Chapter 3 - The Suspicious Reaction
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Vanessa stopped dead in her tracks, her hand hovering in the air.
“Darling,” she cooed, her voice instantly dropping an octave to sound sweet and concerned. “She could have burned you. She’s completely incompetent.”
Damian slowly turned his heavy titanium wheelchair toward his fiancée.
“Then why did I feel it?”
Vanessa's expression changed.
It was only for a fraction of a second. A microscopic tightening of the jaw, a sudden, panicked widening of the eyes.
But Mia noticed.
And Damian noticed too.
“What do you mean?” Vanessa asked, forcing a light, breathy laugh.
Damian leaned back in his chair, his dark eyes studying her intently. “I felt the hot water on my leg, Vanessa.”
Vanessa forced a brilliant, sympathetic smile. “Oh, sweetheart.”
She approached him gracefully and gently placed her hand on his broad shoulder, stroking his dark hair.
“Your doctors explained this to us, remember? Sometimes your brain creates phantom sensations that aren't really there. It’s just nerve misfires.”
Damian said nothing. He didn't lean into her touch.
“You've been under so much stress lately with the business,” Vanessa continued soothingly. Then she turned her icy glare back toward Mia. “And this careless maid has only made everything worse.”
But Damian wasn't looking at Vanessa anymore.
He was staring intensely at the small silver tray resting on the bedside table beside his wheelchair.
Three amber medicine bottles sat neatly beside a crystal glass of water.
Every single evening, Vanessa personally handed him those pills. She always insisted, with unwavering devotion, that he take them right before bed.
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And every single morning, he woke up feeling physically weaker and more exhausted than the day before.
For the first time in three long years, Damian Russo wondered whether those two things were connected.
