Chapter 1 - The Mark Behind His Ear
“Has anyone been putting needles behind your son’s ear?”
For several seconds, nobody in the marble foyer moved.
Matteo Varric stared at Liana Graves as if he had misheard her.
Nico remained strangely quiet against her chest.
The nine-month-old who had screamed himself hoarse every night for almost three weeks now rested with his cheek pressed against the red fabric of Liana’s maid uniform.
His tiny fingers curled around one of her buttons.
Matteo stepped closer.
“What did you say?”
Liana swallowed.
Her hands were shaking so badly she was afraid he would see.
She turned Nico slightly and brushed the soft dark hair away from the area behind his left ear.
There.
Just below the hairline.
Three tiny red dots formed a nearly perfect triangle.
They were small enough to miss if someone wasn’t looking for them.
But Liana knew exactly what she was looking at.
Because twenty-two days earlier, she had seen the same marks on her dead daughter.
Matteo’s expression tightened.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
Liana’s voice cracked.
“But my daughter had them.”
One of the guards moved closer.
Matteo lifted one hand without looking at him.
The guard stopped.
Liana continued staring at the marks.
“My baby was four months old.”
She forced herself to breathe.
“Her name was Ava.”
Nico shifted in her arms.
Liana automatically supported his head.
“She got sick suddenly.”
Matteo said nothing.
“The doctors told me it was probably a severe neurological infection.”
Liana’s eyes remained fixed on Nico.
“They said babies can crash fast.”
Her mouth trembled.
“Three days before she died, she started screaming whenever anyone touched the side of her neck.”
Something changed in Matteo’s face.
Liana saw it.
“You’ve seen him do that.”
It wasn’t a question.
Matteo looked at Nico.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Every night.”
“How long?”
“Almost three weeks.”
Liana felt her stomach drop.
She carefully moved her hand toward the skin behind Nico’s ear.
Before she even touched him, Nico flinched.
A frightened little sound escaped him.
Matteo’s eyes darkened.
Liana immediately withdrew her fingers.
“Don’t touch it.”
“What happened to your daughter?”
Matteo’s voice had gone dangerously quiet.
Liana looked at him.
“Ava died.”
“I heard that part.”
His jaw tightened.
“I’m asking what happened before.”
Liana closed her eyes for half a second.
She could still smell the hospital.
Disinfectant.
Plastic tubing.
Coffee that had been sitting too long.
She could still hear the monitor beside Ava’s crib.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
And then nothing.
“She had a fever.”
Liana opened her eyes.
“Then she became sleepy.”
“They admitted her?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Bellmore Children’s Center.”
Matteo went completely still.
Liana noticed.
So did the guards.
“What?”
She whispered.
Matteo didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked toward the older guard standing near the staircase.
“Rafe.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call Dr. Vale.”
Liana’s breath caught.
“What did you say?”
Matteo turned back.
“Dr. Adrian Vale.”
The blood drained from Liana’s face.
“No.”
Matteo stared at her.
“What?”
“That was Ava’s doctor.”
Silence fell again.
This time it felt heavier.
Matteo took one slow step toward her.
“Dr. Vale treated your daughter?”
“He was the specialist they brought in on the second night.”
Nico stirred.
Liana instinctively rocked him.
Matteo looked toward Rafe.
“Don’t call him.”
Rafe lowered his phone.
Matteo’s voice hardened.
“Call Naomi Price.”
Rafe hesitated.
“At Mercy?”
“Her private number.”
“Understood.”
Liana stared at Matteo.
“What’s happening?”
Matteo did not answer immediately.
His gaze returned to the marks behind Nico’s ear.
Then he looked at her.
“My wife died eight months ago.”
“I know.”
Everyone in the city knew.
Sofia Varric’s death had been front-page news.
A late-night car crash.
Rain.
A mountain road.
A burned vehicle.
A beautiful young mother dead less than five weeks after giving birth to the only son of one of the most feared men in the state.
Matteo’s face became unreadable.
“What the newspapers didn’t report was that Sofia had been investigating Bellmore before she died.”
Liana’s arms tightened around Nico.
“Investigating what?”
“I never found out.”
“What do you mean?”
“She refused to tell me until she had proof.”
Matteo looked toward the tall windows.
“I thought she was chasing rumors.”
Liana stared at him.
“And then she died.”
“Yes.”
“And you think Bellmore had something to do with it?”
“I didn’t.”
His eyes returned to hers.
“Until thirty seconds ago.”
Nico made a sleepy sound.
Liana looked down.
His eyelids were growing heavy.
That should have been comforting.
Instead, fear crawled across her skin.
Ava had become unusually sleepy too.
She looked sharply at Matteo.
“When did Nico last eat?”
“An hour ago.”
“What did he have?”
“Formula.”
“Who prepared it?”
“The nursery nurse.”
“What nurse?”
“Grace.”
Liana’s heart began pounding.
“Where is she?”
Matteo turned.
“Rafe.”
The guard was already moving.
But before he reached the hall, a woman in her fifties appeared from the servants’ corridor.
It was Beatrice Hale, the estate’s head housekeeper.
