Chapter 3 - The Hidden Drive Inside the Old Mansion
I had spent my entire life learning how to recognize danger.
A raised eyebrow.
A delayed answer.
A person avoiding eye contact.
A hand reaching too slowly toward a pocket.
People believed power came from money, weapons, or reputation.
They were wrong.
Power came from knowing what others refused to show.
And by the time I returned to the Duca estate that evening, I knew one thing.
Someone in my house was hiding something.
The mansion looked unchanged.
That was almost insulting.
The same golden lights illuminated the entrance.
The same paintings hung on the walls.
The same expensive furniture sat perfectly arranged.
Everything looked calm.
But I no longer trusted the silence.
Silence was where secrets lived.
Jonah was waiting for me in the security room.
Three large monitors covered one wall.
Every camera feed from the estate appeared except one.
The east corridor.
Still black.
"Any progress?" I asked.
Jonah shook his head.
"Whoever disabled the camera knew exactly what they were doing."
I removed my coat.
"Meaning?"
"They didn't destroy the system."
He tapped the screen.
"They didn't break anything. They accessed the control panel, disabled only one camera, and removed the record from the server."
"Professional."
"Yes."
I looked at the screen.
"Could someone outside do it?"
Jonah hesitated.
"No."
That answer was immediate.
"Why?"
"The security system is isolated. Remote access requires two-factor authorization."
"And?"
"And only four people have that authorization."
I already knew the names.
Me.
Jonah.
My father’s old security director.
And Vivian.
The room became quiet.
Jonah watched my reaction carefully.
"You think it's her?"
I looked at him.
"I think assuming anything is how people get killed."
That was the truth.
I had learned long ago that emotions were dangerous when mixed with decisions.
Even when the person involved was someone you planned to marry.
Especially then.
"Pull every access record from the last thirty days."
Jonah nodded.
"Already doing it."
"Also check every device connected to the estate network."
"Phones?"
"Phones. Tablets. Laptops. Everything."
Jonah looked at me.
"You think she planted something?"
"I think someone is listening."
His expression changed slightly.
Because he understood what I meant.
The attack on Sophia was not only about what happened in the hallway.
It was about what Sophia knew.
And if someone was afraid she would speak...
Then they were afraid of what she could reveal.
Vivian arrived at my office at 8:00 p.m.
She did not knock.
That alone told me something.
The woman I knew always cared about appearances.
She would never enter a room without making sure everyone saw her as elegant and controlled.
Tonight, she looked different.
Still beautiful.
Still perfectly dressed.
But underneath the perfection was frustration.
"Alessandro."
I remained seated.
"Vivian."
She closed the door behind her.
"Your behavior today was unacceptable."
I looked at her.
"Excuse me?"
"You embarrassed me."
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was unexpected.
A woman had nearly died.
A child had begged for help.
And Vivian was worried about embarrassment.
"You are upset because I called an ambulance?"
"No."
She stepped closer.
"I'm upset because you treated me like a suspect."
I studied her.
"Did I?"
Her face hardened.
"You know exactly what you did."
I leaned back.
"What happened in that corridor?"
"I told you."
"Sophia fell."
"Yes."
"Then why did you move her?"
Her lips parted slightly.
Only for a second.
But again, I noticed.
"I was helping."
"By dragging an unconscious woman across broken glass?"
"I was trying to protect her."
"Without pressing the emergency button?"
Silence.
A small crack.
A moment where the perfect image slipped.
Then she recovered.
"You are interrogating me."
"No."
I looked directly at her.
"I am trying to understand why my fiancée was standing over an injured woman who begged my protection."
Her expression changed.
Anger.
Real anger.
"You don't trust me."
I did not answer.
Because the answer was obvious.
She noticed.
And that bothered her more than any accusation.
"You are letting a servant manipulate you."
I stood.
"Careful."
Her eyes narrowed.
"About what?"
"About the way you speak about Sophia."
"She is a housekeeper."
"She is a person."
