Chapter 3 - The Tainted Vials
At seven o'clock that morning, Doctor Harrison, the syndicate’s chief medical examiner and forensic toxicologist, arrived at the penthouse. He carried a heavy titanium Pelican case filled with chemical testing equipment, his face grave beneath the fluorescent lights.
Dominic stood over him in the master bathroom, watching the physician carefully test the residue inside several glass cosmetic bottles and supplement containers. The room smelled of antiseptic and ozone as the portable spectrometer hummed on the marble counter.
“You told me to analyze every single substance Clara ingested over the past twelve weeks,” Doctor Harrison said, pulling up a digital readout. “We found significant anomalies in her daily prenatal vitamins.”
Dominic’s jaw clenched so tightly the muscle twitched beneath his scarred cheek. “What kind of anomalies?”
Doctor Harrison enlarged a molecular structure on his diagnostic tablet, highlighting a synthetic compound in bright crimson. “These organic gel capsules were carefully spliced and injected with micro-doses of an experimental progestin blocker.”
“Explain it to me in plain English,” Dominic commanded, his voice dropping into a deadly, unyielding register. “What does that chemical do to a pregnant woman?”
“It restricts blood flow to the placenta and weakens the uterine wall over a period of several weeks,” the doctor explained grimly. “It is virtually undetectable in standard blood tests and is designed to induce an irreversible, catastrophic miscarriage around the fourteenth week.”
Dominic felt the world spin on its axis, a sickening wave of horror and nausea clawing at his throat. Clara was twelve weeks pregnant; she had been taking these tainted vitamins every single morning, unaware that someone was methodically assassinating their child from within.
He reached out with a trembling hand, picking up the decorative crystal jar that held the remaining capsules. On the front of the jar was an ornate gold label written in delicate, familiar cursive calligraphy: To Dearest Clara, For your radiant health and inner strength.
It was the personalized wellness gift Genevieve Cross had delivered to the penthouse every single month since the beginning of spring. She had hugged Clara in this very hallway, smiled into her face, and handed her the slow poison disguised as luxury vitamins.
Dominic slammed his fist into the master bathroom mirror, shattering the glass into thousands of spiderweb fractures. His knuckles were dripping blood, but his eyes were filled with the cold, absolute certainty of an executioner.
“She knew,” Dominic whispered, his voice trembling with a rage that shook his entire body. “Genevieve knew Clara was trying to conceive, and she planted a biological weapon in our home.”
He turned to Doctor Harrison, grabbing the digital toxicology report and slipping it into his coat pocket. “Call the tactical strike team and tell them to mobilize at the Southside docks.”
May you like
“Are we raiding the Cross compound, Boss?” Doctor Harrison asked, packing his equipment with nervous speed. “The council will declare war if you move armed men into Highland Park.”
Dominic looked at his own bloodied reflection in the broken mirror, his expression completely devoid of human warmth. “Let them declare war; by noon today, the Cross family will cease to exist in this city.”
