The Sleepless Stars Read Online Free Page A

promenade, crowds celebrating the holiday shot glowing neon plastic disks in the air. One whizzed overhead before falling back to land on the walkway alongside the canal. Almost as annoying as Tyrone’s correction of her geography. Did she really care where a failed cohort was situated as long as nothing traced back to her? If Marco ever realized what she’d done, how far her research had progressed...
    She couldn’t risk Marco learning about the cohorts, especially not now when she was so close to success. All she needed was a little more time free of Marco’s interference. As soon as she had Tommaso’s research cohort, then another month, maybe two, and she’d be able to announce to the family that not only had she, Francesca Lazaretto, found a cure for the Scourge, she’d also cemented the family’s place of power for future generations.
    With one fell stroke, she would claim the Lazaretto legacy as her own. Poor Marco would be doomed to become a barely legible footnote in the centuries-old history of their family, while Francesca would be forever lauded as the family’s savior.
    “We need Tommaso’s data—his was the only cohort producing favorable results.”
    “Or he was the only one smart enough to suggest that in his reports.”
    His snide tone surprised her. “You think he lied? To me?”
    “You’ve set a high price for failure.”
    “Keep in mind that the punishment for deception is even worse.” She left it to his imagination to fill in the details of a fate worse than death. From the moment of their carefully engineered conception, each of her children faced a death sentence far more horrible than most people could envision. Which meant her incentives tended to the extreme. What choice did she have, when she had the fate of the entire family in her hands?
    “Orders?”
    “Retrieve anything you can from Tommaso’s lab. Find his cohort and keep them under scrutiny. Bring me Tommaso.” She needed to debrief him face-to-face.
    At first, she interpreted Tyrone’s silence as hesitation. She was about to chide him then thought better of it. Of all her children, he was the one most like her. Not hesitation, then. Silence as a weapon, an attempt to force her to reveal her secrets.
    She waited. Two could play that game.
    “And Tommaso’s other assignment?” he finally asked.
    “What exactly do you think you know?”
    “He had a patient. A doctor. Angela Rossi. She has the Scourge. Her medical record makes for...” He paused. “Fascinating reading. She may be of interest to you.”
    Time to end the charade. “Don’t play the fool with me. You know very well who Angela Rossi is.”
    “She’s missing as well. Last seen with Tommaso. Before the laboratory explosion.”
    Damn. Was Tommaso attempting to outmaneuver her? Pursuing some misguided fantasy of playing the hero, returning home with the prize that would allow him to assume control of the family himself?
    Or perhaps he’d already betrayed her? Gone to Marco with the research—her research, the result of decades of her work. No. If he had, she’d be dead already. Marco might be stupid, but he also had a distinct knack for self-preservation. If killing her became more advantageous than the money and power her scientific endeavors provided the family, he wouldn’t hesitate to dispose of her.
    One thing they shared: the Lazaretto pragmatism.
    “Do whatever you need. But find them. Tommaso and Angela Rossi. Bring them to me. Alive.”
    “Yes, Mother.”
    Francesca returned to the opulent dining room and resumed her seat. Marco acknowledged her with a slight nod, then stood. “Thank you all for coming tonight,” he began. “While it is traditional to look back upon our family’s many accomplishments over the past year, I’d like to, instead, look forward to our future.”
    Usually, the holiday dinner was a long, dull night filled with reminiscing over past Lazaretto glories, but Marco’s opening words signaled a departure from