CHAPTER 102: ANCHOR OF LOYALTY

Sirah stammered, her eyes darting nervously around the room.

"Ch-Chloe told me that she’s working for someone... and that the person paid her to poison your wife’s drink"

Luca’s gaze sharpened. "And who is this person?"

Sirah’s throat bobbed. "It’s... e-eerrrr... I don’t know, please Master."

A slow, cold smile curved on Luca’s lips. "Since when did you become a liar, Sirah?"

The room fell into a heavy silence. The maids standing behind exchanged uneasy glances as Luca’s voice deepened. "Tonight, we will watch you both on the CCTV footage."

Their eyes widened. Gasps filled the air. There was footage?

Chloe’s trembling lips parted. "I—I will mention the name now," she cried.

But Luca raised a hand, his signal was calm, commanding, and final. "No. It’s of no use. The time granted to you both to spill the truth is over."

His tone dropped into a deadly whisper. "Six p.m." He turned away. "You may leave now."

As the door closed behind them, Luca’s phone buzzed.

He glanced at the screen, it was his brother - Donato.

Without hesitation, he strode into the inner chamber and picked up the call.

"Hello, brother," Luca said quietly.

Donato’s voice came through the line, smooth and hauntingly familiar.

"Hello, brother," he replied. "I have missed you..."

**************

The morning light was a fragile shade of gold, cutting through the lace curtains and spilling across the tiled floor.

The silence that filled Daisy’s apartment was almost deceptively quiet, heavy, and still, like the world itself was holding its breath.

On the floor near the kitchen, Daisy stirred.

Her lashes fluttered weakly before her eyes opened to a hazy blur of light.

Her head pounded as if a thousand tiny drums were beating behind her temples. Confusion clouded her vision, as she couldn’t remember how she ended up on the cold marble floor or what exactly had made her lose consciousness.

Then she felt something wet splashing against her cheek.

"Ah... stop that," she mumbled faintly.

Her loyal golden retriever bruno her pet, was standing beside her, tail wagging furiously, a bowl of water overturned beside him.

His wet snout bumped her cheek again, desperate to wake her up.

When she blinked and sat up with effort, the dog let out a happy bark as if saying, "You are alive".

Daisy gave a faint, dizzy smile.

"Good boy..." she whispered, her voice hoarse.

She rubbed her forehead, wincing.

The pounding in her head refused to ease.

Her limbs felt weak, her throat dry, but she managed to pull herself to her feet using the nearby counter for balance.

She walked to the fridge, grabbed a carton of milk, and took a slow sip.

The cool liquid soothed her throat slightly.

On the counter lay a half-cut apple and some grapes she had prepared earlier.

She ate slowly, trying to gather her thoughts.

Then she froze.

The small glass vial sitting by the sink caught her eye. The same vial substance Romeo had given her last night.

Her stomach tightened.

The events flickered faintly in her head, the strange meeting, Romeo’s cryptic smile, his insistence that the liquid inside would " this is the cure to the poison your friend Alessia drank" And then... darkness.

She narrowed her eyes.

Had it been tampered with?

Daisy stared at it for a long time, her scientist’s instinct awakening, the careful, analytical mind she had built through years of quiet work in her private laboratory beneath the villa. She took a long, steadying breath.

"We must finish this," she murmured to herself, determination sharpening her voice.

Rusty barked once, as if in agreement.

She glanced down at him, a faint smile touching her lips. "Good. Then let’s find out what Romeo really gave us."

*******

Minutes later, Daisy slipped into her white lab coat.

Her movements were slow but sure ; even with her head still aching, her focus had returned.

The air in her private lab was sterile, filled with the faint hum of machines, blinking lights, and the soft scent of chemicals. She placed the vial on a steel table and turned on the spectrometer, an advanced GC-MS analyzer, capable of breaking down compounds to their molecular structure.

The machine whirred to life with a steady hum as she poured a few drops of the mysterious liquid onto the test slide.

The screen flickered, data processing in streams of coded lines.

Her heart pounded as the composition began to display.

Her eyes widened.

An antidote signature "Athenol-Z," a rare neutralizer used only for stabilizing or counteracting Selevin Poison, one of the most stubborn toxins ever known.

Her brow furrowed. "Why would Romeo give me this, an enemy trying to be a friend again?" she muttered.

