Chapter 6 - The Viper's Strike
Leah raised the brass candlestick high above her head, her breath trapped in her chest.
The heavy mahogany door creaked open an inch. A slender figure slipped into the room, silhouetted by the dim hallway light. Leah lunged forward, swinging the candlestick down with all her strength.
A hand caught her wrist in mid-air with shocking speed and strength.
“Easy, girl!” a female voice whispered harshly.
Leah gasped as the woman shoved her back gently, closing the door behind her with a soft click. The intruder reached up and pulled down the hood of her black jacket, revealing sharp cheekbones, dark cropped hair, and an eye patch over her left eye.
“Who are you?” Leah whispered, tightening her grip on the candlestick with her free hand.
“My name is Teresa,” the woman said quietly, keeping her back to the door. “I’m the head of security for the west wing. And if you want to live to see tomorrow’s DNA results, you need to listen to me very carefully.”
Leah didn't lower the candlestick. “Why should I trust anyone in this house?”
“Because I was your mother’s personal bodyguard twenty-three years ago,” Teresa said, her voice softening slightly. She pointed to her eye patch. “I got this eye taking a bullet for Mariana the night the Morettis attacked. I’m the one who smuggled your mother out of the mansion while Hector was busy declaring her dead.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “You saved her?”
“I tried,” Teresa said bitterly. “I got her to County General under a fake name. But she was bleeding internally. She gave birth to you, handed me that ring, and made me promise to hide you before Hector’s men swept the hospitals. I took you to St. Catherine’s because the head sister was my aunt. I thought you’d be safe there until I could figure out how to kill Hector.”
“Sister Margaret was your aunt?” Leah said, anger rising in her chest. “She was a monster! She locked me in closets! She treated me like garbage!”
Teresa sighed, a look of genuine regret flashing across her scarred face. “My aunt was a greedy, cruel woman. I didn't know how bad she was until years later. I’m sorry, Leah. I failed your mother, and I failed you. But I won't fail you tonight.”
Teresa stepped closer, pulling a small silver syringe from her pocket.
“What is that?” Leah asked, stepping back.
“Hector paid one of the night maids five hundred thousand dollars to slip poison into your air vent tonight,” Teresa revealed. “A colorless, odorless gas that mimics heart failure. By morning, you’d be dead, and Hector would tell Viktor your heart gave out from the stress.”
Leah felt a wave of nausea hit her. “We have to tell Viktor!”
“If we tell Viktor now, he’ll kill Hector in the hallway,” Teresa said sternly. “And Hector’s loyalists—which make up half the guards in this house—will start a civil war right here. Viktor could get killed in the crossfire.”
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“Then what do we do?” Leah asked, her voice trembling.
Teresa smiled—a cold, terrifying expression. “We let Hector think his poison worked. We fake your death tonight, get you out of the estate, and force Hector to make his move publicly. We trap the rat.”
