Chapter 12 - Upward Bound from the Shadows
With gentle efficiency that completely defied his stern public reputation, Matteo scooped Mom up into his arms, carrying her easily across the damp brick floor of the service tunnel. I trailed closely behind, holding the strap of my blue sweater and making sure Lily remained secure in her gray sling against my back. The walk back through the dark cavity felt entirely different now that the mystery was out in the open; the shadows didn't seem quite as menacing with Matteo leading the way through the narrow doorway.
He carried Mom all the way back up the winding wooden stairs, bypassing the drafty service corridors and taking her straight to the primary master guest suite—a room with thick velvet drapes, a roaring fireplace, and a plush feather bed that smelled of cedar and lavender. He laid her down with immense care, adjusting the pillows behind her head before turning to ring the brass bedside bell for Dr. Hayes.
"Stay here with her," Matteo instructed me, his voice firm yet surprisingly gentle as he shrugged off his black suit jacket, revealing the fitted black shirt underneath and the dark ink wrapping around his forearms. "I'm going to call the estate doctor back, and I want you to tell me everything the management agency told your mother about the work conditions."
I nodded, sitting on the edge of the velvet mattress and taking Mom's hot, trembling hand in mine. Lily let out a soft murmur, finally waking up from her long nap in the baby sling. I unbuckled the harness with practiced care, lifting my little sister out and letting her rest against Mom's chest, where the familiar heartbeat seemed to calm her instantly. The room was warm, safe, and entirely removed from the cold reality of the basement walls we had just escaped.
Within twenty minutes, Dr. Hayes arrived with his black leather medical bag, his silver hair slightly disheveled from being dragged out of bed for a second time that night. He didn't ask questions about how Mom had managed to get from her bed to the sub-basement; he simply went to work, listening to her chest with his stethoscope and administering a fresh round of intravenous antibiotics while Matteo watched silently from the doorway.
"She pushed herself past the breaking point," Dr. Hayes muttered, packing away his instruments under the warm amber glow of the bedside lamp. "Pneumonia doesn't forgive exhaustion, Mr. Duca. If she spends another night in those drafty service quarters, her lungs won't hold out."
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Matteo crossed his arms, his silver watch gleaming in the lamplight as his jaw tightened. "She won't be returning to the service quarters. Prepare the adjoining suite for the girls and make arrangements for a full-time private nurse to oversee her recovery. I want her monitored around the clock."
I looked up at him in astonishment, the words catching in my throat. This wasn't the demanding master who had cornered me in the library with a vacuum cleaner just an hour ago. This was a man taking absolute, unyielding responsibility for our survival.
