Chapter 6 - Forty-Two Percent
Damian was revived after forty-three seconds.
When his heart began beating again, Vincent fell to his knees.
Nicholas did not.
He stood beside the bed with bloodless knuckles and watched doctors stabilize his cousin.
The orderly escaped.
That was worse.
Security found his uniform near a service entrance.
Fake identification.
No fingerprints in the employee database.
No one could explain how he had entered.
Claire could.
“Someone approved him.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“They don’t need to sneak into your house if your systems already recognize them.”
Marco swore quietly.
Nicholas turned.
“Audit every credential.”
“Already started.”
Claire looked toward Damian.
“He was poisoned again?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Injected with a sedative combination that triggered severe arrhythmia.”
Nicholas’s expression hardened.
“Will he wake up?”
“Likely.”
“When?”
“Hours. Maybe longer.”
They had lost their witness.
Again.
But not everything Damian said had been lost.
Forty-two percent.
The trust.
Alessandra.
Nicholas took Claire into his father’s old office.
Evelyn joined them.
For the first time since Claire arrived, the older woman walked in without her walker.
Slowly.
With Nicholas’s arm beneath hers.
But walking.
Claire hid her smile.
Evelyn saw it.
“You’re counting.”
“No.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
“Eight steps.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
Nicholas almost laughed.
They opened Michael Caruso’s trust documents.
The structure was complicated.
Intentionally.
Nicholas’s father had placed forty-two percent of voting control into Evelyn’s name.
If she died, Nicholas inherited it.
If she voluntarily relinquished control, Nicholas received it.
But if she became legally incompetent while living, temporary voting authority passed to the oldest living Caruso board trustee.
Alessandra Caruso.
Michael’s sister.
Nicholas sat back.
“Why would my father do that?”
Evelyn answered.
“Because when this was written, you were twenty-six and reckless.”
“I wasn’t that reckless.”
She stared.
“You drove a Lamborghini through a restaurant window.”
“The brakes failed.”
“You were drunk.”
“Those facts can coexist.”
Claire coughed to hide laughter.
Nicholas gave her a look.
Evelyn continued.
“Michael trusted Alessandra.”
“Did you?”
“Then?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Evelyn looked toward the snow beyond the window.
“No.”
Alessandra arrived at four that afternoon.
Uninvited.
Claire saw her from the kitchen.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Perfect cream coat.
She looked like old money and expensive attorneys had somehow combined into one human being.
Nicholas met her in the foyer.
“You weren’t invited.”
Alessandra removed her gloves.
“My nephew nearly died.”
“How did you know?”
A tiny pause.
Then she smiled.
“Vincent called.”
Nicholas glanced toward Marco.
Vincent’s phone had been confiscated.
Alessandra realized her mistake.
Too late.
Claire watched from the hall.
Nicholas spoke quietly.
“Try again.”
Alessandra’s smile returned.
“Your employees gossip.”
“My employees cannot contact anyone outside the estate.”
“Then perhaps your security isn’t as impressive as you think.”
Nicholas stepped closer.
“Why are you here?”
“To see my sister-in-law.”
“No.”
“Nicholas.”
“No.”
Alessandra’s gaze moved beyond him.
Toward Claire.
“So that’s the cook.”
Claire raised a hand.
“Hello.”
Alessandra examined her with open disdain.
“I expected someone more…”
Claire smiled.
“Thin?”
Alessandra’s eyebrows lifted.
“Professional.”
“Good save.”
Nicholas coughed.
It might have been a laugh.
Alessandra did not appreciate it.
“I understand you have been filling Evelyn’s head with theories.”
“I fill bowls.”
“Stay in the kitchen.”
Claire’s expression changed.
Nicholas said, “Don’t speak to her that way.”
Both women turned toward him.
Claire was more surprised than Alessandra.
His aunt smiled slowly.
“Interesting.”
Nicholas’s voice became cold.
“Leave.”
Alessandra reached into her handbag.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
She handed him an envelope.
Court papers.
Nicholas read.
His face darkened.
“What is this?”
“A petition.”
“For guardianship?”
“Temporary emergency guardianship.”
Evelyn appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Nobody is becoming my guardian.”
Alessandra looked up.
“My dear.”
“Don’t dear me.”
Alessandra softened her voice.
“You’ve been very ill.”
“I know.”
“You’ve been paranoid.”
“I was poisoned.”
“You believe you were poisoned.”
Nicholas stepped forward.
“She was.”
“The hospital found no conclusive source.”
Claire saw Evelyn’s hands begin trembling.
Alessandra continued.
“You have refused food. Accused staff. Now you’re allowing a stranger who arrived three days ago to influence family decisions.”
Claire understood.
This had never only been about making Evelyn sick.
It was about making her look unstable.
Every fear.
Every refusal.
Every accusation.
Evidence for court.
