Chapter 3

Leo's words cut deep, but they finally made me see things clearly.

I had Ernesto, the old butler my father had left me, keep checking Sofia's background. Dante's private doctor had already signed off on a DNA test, and her records, her old scars, and her birthmark all matched, so the investigation hadn't turned up any obvious holes. Before Ernesto could track down the lab that ran the test, Sofia went after Leo again.

On Wednesday afternoon, just as Leo got home from school, Sofia walked out of the kitchen with a plate of chocolate muffins. "Leo, I made these for you. Think of them as my way of saying sorry."

I was just coming out of the study when I saw them. "Leo, don't touch those!" I shouted.

But it was too late. Leo had already taken a small bite before he realized it tasted strange.

A few seconds later, he was gasping for air. His face turned a grayish blue, and he clutched at his throat as he collapsed.

I grabbed the EpiPen from the side pocket of Leo's backpack and pressed it against his outer thigh, yelling for Ernesto to call 911.

Sofia backed away, holding up her hands. "I didn't know there were nuts in them... Dante, I really didn't know!"

Dante had just walked in the door. He saw what was happening, scooped Leo up, and carried him straight out to the ambulance pulling up out front. I rode with Leo, while Dante and Sofia followed in another car.

At the private hospital on Long Island, the red light above the ER doors glared down at us.

The doctor said Leo had gone into anaphylaxis. His throat had swollen, and his airways had constricted. Thank God I'd used the EpiPen in time. He pulled through.

At the other end of the hallway, Dante was comforting Sofia. She kept saying she hadn't known Leo was allergic to nuts. Dante kept telling her to calm down and wait until they knew what had happened.

I walked over, one step at a time, and stopped in front of them.

Dante looked up. "Leo's out of danger. Sofia says she didn't know there was peanut butter in the muffins. I'll have someone look into it."

Smack!

I slapped Sofia across the face with everything I had.

Sofia shrieked and fell back onto the bench. A thin line of blood ran from her lip.

"Helena! Have you lost your mind?!" Dante exploded. He grabbed my wrist so hard I thought the bones would break.

"Every person on the Falcone estate has their emergency medical information posted in the kitchen and on the main control panel. Leo's allergy warning is printed in red. Ernesto went over it with you the day you moved in." I stared at Sofia. "You don't get to explain this away with 'I didn't know.'"

Sofia clutched her cheek and hid behind Dante. "I never read any of that. I can't even read the English on the packages. I just wanted to bake something so Leo would like me."

Dante looked at me and still took her side. "She never got a real education. Maybe she honestly can't read it. Helena, until we have proof, don't go accusing her of trying to kill anyone."

Leo was his own son. Yet right outside the room where doctors had fought to save him, Dante was still making excuses for Sofia.

I laughed. I laughed until the tears wouldn't stop.

"You want me to apologize? Over my dead body."

When the ER doors swung open, the doctor told us again that Leo was stable. Dante led a distraught Sofia out of the hallway. He still didn't go in to see his son.

I pushed open the door to Leo's room and found him lying in bed with an oxygen tube under his nose.

Ernesto sent the kitchen security footage and Sofia's search history to my phone. The footage showed her peeling the label off a jar of peanut butter and stirring it into the batter. The day before, she had searched for "how soon do peanut allergy symptoms start in children?" This was no accident.