Chapter 1 - Caught With My Hands on His Bike
Mara gripped the motorcycle handles and whispered, “Just thirty seconds.”
Adrian Bellucci stepped behind her and placed a black key beside her hand.
A fresh scratch ran across the metal tag attached to it.
Someone had carved one word into the back.
RUN.
Adrian realized Mara touching his motorcycle was no longer the problem.
Mara Hayes did not hear him approach.
That frightened her more than anything.
One moment, she was sitting astride the most expensive motorcycle she had ever seen, trying to imagine herself racing beyond the iron gates of the Bellucci estate.
The next moment, a tattooed hand appeared beside hers.
Mara stopped breathing.
She knew that hand.
Everyone working inside the estate knew it.
Adrian Bellucci rarely raised his voice. He did not have to.
At thirty-four, he controlled an organization that stretched through legitimate shipping companies, luxury hotels, restaurants, security firms, and businesses whose details no employee was foolish enough to ask about.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and almost always dressed in black. Tattoos disappeared beneath his sleeves and climbed the side of his neck. People lowered their voices when he entered rooms.
Mara slowly looked over her shoulder.
Adrian stood directly behind her.
His dark eyes moved from her face to her hands wrapped around the handlebars.
Mara swallowed.
The basket of freshly pressed linens she had abandoned was still sitting on the cobblestones.
She had committed the stupidest possible offense in the most obvious possible way.
“I can explain.”
“I hope so.”
His tone was calm.
That somehow made everything worse.
Mara carefully released the handlebars.
“I was carrying the linens to the east guest rooms.”
“I can see the linens.”
“And then I saw the motorcycle.”
“I can see the motorcycle too.”
She closed her eyes for half a second.
Wonderful.
She was going to be unemployed before lunch.
“I wasn't going to steal it.”
One corner of Adrian's mouth moved.
Not quite a smile.
“That defense usually works better when you're not sitting on the thing you claim you weren't going to steal.”
Mara climbed off so quickly that her sneaker caught against the footpeg.
She stumbled.
Adrian caught her around the waist before she hit the ground.
For one startled second, neither moved.
Mara felt the strength of his arm through the thin fabric of her pink uniform.
Then Adrian immediately steadied her and released her.
“Careful.”
Heat rushed into her face.
“I knew that.”
“Obviously.”
She glared at him before remembering exactly who she was glaring at.
Adrian noticed.
This time, he did smile.
It changed him.
Not enough to make him harmless.
But enough to make Mara understand why women whispered about him when they thought the house staff could not hear.
She bent to retrieve the laundry basket.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Bellucci. It won't happen again.”
“Why did you sit on it?”
Mara paused.
“Curiosity.”
“That isn't the real answer.”
She looked toward the enormous gates at the end of the courtyard.
Beyond them lay a narrow road twisting down toward the town.
Beyond the town was the rest of the world.
“I've never ridden one.”
“And?”
“And sometimes I wonder what it feels like to go somewhere without having to ask anyone first.”
His expression changed.
Very slightly.
But Mara noticed.
Adrian leaned against the motorcycle.
“Do you need permission to leave my property?”
“No.”
“Then why would you have to ask?”
Mara regretted answering honestly.
“Because leaving isn't the same as having somewhere to go.”
Adrian studied her.
The two bodyguards near the black sedan deliberately looked elsewhere.
Mara knew both men by name.
Nico and Tomas.
Neither usually reacted to anything.
But Nico's jaw tightened.
Something was wrong.
Adrian reached into his pocket.
Mara expected him to pull out the motorcycle key.
Instead, he placed a small black key on the gas tank.
A metal tag hung from it.
There was a deep, fresh scratch across the tag.
Adrian turned it over.
RUN.
Mara stared.
“What is that?”
“That,” Adrian said, “is what I found attached to my motorcycle key ten minutes ago.”
“I didn't put it there.”
“I know.”
Her gaze snapped up.
“How?”
“Because you've been in the laundry room since seven fifteen.”
Mara frowned.
“How do you know where I've been?”
“Security cameras.”
“Oh.”
Then another thought occurred to her.
“If you saw me on security cameras, why didn't your guards stop me?”
Adrian looked toward Nico.
Nico looked back.
Something passed silently between them.
Adrian's expression hardened.
“That's a very good question.”
Mara suddenly wished she were back inside folding sheets.
Adrian took the key.
“Go inside.”
She hesitated.
“Am I fired?”
“No.”
“Are you angry?”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
That was not comforting.
Adrian looked toward the second-floor windows of the estate.
Someone stood behind one of the curtains.
Mara saw only a shadow.
Then it disappeared.
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Nico.”
The guard approached immediately.
“Boss.”
“Lock the gates.”
Mara's stomach dropped.
Nico did not question him.
Within seconds, the enormous iron gates began sliding closed.
Mara hugged the laundry basket against her stomach.
“What's happening?”
Adrian glanced at her.
“I don't know yet.”
Tomas came running from the garage carrying a tablet.
That alone alarmed Mara.
Tomas never ran.
“Sir.”
Adrian took the tablet.
His face changed as he read.
“What?”
Tomas lowered his voice, but Mara was standing close enough to hear.
“Camera twelve was disabled for eleven minutes.”
Adrian's eyes lifted.
“Which camera?”
“The courtyard.”
Silence.
Mara slowly looked at the motorcycle.
She had been sitting on it.
During the exact period when somebody had disabled the camera.
Adrian's gaze came to her.
Mara's throat went dry.
“You said you saw me on camera.”
“I saw you leaving the laundry wing.”
“But not climbing onto the motorcycle.”
“No.”
“So whoever left that key…”
“Could have been standing here minutes before you arrived.”
A cold sensation crawled over Mara's skin.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Tell me exactly what happened when you came outside.”
