Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO CALLED HIM BROTHER
Aldo arrived at the hospital two days later.
He wasn't allowed into my room.
Security stopped him at the entrance.
He demanded to see me.
Claimed we were family.
Threatened to call the board.
Rebecca informed him that all communications would go through counsel.
Aldo laughed.
“Dario doesn't hide behind lawyers.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“He does now.”
The exchange was recorded by hospital security.
Later, investigators reviewed it.
Aldo left furious.
That evening, he called several of my captains.
He told them I was mentally unstable.
Claimed Elena had manipulated me.
Suggested my illness had made me paranoid.
Then he did something predictable.
He tried to make Elena disappear.
Not physically.
Not yet.
He contacted the staffing agency that employed her.
Accused her of theft.
Demanded her termination.
Elena received the call while sitting beside Giulia.
She began crying.
“I can't lose my job.”
I looked at her.
“You won't.”
She shook her head.
“Mr. Castellano, I don't want charity.”
I nodded.
“Then don't take charity.”
She looked confused.
I continued.
“Let Rebecca help you document the retaliation. And if you want to leave my employment, I'll respect that.”
Elena stared.
“You'd let me go?”
I smiled faintly.
“Elena, you're not a prisoner.”
She looked down.
For a moment, I wondered how many years she'd spent believing powerful men always expected something in return.
The next day, Rebecca helped Elena file a formal complaint about the retaliatory accusation.
Independent investigators reviewed the matter.
The agency withdrew its claim.
Meanwhile, authorities began examining Aldo's financial dealings.
Several witnesses came forward.
Former employees.
Accountants.
Dock supervisors.
People who had been afraid to speak while Aldo controlled their livelihoods.
I watched the investigation unfold.
And understood how much fear I'd helped create.
One evening, Rebecca sat beside my bed.
“Dario, there's something you need to know.”
I looked at her.
“Aldo wasn't acting alone.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who else?”
She hesitated.
“Camilla.”
I stared.
Camilla.
The woman who had vanished after promising to stay.
Rebecca continued.
“She was involved in several transfers from your personal accounts.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did she know about the poisoning?”
“We don't know.”
Then Rebecca showed me a photograph.
Camilla entering a private medical clinic.
Beside her stood Dr. Bellini.
The date was six weeks before my symptoms began.
I stared at the image.
The woman I'd trusted.
The doctor I'd trusted.
The lieutenant I'd trusted.
All connected.
I looked at Rebecca.
“Find out what they were doing.”
She nodded.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Not because of the medication.
Because betrayal had a way of keeping its own hours.
At three in the morning, I looked toward the chair beside my bed.
Giulia's toy lion sat there.
Small.
Yellow.
Ridiculous.
I picked it up with trembling fingers.
May you like
Then whispered:
“I'm still here.”
