Chapter 2 - The Shadows in the Cabinet
The grand ballroom emptied within twenty minutes of the confrontation.
The guests vanished into their luxury sedans like ghosts escaping a scandal, leaving behind only the cold smell of spilled champagne and half-eaten appetizers.
Adeline helped Nico right his wheelchair, her hands steady as she gripped his shoulder to support his weight. He was breathing heavily, his broad jaw set in a line of pure, suppressed fury.
He didn't speak as they took the private elevator up to the master wing on the second floor.
The master bedroom was vast, decorated in dark woods and heavy velvet curtains. Adeline locked the double doors behind them, then turned to face him.
"You should have let me hit her," Nico said quietly, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows toward the dark waters of Lake Michigan.
"No," Adeline replied, fetching a cold compress from the adjoining bathroom. "If you hit her, her father’s legal team uses it to declare you violent and mentally incompetent before the syndicate board tomorrow morning. That's what she wanted."
Nico turned his head, his dark eyes fixing on her with terrifying intensity. "She hit me in front of thirty people to prove I couldn't stand up to defend myself."
"She hit you to provoke you," Adeline corrected him softly, stepping close and pressing the cool cloth against his reddened cheek.
Nico didn't pull away. For a second, his hand hovered near her waist, his knuckles brushing against her cotton scrubs. The warmth of his skin made Adeline’s pulse jump, but she kept her voice professional.
"Why are you marrying her, Nico?" she asked. "It's obvious she despises you."
Nico let out a dry, bitter laugh. "In my family, marriages aren't based on affection. The Ashcroft family controls the eastern shipping docks. My uncle arranged the alliance four years ago. After my accident, the marriage became the only way to merge our logistics firms and keep my uncle from seizing full voting control of the Alfieri estate."
"Your uncle... Julian?" Adeline asked, remembering the smooth-talking fifty-year-old man who had watched the confrontation from the foyer balcony without lifting a finger.
"Julian wants the seat at the head of the table," Nico said coldly. "He thinks because I can't walk, I can't run a multi-billion-dollar empire. He’s using Camille to secure the Ashcroft votes."
Adeline took a deep breath. The moment had come.
She stepped away from him, walked over to her personal medical bag sitting near the desk, and pulled out a small, sealed plastic specimen bag containing two white, oblong pills.
She walked back and laid the bag on his lap.
Nico looked down at the pills, frowning. "What is this?"
"Those are supposed to be your nerve regeneration supplements," Adeline said, her voice dropping to a low whisper. "The ones imported from Germany that Dr. Vance prescribed two months ago."
"Supposed to be?"
"I ran a chemical assay test in the lab downstairs three nights ago," Adeline revealed, her hands trembling slightly. "Those aren't neuro-restorative vitamins, Nico. They are a heavy, synthetic sedative compounded with a nerve-blocker used in animal tranquilizers."
Nico stared at the pills, his face turning as hard as granite. "Say that again."
"Someone has been swapping your daily doses," Adeline explained, leaning down so her face was inches from his. "It’s why your physical therapy hasn't progressed in six weeks. It’s why your legs feel heavy and unresponsive every morning. It’s why you felt dizzy and lost your balance downstairs tonight. You aren't just paralyzed from the crash... someone is actively keeping you disabled."
Nico’s hand closed around the plastic bag, crushing it in his fist. The fury in his eyes was so cold, so dangerous, that it sent a shiver through the room.
"Who handles those bottles?" Nico asked quietly.
"Dr. Vance brings them personally every Tuesday," Adeline answered. "And who authorized Dr. Vance’s private retainer?"
Nico looked up, his eyes locking onto hers. "Julian."
Adeline nodded. "Your uncle isn't waiting for you to recover. He and Camille are poisoning your central nervous system so that when the board meeting happens next week, you’ll fail the medical competency review."
Nico looked at her for a long, silent moment. "You knew this... and you stayed in this house?"
"I stayed because if I left, they would hire another nurse who wouldn't notice," Adeline said simply. "Or worse... someone who was in on it."
Nico reached out, his long fingers wrapping around her wrist—not tightly, but with a firm, grounding pressure that sent electricity straight up her arm.
"Why are you risking yourself for me, Adeline?" he asked softly. "I paid you to take care of my physical therapy, not to fight my war."
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Adeline looked down at his face, seeing past the feared Mafia boss to the proud, wounded man who had been betrayed by everyone he trusted.
"Because nobody deserves to be betrayed in their own home," she whispered.
