretti, we need to speak privately."
Dante looked toward Celeste.
"Anything concerning my mother can be discussed with her consent."
The physician nodded.
Then explained that one of the substances identified was a prescription sedative that could cause serious complications in someone with Valentina's health conditions.
Celeste went pale.
"I didn't know."
Dante's expression changed.
"You didn't know what you were giving her?"
She said nothing.
Then the physician revealed something worse.
According to the hospital records, the same medication had appeared in Valentina's system during an unexplained collapse six months earlier.
Long before I began working at the penthouse.
May you like
Someone had been giving her the wrong medication for months.
And Celeste wasn't the only person with access to her medicine.
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