Athenol-Z was no simple antidote; it was rare, expensive, and known to have a dangerous side effect if mixed with impurities. Still, something about the reading unsettled her.

It was too perfect, No impurity, No trace contamination. Almost... artificial.

Her instincts screamed that something wasn’t right.

Daisy looked at bruno again. The dog tilted his head, watching her curiously, tail gently wagging.

"I’m sorry, bruno," she whispered, her tone soft but heavy. "I’m sorry but I will have to test this, I need a practical aspect to fully believe. If it’s been changed, if there’s even the slightest poison in this, Romeo’s life will pay for it."

Bruno gave a soft, understanding bark as though he knew the gravity of her words.

She smiled weakly. "Are you willing to be the sacrifice, my brave boy?"

The dog tilted his head again, as if nodding.

"Good boy." she said and smiled rubbing his head.

She stood up and opened the fridge, pulled out a jug of milk, and poured a generous amount into a bowl.

Then, with a steady hand, she added two drops from the vial into it.

The mixture swirled faintly before settling into an ordinary white liquid.

"Alright, here we go," she whispered.

Rusty licked the bowl clean in seconds, wagging his tail enthusiastically.

Then they waited.

Minutes turned to an hour.

The air grew tense. Daisy sat on the edge of her lab table, her eyes never leaving her companion. Every breath he took, every blink, she observed with the precision of a scientist and the anxiety of a mother.

But nothing happened.

Instead, Bruno grew more playful, running around the lab, spinning in circles, and leaping from one corner to another as though drunk on happiness.

Daisy couldn’t help but laugh.

The relief in her chest spilled out in the form of bright, shaky laughter. "Oh my God, what’s gotten into you? Did I just create a happiness serum?"

Bruno barked, jumping again. She wiped her eyes and shook her head. "You are going to break something, stop please...."

Then she paused, her smile fading slightly.

A thought sliced through her like a blade.

"What if..." she whispered, her gaze drifting back to the vial on the table, "this wasn’t the same substance at all?"

Before she could process the idea further, a sharp knock echoed through the room.

Her heart skipped.

The sound was loud, echoing down the quiet hallway of her villa. She turned, startled. Rusty growled softly, tail stiff, as if sensing something.

Daisy walked slowly to the door, her hand hesitating on the handle. She wasn’t expecting anyone.

When she opened it, she froze in shock.

It was Alessia.

"Alessia?" she said surprisingly.

Her friend stood at the doorway, looking slightly disheveled, rain dripping from her hair. "I came i didn’t hear from you for a while and you haven’t been replying any of my text messages. You didn’t answer my calls either."

Relief washed through Daisy. She stepped forward and embraced her tightly. "You scared me," Alessia said softly, pulling back.

They both glanced down as bruno bounded happily around them, still energetic as ever.

"What on earth got into him?" Alessia asked, smiling slightly.

Daisy sighed. "That’s... what I have been trying to figure out."

She quickly explained everything, the strange substance, her collapse, the test results, and the experiment with bruno.

Alessia listened intently, her brows knitting deeper with every word.

Finally, Alessia said, "Let’s check something."

She turned toward the hallway. "If you passed out, then the CCTV should have captured what happened before that, right?"

Daisy blinked, realization dawning. "You’re right."

They walked into the living room.

The house was still and quiet except for the soft hum of the rain outside.

Daisy picked up the remote, switched on the large flat-screen display, and accessed the security feed.

Footage began to roll.. The living room, the kitchen, the hallway. Daisy on the floor, Rusty pacing restlessly.

Then the recording rewound to earlier that night.

They watched as Daisy walked into the kitchen, the vial in her hand. She poured herself a drink, leaned against the counter, and suddenly clutched her head.

Her body jerked, her glass slipped, and she fell to the floor.

Alessia leaned closer. "Wait.... pause it there."

Daisy froze the screen. "What do you see?"

"There’s a shadow," Alessia whispered. "There’s... behind the door."

Daisy’s pulse quickened. She rewound, then played again, frame by frame.

The figure was faint, almost blurred, someone tall, standing just behind the kitchen door.

A few seconds before Daisy fell, the shadow moved slightly, and then...

The screen went blank.

Static hissed softly.

Alessia’s eyes widened. "What the hell, why did it stop?"

Daisy stared at the black screen, her heart thundering in her chest.

Something or someone had erased the footage.

And whatever it was... it had been right there, with her, before she collapsed......