HIS GREATEST BETRAYAL

Chapter 34

                                        JANE'S POV

It was past nine in the evening when l finally reached home. I was feeling very exhausted. The lounge was unusually quiet. Elena's excited screams usually greets me when l arrive home from work.

I stopped Bertha , one of the house maids who was going into the kitchen.

"Is Elena already in bed?"

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"I thought you knew , Mrs Moretti. Elena is..."

" Call me ma'am!," l said suddenly feeling irritated.

"Elena was taken from school this afternoon. She was very sick. Mr Moretti and the doctor are attending to her upstairs....."

I didn't wait for her to finish talking, l was already running up the stairs to Elena's room. My heart was thumping in fear. Elena rarely got sick. I burst open the door to her room.

Ferracco, Bianca and a strange man whom l presumed to be the doctor all looked up startled. Elena was lying on her bed sound asleep. A drip was attached to her. Her forehead was covered in perspiration and her face was pale and drained of it's usual radiant colour.

A sob rose to my lips. I rushed to Ferracco and grabbed him by the collar.

"What's wrong with my daughter?," l demanded in a teary voice.

Ferracco angrily shoved me away that l almost crashed into the dressing table. I gasped in shock. Bianca Morelo and the doctor stared at him stunned. Ferracco was staring at me with undisguised contempt. His blue eyes were glittering in anger and his jaw was set.

What wrong did l do?

"Ferracco? ," l whispered over the lump in my throat.

"Where were you? I called you multiple times but you declined my call each time. I even send you text messages but you didn't open. Elena was crying asking for you ," he burst out angrily.

"I didn't know she was sick. I thought..."

" You could have known if you had answered my calls back then," he seethed at me.

"You later switched off your phone and l couldn't reach you. I called your office and they told me you were picked up at lunch by your lawyer boyfriend! I even had to swallow my pride and call that bastard , Claudius but he declined my calls!," he continued in a furious voice.

This was my first time to see him unleash this kind of great fury that for a moment l flinched in fear. Bianca and the doctor were looking aside pretending not to hear our argument but l knew their ears were straining for every word.

I suddenly remembered that during my meeting with Claudius, his phone had rang a couple of times . l had asked him who it was and he had merely smiled. He told me it was just a girl who was currently hitting on him. Claudius had lied to me.

"You don't have to shout at me like that! I am not a fortune teller! How could l have predicted this would happen!," l yelled back at him feeling equally frustrated.

I sank on the bed besides her and took her small hand in my own. I began sobbing. I felt guilty that l wasn't there when she needed me.

"Mummy is very sorry. l wasn't there when you needed me....."

"Mr Moretti , l advise you to take your wife out. The girl is not well and needs some rest," the doctor's deep voice interrupted me.

I raised my eyes to him and glared. Ferracco grabbed my hand and roughly dragged me away. Bianca and the doctor later joined us in the lounge.

"Neil ! What's wrong with my girl?," Ferracco asked the doctor in desperation.

I have never seen such fear and insecurity in his eyes.

"Her school teacher called me saying that Elena was throwing up and crying saying her skin was itchy until she fainted," Ferracco explained to the doctor.

My heart skipped a beat. Elena had exhibited the same symptoms the first time she had sushi. A thought crossed my mind. I raised my eyes to Ferracco. A gasp escaped me.

How come Ferracco was still fine!

"She ate something she is allergic to. I have conducted blood tests on her and found out it had to do with seafood," the doctor's voice penetrated my mind.

"Everyone here knows Elena is allergic to seafoods. Since then we have been extremely careful," Bianca chimes in.

"Excuse me for a moment," Ferracco said and then went a little further from us.

I saw him fish out his cellphone from his pocket and dialled. After talking on the phone for a few minutes, he came back to us. Tears were gathering in my eyes and l was struggling to fight them back.

My hands were trembling. Bianca took my hand . l looked up at her and she simply cast me an assuring smile.

"I have just spoken to her teacher and she told me that Elena only ate a beggar from her lunch box ."

"But l didn't put a beggar in her lunch box. That lunch box was yours," Bianca turned to Ferracco with surprise in her eyes.

"Elena took it saying she wanted to swap our lunch boxes....."

Ferracco's voice trailed off. His eyes widened .

"Wait! That means someone tampered with my lunchbox but Elena ended up eating the spoiled food...... Who prepared my lunch box today?," he demanded in a bellowing voice causing me to flinch.

"It was Bertha!," Bianca provided the answer.

Bertha was called from the kitchen.

"Yes sir?"

She stood trembling before Ferracco. There was a flash of fear in her eyes. She must have overhead Ferracco's shouting from the kitchen.

"Who paid you to poison my food? Who is it ? ," he shouted at her.

Bertha started to cry. My heart squeezed in guilty. I felt sorry for the poor maid.

"Answer me , dammit !"

"I swear sir Moretti that..... l didn't ....do ....anything ," her voice stammered between sobs.

Ferracco began to move towards her in angry strides but I held back his hand. He turned to me furious for restraining him.

I put on a cold and unemotional face and said,

"It was me!"

A/N: heheheh cliff hanger.