Chapter 5 - Someone Had Been Watching Her
Sadi turned.
Nobody was inside.
Only a small camera.
Roman pulled it from the shelf.
The lens was warm.
Someone had been watching.
For how long, none of them knew.
Elias survived the dart.
Marcus found no shooter.
By morning, Roman moved Sadi to a secured apartment above an old Costa-owned office building.
She hated every second.
Not because she felt trapped.
Because she felt safe.
Safety made people careless.
Roman found her at the kitchen table studying Mateo's spreadsheet.
“You haven't slept.”
“Neither have you.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Elevator.”
“That was forty seconds.”
“I sleep efficiently.”
She looked at him.
His wound made him move carefully now.
“You still owe me Warehouse 17.”
Roman sat opposite her.
Six years ago, Luca Costa discovered that Arturo Vega had infiltrated a Costa shipping subsidiary.
Luca arranged a meeting at Warehouse 17 with someone promising evidence.
Roman followed secretly.
The warehouse exploded.
Luca died.
Roman survived.
“But Mateo said you were why he disappeared.”
“I don't know why.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
Sadi studied him.
She had spent years recognizing deception.
Roman was withholding something.
But not that.
They returned to Monza after closing.
Security archives had been partially erased.
Sadi recovered fragments.
Gina entered the hidden room repeatedly.
So did Brent.
But another figure appeared after midnight.
Face hidden.
Roman paused the frame.
A watch was visible.
Marcus stared at it.
Roman noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Sadi looked between them.
“That's twice tonight someone has said nothing while obviously meaning something.”
Marcus zoomed in.
The watch bore the Costa family crest.
Only five had been made.
Roman owned one.
Luca had owned another.
Their father had one.
Marcus had one.
The fifth belonged to Roman's uncle, Victor Costa.
Roman leaned back.
“Victor died three years ago.”
Sadi didn't like that sentence.
“Did you see the body?”
Roman looked at her.
“No.”
They searched Gina's office.
Sadi found a false bottom beneath a drawer.
Inside was a photograph.
Gina standing beside Arturo Vega.
And Victor Costa.
Roman stared at it.
The date was one month before Luca died.
On the back:
17 IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
Roman's face went blank.
His uncle had betrayed the family.
Or someone wanted Roman to believe he had.
Sadi searched deeper.
Under Gina's desk she found a taped envelope.
Inside was a personnel file.
Her personnel file.
But it had been created three months before she applied to Monza.
Sadi felt sick.
“This wasn't accidental.”
Roman understood.
“You were hired deliberately.”
“They put me here.”
“Why?”
She opened the last page.
A handwritten note:
SUBJECT STILL UNAWARE.
WAIT FOR COSTA CONTACT.
Roman's eyes hardened.
“They were waiting for you to contact me.”
“But I didn't.”
“You texted me.”
“The wrong number.”
Roman looked at her.
“What if it wasn't wrong?”
Sadi froze.
She remembered copying the emergency number from the employee directory.
Someone could have changed it.
Her resignation hadn't triggered the trap.
Her resignation was the trap.
A noise came from the outer office.
Roman killed the light.
Footsteps.
Sadi remained still.
Someone entered Gina's office.
Roman moved behind the door.
The figure approached the desk.
Sadi switched on the lamp.
Gina froze.
Roman stepped behind her.
“Looking for this?”
He held up the personnel file.
Gina's face collapsed.
“Roman, listen.”
“Start.”
“They'll kill me.”
“Who?”
Gina looked at Sadi.
“The same people who killed her brother.”
“He's alive,” Sadi said.
Gina's shock appeared genuine.
“What?”
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
Roman moved closer.
“Who hired her?”
Gina shook her head.
“I never met him.”
“Then how?”
“Messages.”
“From whom?”
“I don't know his real name.”
Sadi leaned forward.
“What name did he use?”
Gina's lips trembled.
“Luca.”
Roman stopped breathing.
Sadi stared at him.
Gina continued.
“I thought it was a joke.”
Roman's dead brother's name.
Used by the man running the operation.
Gina reached into her purse.
Roman tensed.
She removed another phone.
“There.”
One unread message.
Roman opened it.
TONIGHT CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Then another message arrived while they watched.
BRING THE GHOST TO WAREHOUSE 17.
Roman's jaw tightened.
A third message appeared.
AND ROMAN MUST COME TOO.
Then the office lights went out.
May you like
From somewhere beyond the door, a man's voice said:
“Good. You're all here.”