Vivian looked away.
That was the first moment I saw something I had never seen before.
Not guilt.
Something else.
Resentment.
"Since when do you care so much?"
The question was quiet.
But it carried weight.
I looked at her.
"Since a three-year-old child knocked on my door asking me to save her mother."
Neither of us spoke.
Then Vivian whispered:
"You don't know what you are getting involved in."
The sentence was so unexpected that I almost missed it.
Almost.
"What does that mean?"
Her eyes immediately changed.
She realized she had said too much.
"I mean..."
She stopped.
For the first time since I met Vivian Rossi, she looked afraid.
Not of me.
Of someone else.
Before I could question her, her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
And her face lost all color.
"Who is it?"
"No one."
She declined the call immediately.
A second later, the phone rang again.
Same number.
She turned away.
I watched her.
Then she left without another word.
That was when I knew.
Whatever was happening...
Vivian was not at the center of it.
She was part of it.
At midnight, Jonah found something.
I was back in my office when he entered.
He looked different.
More serious than usual.
"You need to see this."
I followed him downstairs.
The security room lights were dim.
Jonah opened a file on the computer.
"During the network scan, we found an unknown device."
"What kind?"
"A storage device."
"Where?"
He looked at me.
"The old library."
The old library.
A room in the mansion that had not been used since my father's death.
Nobody went there.
Not even staff.
My father had called it his private archive.
After he died, I locked it.
Not because I wanted to hide something.
Because there were memories there I had no desire to revisit.
"How long has it been connected?"
Jonah checked.
"Six months."
Six months.
My stomach tightened.
"Six months?"
"Yes."
"Meaning someone placed it there before the engagement."
Jonah nodded.
I grabbed my jacket.
"Let's go."
The old library smelled exactly the same.
Dust.
Old paper.
Wood.
The past.
I unlocked the door.
The room opened slowly.
Moonlight entered through the tall windows.
Books covered every wall.
My father's collection.
History.
Politics.
Business.
Family records.
Everything he believed a Duca needed to understand the world.
Jonah moved carefully.
Then stopped.
"There."
Behind the old bookshelf.
A small device.
Almost invisible.
A hidden drive connected to the mansion network.
I stared at it.
Someone had hidden information inside my father's library.
A place connected to my family.
A place connected to Daniel.
Jonah carefully removed it.
"Should I open it?"
I looked at the device.
"No."
He frowned.
"Why?"
"Because whoever put it there wanted someone to find it."
I took the drive.
"And I want to know why."
Back upstairs, we connected it to an isolated computer.
The screen showed only one folder.
No name.
No date.
Just a single word.
DUCA.
I opened it.
Inside were dozens of files.
Photographs.
Documents.
Audio recordings.
And one video.
The date was seven years old.
The year Daniel died.
I clicked.
The screen remained black for several seconds.
Then a voice appeared.
A voice I had not heard in seven years.
My brother.
"Alessandro..."
I stopped breathing.
Jonah looked at me.
The recording continued.
"If you are watching this, then something happened to me."
My hands tightened.
Daniel's voice was calm.
But underneath it was fear.
Real fear.
"I was wrong about trusting the people closest to us."
The screen showed a blurry image of documents.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Numbers.
Then Daniel spoke again.
"Someone inside our family has been stealing from us."
I stared at the screen.
The room disappeared.
Only his voice remained.
"Do not trust the person who tells you everything is fine."
The recording ended.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
Just darkness.
Jonah was silent.
I looked at the hidden drive sitting on the desk.
The evidence my brother had left behind.
The secret someone had tried to bury.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message.
Unknown number.
One sentence.
I read it twice.
Because I knew immediately that whoever sent it knew about the drive.
"Your brother should have stayed silent. You should have too."
I looked toward the library door.
Toward the mansion around me.
Toward the place I had called home my entire life.
For the first time, I understood the truth.
Someone had not broken into my world.
May you like
Someone had been living inside it all along.
And now they knew I was looking back.