“I walked down the steps. I saw the bike. I put the basket down.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
“Hear anything?”
Mara thought.
Birds.
A fountain.
The clink of dishes from an open kitchen window.
Then—
“Yes.”
Adrian's eyes sharpened.
“What?”
“A car door.”
Nico turned toward the driveway.
Mara continued.
“I thought it came from your sedan.”
“It couldn't have,” Nico said. “I've been standing beside it for half an hour.”
Mara pointed beyond the cypress trees.
“Then it came from over there.”
Everyone turned.
There was a service lane behind the garden wall.
Workers used it for deliveries.
Adrian took one step toward it.
Then Mara remembered something else.
“And I smelled cigarettes.”
Adrian stopped.
Nico and Tomas exchanged a glance.
Mara noticed.
“What?”
Neither answered.
Adrian did.
“None of my security team smokes.”
The courtyard suddenly seemed too quiet.
Adrian took Mara's laundry basket and handed it to Tomas.
“Stay beside me.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“I thought you wanted me inside.”
“I changed my mind.”
That was apparently something mafia bosses could do without explanation.
Adrian walked toward the service path.
Mara followed, partly because he had ordered her to and partly because she needed to know why somebody had written RUN on his key.
Near the garden wall, Adrian crouched.
A cigarette butt lay beside the stone.
Fresh ash still clung to it.
Nico pulled on a glove and picked it up.
“Imported brand.”
Adrian's face became unreadable.
“You recognize it?” Mara asked.
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
He looked at her.
“My brother used to smoke these.”
Mara blinked.
“Used to?”
“He died six years ago.”
The words landed heavily.
Mara wished she had not asked.
“I'm sorry.”
Adrian said nothing.
Nico examined the cigarette.
“There are only three suppliers in the city carrying this brand.”
“Find out who bought them.”
“Yes, boss.”
A sudden sound came from behind the garden wall.
Metal scraping against stone.
Adrian immediately pushed Mara behind him.
Tomas drew a weapon.
Mara froze.
“Stay down,” Adrian said.
Nico opened the narrow service gate.
Nobody was there.
But a black envelope had been pushed beneath it.
Adrian stared at it.
Tomas picked it up carefully and handed it over.
There was no name.
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
His expression became still.
Too still.
Mara could not see the image.
“What is it?”
Adrian turned it around.
Her knees almost gave out.
The photograph showed Mara.
It had been taken that morning.
She was leaving the small apartment she rented in town before coming to work.
On the back were five words.
SHE SHOULD HAVE STAYED AWAY.
Mara could barely speak.
“Why would anyone have a picture of me?”
Adrian's eyes were cold now.
Not toward her.
Toward whoever had taken it.
“You're not going home tonight.”
“What?”
“You'll stay here.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Mara.”
“I have a life outside this estate.”
“I know exactly what you have outside this estate. A second-floor apartment with one broken hallway camera and a back door that hasn't locked properly in two months.”
Her face went pale.
“How do you know that?”
“Because the moment your photograph appeared in an envelope threatening you, I had your building checked.”
“You did that in thirty seconds?”
“Nico is efficient.”
Nico gave a tiny shrug.
Mara pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
“And you're saying that like it's normal.”
“For me, unfortunately, it is.”
She looked at the photograph again.
Someone had followed her.
Someone had watched where she lived.
Adrian stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“If the person threatening me has chosen you, walking through those gates alone would be exactly what they expect.”
“I don't even know why they'd choose me.”
“I intend to find out.”
Tomas's phone rang.
He answered.
His face immediately changed.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“We found the courtyard camera.”
“Found it?”
Tomas nodded slowly.
“It wasn't remotely disabled.”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“Then what happened?”
“Someone opened the security room and disconnected it manually.”
Mara felt another chill.
That meant whoever had done this had entered the estate.
Not hacked it.
Entered it.
Adrian looked toward the mansion.
“Who has access?”
Tomas hesitated.
“Seven people.”
“Bring them into the library.”
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
“The security room door wasn't forced.”
Adrian stared at him.
Tomas continued quietly.
“Whoever entered used an authorized key.”
Mara looked at the enormous mansion.
Dozens of windows reflected the afternoon sunlight.
Housekeepers moved behind some of them.
Kitchen workers crossed another.
Staff members.
Guards.
People Mara greeted every morning.
One of them had helped someone get inside.
Adrian turned to her.
“From now on, you don't go anywhere alone.”
Mara's pulse quickened.
“I don't think I like your world very much.”
For the first time since finding the photograph, something human crossed his face.
“Neither do I.”
A bell suddenly rang from inside the estate.
Once.
Twice.
Then every exterior door automatically locked.
Nico looked at Adrian.
“You ordered the lockdown?”
“No.”
Everyone went still.
Tomas checked his phone.
“No command came from security.”
Adrian looked toward the front doors.
They slowly opened.
A maid stood inside.
Not one Mara recognized.
She was holding Mara's abandoned laundry basket.
And sitting on top of the folded white linens was another black envelope.
The woman whispered:
“Mr. Bellucci... someone told me to give this directly to Mara.”
Mara reached toward it.
Adrian caught her wrist.
“No.”
The envelope moved.
Something inside it was vibrating.
Then Mara's own phone began ringing.
Unknown number.
She looked at Adrian.
He nodded once.
Mara answered.
A man's voice whispered her name.
“Mara Hayes.”
Her blood went cold.
“Who is this?”
The man laughed softly.
Then he said:
“Ask Adrian what happened to the last maid who touched that motorcycle.”
The call ended.
Mara slowly turned toward Adrian.
His face had gone completely pale.
May you like
And before she could ask the question, the locked library door behind them opened from the inside.
Someone was waiting for her.