Her face was pale.
“Mr. Varric.”
Matteo looked at her.
“What?”
Beatrice glanced at Liana.
Then at Nico.
“The nursery nurse is gone.”
Rafe stopped.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“Her room is empty.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“Find her.”
Rafe disappeared down the corridor.
Matteo reached for Nico.
Liana hesitated.
It lasted less than a second.
But Matteo noticed.
“He’s my son.”
“I know.”
“Then give him to me.”
Liana looked down at the baby.
Nico was nearly asleep.
She slowly transferred him.
The instant Matteo took him, Nico’s face tightened.
His body stiffened.
Then he screamed.
Matteo froze.
Liana froze.
The sound ripped through the foyer.
“Give him back.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Now.”
He placed Nico in her arms.
The crying stopped within seconds.
Not immediately this time.
But close enough.
Liana held him upright against her chest.
His breathing gradually slowed.
Matteo stared at them both.
“This makes no sense.”
Liana gently shifted Nico’s body.
“He’s hurting when you hold him.”
Matteo’s face changed.
“I’m not hurting him.”
“I don’t mean you.”
She repositioned Nico.
“Look.”
She showed Matteo how the baby’s neck tilted differently when he was held in his father’s larger arms.
The movement pressed the left side of Nico’s head toward his shoulder.
Liana kept his head straight.
“No pressure here.”
She pointed to the marks.
Matteo’s anger disappeared.
What replaced it was worse.
Understanding.
“He isn’t choosing you.”
“No.”
“He’s avoiding pain.”
“Yes.”
Matteo looked like someone had struck him.
For weeks he had believed his son rejected him.
Now he was realizing something had been physically hurting Nico every time he tried to comfort him.
Liana’s voice softened.
“You didn’t know.”
Matteo looked at her sharply.
She said nothing else.
Footsteps sounded from the hall.
Rafe returned holding a white medical case.
“Found this under Grace’s bed.”
He placed it on the marble table.
Matteo opened it.
Inside were syringes.
Alcohol pads.
Disposable gloves.
Several unlabeled glass vials.
And a small silver device shaped like a thick pen.
Liana stopped breathing.
She knew that device.
“No.”
Matteo turned.
Liana stared at the silver injector.
“I saw one.”
“Where?”
“Bellmore.”
Her voice had become a whisper.
“The night Ava died.”
Matteo picked up the device carefully.
“You’re sure?”
“One of the nurses had it.”
Liana could barely get the words out.
“She told me it measured blood oxygen.”
Matteo’s expression became deadly calm.
“And did she use it on Ava?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“They made me leave.”
Liana’s eyes filled.
“They said they had to insert another line.”
She looked down at Nico.
“When they let me back in, Ava had those marks.”
Matteo slowly closed the medical case.
Then another sound echoed through the house.
A door slammed upstairs.
Rafe reached inside his jacket.
Matteo’s attention snapped toward the staircase.
One of the guards spoke into his radio.
“North hall.”
Another answered through static.
“Movement near the nursery.”
Matteo looked at Liana.
“Stay here.”
Then he stopped.
No.
His eyes dropped to Nico.
“Come with me.”
Liana stared.
“What?”
“You’re not leaving my son.”
Matteo moved toward the stairs.
Liana followed.
Rafe led them upstairs.
The mansion suddenly felt different.
Less like a home.
More like a fortress that had already been breached.
They reached the nursery.
The door stood open.
The curtains moved gently beside the window.
One of Matteo’s guards leaned outside.
“Fire escape.”
“Anyone?”
“Gone.”
Matteo stepped inside.
The nursery was painted pale blue.
A white crib stood near the center.
Stuffed animals lined a shelf.
A wooden music box sat beneath a framed photograph of Sofia holding newborn Nico.
Liana looked at the smiling woman in the picture.
Young.
Beautiful.
Alive.
Then she noticed something on the floor.
A broken bottle.
Formula had spilled across the carpet.
Beside it lay a folded piece of paper.
Matteo saw it too.
He picked it up.
His eyes moved across the words.
“What does it say?”
Liana asked.
Matteo didn’t answer.
His face slowly drained of color.
“Matteo?”
He handed her the paper.
Only one sentence had been typed across the middle.
THE MAID SHOULD HAVE KEPT HER MOUTH SHUT.
Liana stared at it.
A chill moved through her entire body.
Nobody at the mansion knew what she had noticed.
Not ten minutes ago.
Not five.
Not unless someone had been watching.
Matteo looked around the nursery.
Then at the guards.
Then at the open window.
His voice was quiet.
“Lock the estate.”
Rafe nodded.
“Nobody enters.”
Matteo turned toward Liana.
“And nobody leaves.”
Nico slept against her chest.
Liana looked down at the three tiny marks behind his ear.
For the first time since Ava died, grief was no longer the only thing burning inside her.
There was anger now.
And beneath the anger was a terrible possibility.
Maybe Ava had not simply become sick.
Maybe somebody had done something to her.
And if the same person was inside Matteo Varric’s house—
May you like
Nico was still in danger.
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