Chapter 5 - The Man Inside
Maeve shoved the door before it could shut.
Marco stood at the far end of the hallway.
"Maeve?"
She almost screamed.
Instead, she held up the photograph.
"Someone was in my room."
He crossed the hall immediately.
Within minutes the entire floor was searched.
Nothing.
No open windows.
No hidden doors.
No stranger.
Marco studied the photograph.
"When was this taken?"
Maeve looked at the clothes she was wearing in the image.
"Tonight."
Luca arrived.
Dante behind him.
Kathleen followed.
Maeve showed them the words.
THE MAN INSIDE STILL WORKS HERE.
Dante's face hardened.
"Staff list."
They gathered in Marco's office.
Twenty-two employees.
Gardeners.
Drivers.
Housekeeping.
Security.
Kitchen staff.
Maintenance.
Marco trusted nearly all of them.
Which meant one of them had spent years earning that trust.
Dante checked access records.
"Someone opened Maeve's room at 8:13."
"Who?" Luca asked.
Dante looked up.
"Your master key."
Luca went still.
"My key was with me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Marco said, "Copies?"
"Impossible."
Maeve looked at the brothers.
"Apparently not."
Kathleen examined the photograph.
"Vittorio always used people close to the target."
Marco looked at her.
"Names."
"I don't know who he has now."
"Who did he have then?"
Kathleen hesitated.
"Your father's driver."
Marco frowned.
"Gianni?"
Kathleen nodded.
Luca immediately called security.
No answer.
They searched Gianni's room.
Empty.
Closet cleared.
Suitcase gone.
On the desk sat a glass of whiskey still cold.
"He left recently," Dante said.
Marco called the gate.
No vehicle had departed.
Maeve's pulse quickened.
"Then he's still here."
A search began.
They found Gianni twenty minutes later.
Dead inside the garage.
No visible wound.
A note pinned to his jacket.
NOT HIM.
Maeve stared.
Marco stepped in front of her.
"Don't look."
"I already did."
Dante checked for cameras.
Luca called police through their attorney.
Kathleen whispered, "Vittorio is cleaning up."
Maeve looked at the note.
"Or framing people."
Marco turned.
"What?"
"If Gianni was the inside man, why kill him and write 'not him'?"
Luca replied, "To scare us."
"Maybe."
Maeve studied the handwriting.
Block letters.
Black marker.
Something about the note bothered her.
Then she realized.
"The photograph was written in blue ink."
Dante looked at her.
"So?"
"Different person."
Marco followed.
"One person returned the box."
"Another killed Gianni."
Luca swore softly.
"We have two people inside."
Maybe more.
The police arrived quietly.
Statements were taken.
The official story became a medical emergency until the coroner confirmed otherwise.
Nobody wanted panic.
Maeve wanted sleep.
She didn't get it.
At two in the morning, she sat in the kitchen drinking tea.
Marco entered.
No suit jacket.
Sleeves rolled.
For the first time, he looked tired.
He sat opposite her.
"You should be upstairs."
"So should you."
"I live here."
"So do I until you fire me."
"I'm not firing you."
"Good. The benefits are excellent."
A faint smile.
Then silence.
Marco looked at her cup.
"Why aren't you afraid?"
Maeve thought.
"I am."
"You don't act like it."
"Being afraid and being helpless aren't the same thing."
He watched her.
"My mother used to say fear was information."
"Smart woman."
"Complicated woman."
"Those usually go together."
Maeve looked at him.
"Why did the staff really quit?"
Marco was silent long enough that she knew the answer mattered.
"Some were threatened."
"By Vittorio?"
"We think so now."
"Others?"
"One found a dead bird in her bed."
Maeve grimaced.
"Subtle."
"Another received photographs of her children."
Maeve's expression changed.
"So they weren't afraid of you."
"They thought they were."
"Because whoever threatened them made it look like the Falcones."
Marco nodded.
"Vittorio wanted isolation."
"Why?"
"He could control us more easily if nobody stayed long enough to know us."
Maeve absorbed that.
A house full of rotating strangers.
No one building loyalty.
No one noticing patterns.
Smart.
Cruel.
"Elena stayed."
"Yes."
"Forty-eight hours."
Marco looked down.
"She stayed long enough to figure it out."
Maeve realized.
"That's why the number matters."
"It was a warning."
"To anyone who lasted too long."
Marco met her eyes.
"You're approaching forty-eight hours."
Maeve checked the clock.
"Three hours."
His jaw tightened.
"You think that's funny?"
"No."
"Then leave."
She blinked.
"What?"
"I'll pay the full contract. Six months. Leave tonight."
"You said you weren't firing me."
"I'm not. I'm telling you to save yourself."
Maeve leaned back.
"Would you leave?"
"That's different."
"Why?"
"Because this is my family."
Maeve looked toward the hallway where Kathleen slept.
"My family is here too."
"Maeve."
"And so is the truth about my father."
Marco rubbed a hand over his face.
"You are incredibly difficult."
"So I've been told."
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then laughed quietly.
Not a performance.
Real.
Maeve smiled.
The moment shifted.
Neither looked away.
Marco's voice softened.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Maybe."
"But I'm glad you are."
Maeve's heartbeat changed.
She hated that he could probably tell.
She stood.
"Tea?"
Marco smiled.
"Deflection."
"Chamomile or black?"
"Black."
She turned to the kettle.
Marco came closer.
Not touching.
Near enough that she could feel his presence.
"Maeve."
She turned.
His eyes moved briefly to her mouth.
Then a crash came from the pantry.
Both moved.
Marco opened the door.
A shelf had fallen.
On the floor, flour scattered everywhere.
Across the white powder were footprints.
Fresh.
Leading to the back wall.
Then stopping.
Maeve stared.
"There isn't a door there."
Marco pressed the wall.
Nothing.
Dante and Luca arrived.
Dante scanned the paneling.
"Wait."
He found a seam.
A hidden passage.
Marco looked at Maeve.
She almost laughed.
"How many secret rooms does your family need?"
"Apparently one more."
The panel opened.
A narrow corridor stretched into darkness.
Luca went first.
At the end was a tiny room.
Desk.
Monitor.
Chair.
The monitor showed live camera feeds.
Maeve's bedroom.
Marco's office.
Kitchen.
Dining room.
Every private space in the manor.
Dante stared.
"They've been watching us."
Maeve saw something beside the keyboard.
A cup of coffee.
Still steaming.
Marco touched it.
"Whoever was here left seconds ago."
Luca opened another door at the back.
It led into the servants' corridor.
Footsteps echoed.
They ran.
At the end, a figure turned the corner.
Marco shouted.
The person disappeared.
They followed to the laundry room.
Empty.
One open window.
Luca cursed.
Dante checked the floor.
A black button lay near the sill.
Maeve picked it up.
She had seen that button earlier.
On a uniform.
Someone entered behind them.
The house manager, Samuel Reed.
He looked at the open window.
Then the button in Maeve's hand.
His eyes widened.
Because the same button was missing from his jacket.
Marco turned toward him.
"Samuel."
Samuel slowly raised his hands.
"I can explain."
A second later, the lights went out.
May you like
When they came back on, Samuel was gone.
And from somewhere inside the wall, Maeve heard a woman scream.