Nicholas tore the papers in half.
Alessandra smiled.
“That doesn’t stop a hearing.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
Claire stared.
Fast.
Too fast.
Prepared in advance.
Nicholas knew it too.
“You filed this before Damian returned.”
Alessandra said nothing.
Evelyn began walking downstairs.
Nicholas moved to help.
She waved him away.
“I can walk.”
She reached the final step.
Then looked directly at Alessandra.
“You poisoned me.”
Alessandra’s expression did not change.
“You need rest.”
“You were at the table.”
“So were fifteen people.”
“You changed my tonic.”
Claire’s head turned.
“What tonic?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Digestive tonic. I drank it every night before dinner.”
Nicholas frowned.
“You stopped years ago.”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Alessandra started bringing it again last spring.”
Silence.
Alessandra laughed.
“Herbal bitters.”
Claire stared.
“Who bottled it?”
“The foundation clinic.”
There it was again.
Medical foundation.
Helena Voss.
The ledger.
Claire asked, “Do you still have a bottle?”
Rosa answered from behind them.
“One.”
Alessandra turned sharply.
Claire saw the reaction.
So did Nicholas.
Rosa hurried toward the pantry.
Alessandra stepped backward.
Nicholas blocked the door.
“Going somewhere?”
“My attorney.”
“You’ll call him from here.”
Rosa returned holding a dark green bottle.
Sealed.
Nearly full.
Evelyn stared at it.
“That’s the one.”
Claire did not touch it.
Marco bagged it.
Alessandra laughed softly.
“You think an old bottle proves anything?”
“No,” Claire said.
“But your face did.”
Alessandra looked at her.
For the first time, hatred replaced elegance.
“You should have stayed in your kitchen.”
Claire smiled.
“I hear that a lot.”
The court hearing began the next morning.
Alessandra’s attorney presented medical records showing weight loss.
Anxiety.
Refusal to eat.
Paranoid statements.
Confusion after poisoning.
Every symptom caused by the attack was being used to take away Evelyn’s rights.
Claire sat behind Nicholas.
Evelyn sat beside him.
Then Alessandra’s lawyer called the next witness.
“Claire Donnelly.”
Claire froze.
Nicholas turned.
“What?”
Claire stood.
She had not expected this.
The attorney smiled.
“Ms. Donnelly, you have substantial personal debt, correct?”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Medical debt.”
“More than eighty thousand dollars?”
“My father’s treatment.”
“And Nicholas Caruso offered you triple your normal rate to work for his mother?”
“Yes.”
“So you are financially dependent upon Mr. Caruso.”
“No.”
“You need his money.”
Claire looked toward Nicholas.
He seemed ready to climb across the table.
She answered calmly.
“I need money the way every person who buys groceries needs money.”
Several people smiled.
The attorney did not.
“Did Mr. Caruso ask you to persuade Mrs. Caruso that Alessandra poisoned her?”
“No.”
“Did he pay you to locate allegedly contaminated silverware?”
“No.”
“Did you personally send that silverware for testing?”
“No.”
“Then your entire story depends on Mr. Caruso’s security team.”
Claire understood the strategy.
Make her look bought.
Make Nicholas look manipulative.
Make Evelyn look controlled.
The attorney approached.
“Isn’t it true, Ms. Donnelly, that you slept in Mr. Caruso’s home?”
Claire blinked.
“Yes.”
Murmurs.
Nicholas’s expression turned murderous.
The attorney smiled.
“Interesting.”
Claire understood the implication.
She also decided she hated him.
“I wore rabbit pajamas.”
The judge looked confused.
The gallery laughed.
Claire continued.
“I slept in a guest room because someone threatened to kill me after I found suspicious residue on Mrs. Caruso’s spoon.”
The attorney’s smile faded.
“Allegedly.”
“Then I was locked inside a refrigerated pantry.”
More murmurs.
“Allegedly.”
“There’s footage.”
He changed subjects.
Claire looked toward Evelyn.
The older woman smiled.
Small.
Proud.
Then Evelyn’s smile disappeared.
Her hand moved to her chest.
“Claire.”
Claire stood.
Evelyn collapsed.
Nicholas caught her before she struck the floor.
“Mom!”
Chaos erupted.
Claire dropped beside them.
Evelyn’s eyes rolled back.
Her breathing became shallow.
Nicholas shouted for an ambulance.
Claire stared at Evelyn’s arm.
A small medication patch was attached near her shoulder.
The nurse had replaced it that morning.
Claire pointed.
“Take that off.”
The nurse froze.
“What?”
“The patch.”
“It’s prescribed.”
“FROM WHERE?”
The nurse looked terrified.
“The foundation pharmacy.”
Claire ripped it away.
Alessandra stood twenty feet away.
May you like
Watching.
And for the first time since Claire had met her, the woman was smiling.
