Chapter 5 - The Camera Above the Bookshelf
The shadow vanished.
Victor ran into the corridor.
Empty.
An emergency door swung at the far end.
Daniel’s men searched the underground level.
Nobody was found.
Victor returned furious.
Evelyn was shaking.
“Name.”
“I don’t know.”
“You worked for him.”
“Through Arthur.”
“Voice?”
“Distorted.”
“Meetings?”
“Never face-to-face.”
Harper watched Evelyn carefully.
“You recognized the shadow.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“No.”
“You said, ‘That’s him.’”
“I panicked.”
“You knew.”
Evelyn’s eyes dropped.
Victor noticed.
“Harper.”
She stepped closer.
“Evelyn didn’t poison you because someone had her daughter.”
“What makes you sure?”
“She enjoyed it.”
Evelyn looked up sharply.
Harper remembered the smile.
“You smiled after you poured the vial.”
Evelyn’s frightened expression disappeared.
For one second, Harper saw the woman from the study.
Cold.
Satisfied.
Then Evelyn lunged.
Victor caught her wrist.
A blade fell from her sleeve.
Daniel restrained her.
Evelyn laughed.
“You think the maid saved you?”
Victor’s face became stone.
“She ruined everything.”
“For whom?”
Evelyn smiled at Harper.
“Ask her father.”
They locked Evelyn upstairs.
Harper returned to Victor’s study.
She needed space.
Instead, she found Caleb waiting.
“You lied to me,” she said.
“I know.”
“You sold me to Arthur.”
“I thought you’d get a job.”
“For eleven months?”
“I tried to get you out.”
“You kept gambling.”
“No.”
Caleb reached into his pocket.
“I was following Arthur.”
He handed her a flash drive.
“I knew something was wrong after the first month. Arthur kept asking whether you’d found a red book.”
Harper stared.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was ashamed.”
“That isn’t good enough.”
“I know.”
Victor entered.
Caleb stiffened.
Victor took the drive.
It contained photographs.
Arthur meeting strangers.
Bank statements.
Vehicle registrations.
One photograph showed Arthur beside a black sedan.
The plate ended in 7194.
The same car Harper had seen.
Victor zoomed in on the driver.
His face was hidden.
But his hand rested outside the window.
A gold ring was visible.
Victor went pale.
Harper noticed.
“You recognize it.”
Victor did not answer.
“Victor.”
“That ring belonged to my father.”
Caleb frowned.
“Your father’s dead.”
“Yes.”
Victor enlarged the image.
The ring had a black stone engraved with the Romano crest.
Only two had ever existed.
Victor wore one.
The other had been buried with his father.
Someone had opened Antonio Romano’s grave.
Or Antonio had never been inside it.
Victor turned toward the brass camera above the bookshelves.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Who has access to this camera?”
“Security.”
“Names.”
Daniel listed six.
One was Arthur.
One was Daniel.
Three were guards.
The last name made Victor turn slowly.
“Say that again.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Your mother.”
Harper stared.
Victor’s mother, Isabella Romano, lived in the east wing.
She had barely left her rooms in five years.
Victor walked toward the door.
Then every monitor in the study turned black.
A message appeared.
HELLO, SON.
Victor stopped.
A live camera feed opened.
It showed Isabella Romano sitting alone in her bedroom.
Someone stood behind her.
May you like
A hand wearing Antonio Romano’s ring rested on her shoulder.
Then the camera slowly tilted upward toward the man’s face.
