Chapter 4 - The Locked Bedroom
Silas didn’t shout.
That frightened Khloe more.
“What do you mean someone did?”
Victor sat down heavily.
“Matteo became sick in May. Mild infection. Nothing serious.”
Silas’s eyes never left him.
“The private physician prescribed medication.”
“What medication?”
“An antibiotic.”
“And?”
Victor rubbed both hands over his face.
“The dosage in the chart was changed after the doctor entered it.”
Khloe stared.
“Changed to what?”
Victor looked sick.
“A dangerously high amount of an ototoxic drug.”
Silas stopped moving.
“You’re saying someone poisoned him?”
“Not enough to kill him.”
“Just enough to damage his hearing.”
Victor nodded.
Silas turned away.
For five long seconds, nobody dared speak.
Then he drove his fist into the cabin wall.
Matteo jumped.
Khloe immediately signed to him.
Silas saw it.
His anger collapsed into shame.
He lowered his hand.
“Sorry,” he whispered, though Matteo couldn’t hear it.
Then he signed clumsily.
Sorry.
Matteo nodded.
Silas looked at Victor.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“And you left him with my mother?”
“She controlled the doctors, the staff, the house.”
“It’s my house!”
“Not when you’re never there!”
The words hit.
Victor regretted them instantly.
Silas stared at him.
Victor continued anyway.
“You were in Houston, Miami, Montreal, London. Every week another warehouse problem, another investigation, another shipment crisis. Helena knew you trusted her with Matteo.”
Silas’s jaw clenched.
“And you?”
“I started copying records.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your mother had three people fired for less than suspicion. One disappeared.”
Khloe looked sharply at him.
Victor corrected himself.
“Left town.”
Nobody believed him.
Matteo tugged Khloe again.
I remember the medicine.
Khloe crouched.
What do you remember?
Matteo’s small hands moved.
Grandma held my nose. Nurse made me swallow. I threw up. Grandma got mad.
Khloe’s stomach turned.
Was Dad there?
No.
Was Victor there?
Matteo shook his head.
Then he signed something strange.
Lady with red nails filmed me crying.
Khloe frowned.
“Silas.”
He came closer.
“What?”
“There may be video.”
Victor’s head snapped up.
“Video?”
Khloe translated Matteo’s statement.
Victor swore under his breath.
Silas asked, “Why would they film it?”
Victor understood before anyone else.
“For evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That Matteo was disturbed. Difficult. Unstable.”
Khloe felt rage rise inside her.
“They hurt him, then filmed his reaction.”
Victor nodded.
“To build a case.”
Silas turned toward the windows.
Below them, lightning flashed inside the clouds.
“What was my mother planning?”
Victor’s answer came quietly.
“To take Matteo.”
Silas looked back.
“And then?”
Victor hesitated.
Khloe saw it.
There was more.
“Say it.”
Victor exhaled.
“Once she controlled Matteo’s trust, she controlled thirty-eight percent of Costello Global.”
Silas frowned.
“She already owns twenty.”
“Exactly.”
Silas did the math.
Fifty-eight percent.
Control.
A child had been poisoned for voting shares.
Khloe thought she understood cruelty.
She had been wrong.
The cockpit intercom crackled.
“Mr. Costello.”
Silas pressed the button.
“Yes?”
“We just lost our original flight clearance.”
“Meaning?”
“If we don’t divert, the FAA can order us down.”
“Who canceled it?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
Victor walked toward the flight tracker.
Pittsburgh glowed on the screen.
Then another destination appeared.
Cleveland.
Then Detroit.
Someone was manipulating their route.
Khloe looked at Victor.
“Can Helena do that?”
Victor’s face was grim.
“With enough people bought?”
“Yes.”
Silas looked at the captain.
“Where can we land that she doesn’t control?”
The captain thought.
“There’s a small private field outside Toledo.”
Victor shook his head.
“Too predictable.”
Khloe spoke.
“What about Chicago?”
Every man looked at her.
She continued.
“If she’s expecting you to run, maybe going straight home is the one thing she won’t expect.”
Silas stared at her.
Then smiled without humor.
“You don’t know my mother.”
“No.”
Khloe looked at Matteo.
“But I know bullies.”
Silas held her gaze.
Then the cabin phone rang.
Impossible.
The line had been dead.
Victor slowly picked it up.
“Hello?”
His face changed.
He handed the phone to Silas.
“It’s her.”
Silas lifted it to his ear.
“Mother.”
A woman’s calm voice carried faintly through the cabin.
Khloe couldn’t hear every word.
Only the last sentence.
But that was enough.
May you like
“Bring me my grandson, Silas… or I’ll bury you beside your father.”
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