Chapter 3 - DANGEROUS PRECIPICE
At St. Jude’s Central Hospital, the emergency maternity wing was secured under armed guard within minutes of Sienna’s arrival.
Inside the delivery suite, Sienna lay back against the pillows, sweat slicking her dark hair to her forehead. Beside her bed stood a small plastic chair where Mila sat, clutching a plush rabbit and refusing to leave her mother's side.
"Breathe, Mrs. Ferrante," the lead obstetrician urged gently. "You're at eight centimeters. The baby is healthy, but your blood pressure is elevated due to severe emotional distress."
"Where is Nico?" Sienna whispered, her eyes darting nervously toward the closed oak doors.
"He is outside, ma'am," the nurse assured her. "The entire floor has been restricted. No one enters without Mr. Ferrante's personal clearance."
Sienna closed her eyes, relief washing over her, though a deep, lingering dread remained. Four years ago, when her first husband passed away, she had met Gavin Ferrante at an architectural design gala. He had seemed charming, attentive, and deeply loving toward young Mila.
It wasn't until after their marriage that the subtle walls had begun to close in—the strange clauses in the prenuptial agreement she was pressured to sign, the gradual isolation from her professional colleagues, and Marjorie’s subtle, poisonous remarks about "securing the family bloodline."
Sienna had thought she was entering a safe haven. In reality, she had stepped into a trap engineered by a mother and son desperate to unlock a fifty-million-dollar trust left by Nico’s late wife—a trust that dictated its capital could only be fully disbursed to Gavin upon the birth of a legitimate Ferrante heir.
A knock echoed at the door.
Dr. Harrison, Nico’s personal physician and a trusted friend of thirty years, stepped into the room holding a leather folder. His expression was grim.
Nico followed right behind him, his face lined with heavy exhaustion.
"How is she, Doctor?" Nico asked, walking to the side of the bed and gently touching Mila’s hair.
"Sienna is doing well, Nico," Dr. Harrison said. "But we just received the preliminary toxicology results from your estate."
Nico’s eyes narrowed. "The tea?"
Dr. Harrison nodded slowly. "Micro-doses of thallium. Odorless, tasteless, and nearly impossible to detect in routine checkups. Had you consumed it for another three weeks, it would have induced irreversible organ failure, appearing to the world as natural heart disease."
Sienna gasped, clutching her bedsheets. "They were trying to kill you..."
May you like
"They were trying to kill me before the child arrived," Nico said, his voice dropping an octave into pure velvet thunder. "So that Gavin would inherit the primary estate before the bloodline trust could be challenged."
Suddenly, the red emergency light above the delivery room door began to flash violently.
