Chapter 1 - Nineteen Nights of Silence
AT 12:43 A.M., THE MAFIA BOSS RETURNED HOME AND FOUND HIS YOUNG MAID ASLEEP ON THE FLOOR BESIDE HIS FATHER'S WHEELCHAIR. BEFORE HE COULD SPEAK, HIS FIANCÉE KICKED AWAY THEIR ONLY BLANKET AND CALLED THE GIRL LAZY. BUT WHEN A SMALL NOTEBOOK FELL FROM THE MAID'S HAND, HE DISCOVERED WHY SHE HADN'T SLEPT PROPERLY IN NINETEEN NIGHTS.
“GET UP! I'M NOT PAYING YOU TO SLEEP!”
Vanessa Sterling kicked the faded blue blanket across the marble floor.
Emily Carter, twenty-four, jerked awake.
But instead of defending herself, she immediately turned toward the elderly man in the wheelchair.
“Mr. Romano? Can you breathe?”
Her trembling fingers touched his wrist.
Antonio Romano, seventy-nine, opened his eyes.
“I'm all right, sweetheart.”
Only then did Emily exhale.
Dominic Romano stood in the doorway, still wearing his black overcoat.
He'd returned from New York unexpectedly.
His father was sitting in his wheelchair beside the fireplace, while Emily had been sleeping on the cold floor, her cheek resting against the armrest.
“What's going on?” Dominic asked.
Vanessa immediately smiled.
“Darling, your maid has been sleeping on duty again.”
Emily lowered her eyes.
“I'm sorry, sir.”
Dominic noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes.
Then he saw something fall from her lap.
A small notebook.
He picked it up.
The cover read:
Antonio — Night Care.
Dominic opened it.
Night 1 — 1:17 a.m. Breathing difficulty. Called nurse.
Night 6 — 2:40 a.m. Woke frightened. Stayed until he slept.
Night 12 — 3:08 a.m. Shortness of breath after evening medication.
Night 19 — 12:21 a.m. Asked me not to leave him alone.
Dominic slowly looked at Emily.
“You've stayed awake with him for nineteen nights?”
Emily swallowed.
“He gets frightened when he can't breathe, sir.”
Dominic stared.
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“She's exaggerating. Your father is just getting old.”
Antonio suddenly gripped Emily's hand.
“She stays because I'm afraid,” he whispered.
Dominic turned toward him.
“Dad?”
The old man's eyes filled.
“Sometimes I wake up and can't catch my breath. I thought I was going to die alone.”
Dominic felt his chest tighten.
Emily gently adjusted Antonio's cardigan.
“He asked me to sit beside him. I didn't want him to be scared.”
“Were you paid for these extra nights?” Dominic asked.
Emily shook her head.
“No, sir.”
“Why not?”
She looked at Antonio.
“Because he reminds me of my grandfather. Nobody should have to beg someone to stay when they're frightened.”
Dominic couldn't speak.
Then he turned another page.
Something was different.
Emily had circled the same medication name eleven times.
Beside each entry, she'd written the time Antonio began struggling to breathe.
Dominic frowned.
“What's this?”
Emily hesitated.
“His new evening pill.”
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
Dominic looked up.
“What new pill?”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“The doctor changed his prescription last month.”
Dominic stared at the notebook.
Every recorded breathing episode had occurred after the medication change.
“Who arranged it?”
Vanessa answered too quickly.
“I did. His doctor approved everything.”
Dominic turned toward Emily.
“Did my father have these episodes before?”
She shook her head.
“Not like this.”
Vanessa snapped, “Dominic, don't take medical advice from a maid!”
But Emily quietly pointed toward the final entry.
Night 19 — Medication given at 9:00 p.m. Breathing difficulty at 10:12 p.m. Called Dr. Whitmore's office. They said there was no record of a prescription change.
Dominic went completely still.
He read the sentence again.
Then slowly raised his eyes toward Vanessa.
“You told me his doctor changed the medication.”
Vanessa stepped backward.
“He did.”
Dominic held up the notebook.
“Then why does his office have no record of it?”
For the first time, Vanessa had no answer.
Dominic immediately called for medical assistance and instructed the staff to preserve Antonio's medication bottles and records.
Then Antonio began crying.
“Dominic…”
His son knelt beside him.
“What is it, Dad?”
The old man's shaking hand pointed toward Vanessa.
“She told me not to tell you about the pills.”
Dominic froze.
Antonio swallowed.
“She said if I kept waking Emily up, she'd send her away—and next time, nobody would come when I called.”
Emily covered her mouth.
Dominic slowly stood.
He looked at the blanket lying on the floor.
At the exhausted young woman who had protected his father for nineteen nights.
And at the fiancée who had just tried to humiliate her.
Then his phone rang.
It was the nurse returning his urgent call.
“Mr. Romano,” she said, “I checked the medication list you sent.”
Dominic gripped the phone.
“And?”
The nurse hesitated.
“Sir, one of those medications isn't on your father's current prescription list. We need the prescribing records immediately.”
Dominic looked directly at Vanessa.
Her face had turned white.
And when he glanced down at Emily's notebook again, he noticed something he'd missed.
On the final page, beneath the medication entries, Emily had written:
Mrs. Sterling told Daniel to replace the bottle before Dominic comes home.
Daniel.
Dominic's head of security.
The man who controlled every entrance to the mansion.
And the only person who knew Dominic was returning early.
May you like
If Daniel had known about the medication, why hadn't he warned him? And what had Vanessa been so desperate to remove before Dominic came home?
Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover what the missing prescription records reveal. Thank you for reading!
