Chapter 2 - THE SLOW POISONTen minutes felt like an eternity in the subterranean medical lab beneath the DeLuca Manor.
The lab was sterile, lit by bright fluorescent lights, lined with stainless steel counters and advanced diagnostic machinery. Lorenzo stood by the central counter, his arms crossed tightly over his broad chest. Sophia stood near the door, holding Emma, who was fast asleep against her shoulder.
Dr. Harrison, the DeLuca family’s trusted private physician, stepped out of the testing chamber, his face pale and slick with cold sweat. He was holding a digital readout sheet, his hands shaking.
"Lorenzo..." Harrison stammered, looking up at the Don. "It's... it's a synthetic nerve agent. A rare, lipophilic compound known as V-7 Neurotoxin."
Sophia gasped loudly, covering her mouth.
"Explain," Lorenzo growled, his voice dangerously low.
"It's an odorless, volatile powder," Dr. Harrison explained, pointing to the chemical structure on the monitor. "When placed inside a pillow, the body heat from a sleeping child vaporizes the compound slowly throughout the night. It is inhaled through the respiratory system and absorbed through the skin on his face. By morning, it settles in his digestive tract and liver—which is why the green smoothie, containing high citric acid, triggered violent stomach convulsions an hour later!"
Lorenzo’s fist slammed onto the stainless steel table, denting the metal!
"It never showed up in his blood tests," Lorenzo snarled, "because it breaks down into harmless metabolic waste within four hours of waking!"
"Precisely," Dr. Harrison said, nodding fearfully. "If he had slept on that pillow for another two weeks... his respiratory system would have collapsed completely. It would have looked like a sudden, tragic pediatric heart failure."
Lorenzo slowly turned his head to look at Emma, who stirred slightly in Sophia’s arms, rubbing her eyes with her little fist.
A three-year-old child had solved a slow-motion murder that twenty world-class medical experts had missed.
"Where is Vivian?" Lorenzo asked softly.
Marco stepped into the lab, his face grim. "She’s in the holding cell downstairs, Boss. We swept her room. We found three more packets hidden inside a hollowed-out medical dictionary... along with an offshore bank account ledger from Switzerland."
"Who owns the account?" Lorenzo demanded.
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Marco hesitated, glancing nervously at Sophia before looking back at his boss.
"It's registered to the Moretti Estate," Marco revealed quietly. "Your late wife’s brother... Don Matteo Moretti."
