Chapter 2 - WHAT SECURITY MISSED
“You think my security team is incompetent?”
Liana looked down at Nico sleeping against her chest.
“No.”
Then she looked back at Matteo.
“I think whoever came into this room knew exactly how your security team would search it.”
That silenced him.
Matteo crossed to the crib.
Two weeks earlier, seven men had taken it apart.
Mattress removed.
Frame examined.
Walls scanned.
Every toy searched.
Nothing.
Liana lowered Nico into a padded chair and walked toward the mattress.
“May I?”
Matteo nodded.
She lifted it.
Nothing.
Then she ran her fingers around the stitched border.
Stopped.
“What?”
“The seam.”
“It’s factory stitching.”
“Most of it.”
She pointed.
“Not here.”
Six inches of thread were slightly darker.
Someone had opened the seam and sewn it closed again.
Matteo pulled a folding knife from his pocket.
Liana immediately looked at him.
He paused.
“Relax. It cuts thread.”
“That is not why knives usually make people nervous around you.”
Something almost like amusement crossed his face.
Then disappeared.
He cut three stitches.
Liana reached inside.
Her fingers touched plastic.
She pulled out a tiny transparent pouch.
Inside were two objects.
A microSD card.
And a blue hospital identification bracelet.
Liana stopped breathing.
Matteo noticed.
“What?”
She did not answer.
“Liana.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
Printed on the bracelet:
ELIAS GRAVES
Matteo read the name.
Then looked at her.
“Who is Elias?”
Liana could not speak.
Her hand began shaking so violently the plastic crackled.
Finally:
“My son.”
Matteo’s face changed.
“The baby you buried?”
She nodded.
“Twenty-two days ago.”
Silence swallowed the nursery.
Matteo took one careful step closer.
“How did your dead son’s hospital bracelet get inside my child’s mattress?”
“I don't know.”
“Who had access to it?”
“No one.”
“Think.”
Liana closed her eyes.
The funeral.
Gray sky.
Closed white coffin.
Her mother too sick to attend.
Neighbors.
Priest.
Her twin sister, Mara.
Liana’s eyes opened.
“My sister.”
Matteo became still.
“You have a sister?”
“Twin.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Identical?”
“Yes.”
Everything changed in his face.
He turned toward the tablet.
The woman in the hood.
Nico had seen her face.
Security had not.
Matteo looked at Liana again.
“Where is your sister?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know where your identical twin is?”
“She disappeared after Elias’s funeral.”
“When?”
“Twenty days ago.”
Two days after the burial.
Two days before someone entered the Varric estate.
Matteo picked up the microSD card.
“What does your sister do?”
“Pharmacy technician.”
“Where?”
“Bellweather Compounding.”
His face went completely blank.
Liana noticed.
“What?”
Matteo slowly looked toward Nico.
“That pharmacy prepares my son’s medication.”
Liana’s stomach dropped.
“What medication?”
“A compounded sedative his pediatrician prescribed after his mother died.”
Her face drained.
“Name.”
“What?”
“Tell me the name.”
He did.
Liana backed into the crib.
“No.”
“What?”
“That’s what Elias was taking.”
The room went silent.
Matteo looked at his sleeping son.
Then back at her.
“For what?”
“Reflux and sleep.”
“Nico takes it for agitation.”
“How long?”
“Seven months.”
“What changed three weeks ago?”
Matteo frowned.
“The dose was increased.”
Liana closed her eyes.
Elias had died five days after his own dose was increased.
She whispered:
“Stop giving it to him.”
Matteo’s voice hardened.
“On what medical basis?”
“My son died.”
“That isn't enough.”
She looked at him sharply.
“No. It isn't.”
Her voice broke.
“Which is why my sister spent three weeks screaming that something was wrong while I told her grief was making her crazy.”
Matteo stared at the microSD card.
“We need to read this.”
His private computer had no external network connection.
Daniel Moretti—his head of security, not related despite the surname—brought an adapter.
Matteo said nothing about Liana’s connection.
The card contained seven folders.
Batch numbers.
Pharmacy records.
Photographs.
Audio.
A video file.
The first folder was titled:
ELIAS
Liana sat down.
She could not open it.
Matteo did.
Lab reports.
Medication labels.
Photographs of cloudy liquid inside tiny amber bottles.
Then Mara’s notes:
Batch B-7719. Sedative concentration significantly above prescribed level based on independent sample test.
Liana stopped breathing.
“What does that mean?”
Matteo looked at Daniel.
Daniel shook his head.
“Need a doctor.”
Another file.
NICO VARRIC
Medication batch:
B-7719
Same.
Liana covered her mouth.
“No.”
Matteo stood so quickly the chair moved backward.
“Call Dr. Corbin.”
Liana grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
His eyes dropped to her hand.
She released him immediately.
“Sorry.”
“Why not?”
“If Mara hid this instead of calling his doctor…”
Matteo understood.
“You think Corbin knows.”
“I don't know.”
“Good.”
That answer surprised her.
“What?”
“You said you don't know.”
His voice was controlled again.
“So we don't decide he knows.”
For a mafia boss, that restraint appeared almost painful.
They opened the video.
Mara Graves appeared onscreen.
And Liana felt as though she were looking into a mirror that had learned how to be afraid.
Same dark hair.
Same brown eyes.
Same narrow face.
But Mara looked exhausted.
“If you're watching this, I either finally got someone to listen…”
She swallowed.
“…or something happened to me.”
Liana began crying.
Mara continued.
“My nephew Elias died twenty-two days ago.”
Liana squeezed her eyes shut.
“I work at Bellweather Compounding Pharmacy.”
“After Elias died, I tested the remaining contents of his medicine because the bottle looked wrong.”
“I found a concentration error.”
“I thought it was one mistake.”
“It wasn't.”
She held up a list.
“Twelve pediatric prescriptions came from the same production batches.”
“Three children were hospitalized.”
“One died.”
Elias.
“And one prescription belongs to Nico Varric.”
Matteo’s jaw locked.
Mara continued.
“I tried contacting Dr. Julian Corbin.”
“He told me I was grieving.”
“I contacted Bellweather management.”
“They suspended me.”
“I contacted the state board.”
“Then someone broke into my apartment.”
Liana gasped.
She knew about the break-in.
Mara had told her it was probably random.
The video continued.
“I don't know whether Matteo Varric is part of this.”
His expression did not change.
“But his family company transported the raw pharmaceutical ingredients Bellweather used.”
That landed.
Varric Freight.
Matteo stared.
“If you're Matteo and you're watching this…”
Mara leaned closer to the camera.
“…I did not enter your house to take your baby.”
“I entered because nobody would let me reach you.”
“I needed you to stop giving him the medication.”
“Check the batch.”
“Check the supplier.”
“And please…”
Her voice broke.
“…believe me before another child dies.”
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
Then Nico woke.
His face twisted.
A cry began.
Liana reached for him.
The moment he saw her, he froze.
Both arms lifted.
Matteo stared.
Not confused anymore.
The woman who entered the nursery three weeks earlier had held Nico.
Her face had been hidden from the cameras.
But not from him.
Mara had looked exactly like Liana.
His son had not recognized a stranger.
He had recognized the face of the woman who had entered his room, touched his forehead, and tried to save his life.
Matteo whispered:
“He thinks you're her.”
Liana picked Nico up.
The baby pressed his face into her neck.
“No.”
She began crying.
May you like
“He thinks I'm safe.”
And for the first time that night, Matteo understood the difference.
