"Leopold, I'm offering you a piece of genuine advice here."
Leopold's handsome face crinkled into a frown, "If you've got nothing to say, then don't."
Aurelia was like a pea shooter, always ready to fire off a round.
Aurelia made a zipping motion across her lips. Message received: silence was golden.
Upstairs, the baby had woken up from his brief nap. The nanny took him down to the sparse shade in the backyard to get some sun.
Aurelia sauntered over and picked up a rattle to entertain him. She had a soft spot for kids, even if this one was the son of her rival. After all, it wasn't the child's fault.
But the baby seemed not to hear the rattle at all. No reaction, just a blank, indifferent stare.
As a mother of two, Aurelia sensed something off. She dangled the rattle in front of the baby, gently touching his chubby hand. No response, and he didn't even try to grasp it.
Turning to the nanny, Aurelia asked, "Is he easy to look after?"
The nanny nodded, "He hardly ever cries, only when he's hungry. But he doesn't sleep much. Wakes up every fifteen minutes or so. And..." She trailed off, hesitant.
"And what?" Aurelia pressed.
"It's like he doesn't react to us at all, no matter how much we try to engage him," the nanny explained.
That was exactly what Aurelia had noticed.
Back in Goldstone, there had been a child with similar symptoms. It turned out to be a serious condition.
She asked the nanny to keep an eye on the baby and pulled Leopold aside, whispering, "I suspect the child might be on the autism spectrum. You should have a specialist check him out. Early intervention can make a huge difference."
Leopold, visibly shaken, went back to look at the child. He reached out a finger to touch the baby's hand. No reaction. Any other baby would have instinctively wrapped their tiny fingers around his.
"I'll have a doctor come tomorrow to assess him," he said.
Aurelia thought about the poison she had slipped to Megan. Could it have affected the baby?
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