The Hospital Bracelet
Chapter 02 - The Hospital Bracelet
The emergency physician at St. Catherine's Hospital took one look at Matteo and ordered careful warming, monitoring, and an assessment for cold-related injuries. Angelo sat beside the examination bed, his large hands folded so tightly that the knuckles blanched.
Matteo kept asking whether he'd been bad. Every time a nurse approached, he hid the wooden plane under his blanket.
A nurse named Leah Jensen crouched beside the bed. "You're allowed to be cold, scared, angry, or sleepy," she told him. "None of those things make you bad."
Matteo watched her as if she had spoken a foreign language.
Angelo excused himself and called his chief of security, Rafael Ortiz. "Preserve the estate cameras, all exterior doors, and every access log. Do not let Vincent or Celia touch the servers."
Rafael was quiet. "Understood, boss."
"And Rafael? I want the police to have what they need. No favors. No fixing."
A pause followed. The old Angelo might have hidden a family scandal. The grandfather standing beside a frightened child had no interest in saving appearances.
"Yes, sir."
Later, a social worker asked Angelo about the child's caregiving arrangements. He answered each question. Gabriel had been dead eight months. Sofia had vanished two months afterward. Vincent and his wife Celia had been living in the estate and overseeing Matteo's daily care while Angelo divided his time between the city and the mountain property.
He said that last sentence twice. On the second repetition, it sounded like an indictment.
"I thought they loved him," he admitted.
The social worker did not offer an easy reassurance. She explained that the authorities would assess immediate safety and that Matteo should not be pressured to repeat details before trained specialists spoke to him.
When Angelo returned to the room, Matteo was holding his plane against his chest.
"Are you going to leave?" the boy asked.
"No."
"You always go away after dinner."
Angelo pulled his chair close. "I did. Too often. I'm changing that."
Matteo touched the hospital bracelet around his wrist. "Aunt Celia says people who cry get sent away."
Angelo swallowed. "You can cry here. You can cry with me."
The boy stared at him, disbelieving. Then he began to sob, small exhausted sobs that seemed to have been waiting months for permission.
Angelo held him carefully until he slept.
At two in the morning, Rafael called. The camera footage from the front steps had been manually deleted, but the garage system retained a partial recording. It showed Celia closing the front door while Matteo stood outside. Vincent had been present long enough to see the child and turn away.
"There's more," Rafael said. "Two weeks ago, Vincent hired a private electronics technician. He worked in Gabriel's old shop."
Angelo glanced at the toy.
"Find him," he said.
But when Rafael sent the technician's name, Angelo felt the past open beneath him.
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The man was Owen Pike.
A former Caruso employee whom Sofia had once accused of stealing records from Gabriel.
