Chapter 6 - THE INSIDE MAN
The name echoed in the small room like a gunshot.
Marco. Luca's head of security. The man who had just dragged Arturo Bellini down to the basement.
Luca’s eyes snapped open. The grief on his face was instantly replaced by a terrifying, cold fury. He didn’t yell. He didn't throw anything. He just reached into his tailored jacket and pulled out his phone.
"Roberto," Luca said softly, his eyes dead. "Take Isabella and Emily to the panic room behind the main library. Lock the door. Do not open it for anyone but me."
"Daddy, no!" Isabella cried, reaching for him.
Luca knelt, cupping her face in his large, tattooed hands. "I will be right back, Bella. I promise. Go with Uncle Roberto and Emily. You are so brave. Mommy was so proud of you."
He kissed her forehead, stood up, and walked out of the room without another word.
Roberto immediately took Isabella's hand. "Come, Emily. We must move quickly."
We hurried down the back stairwell, avoiding the main halls. The massive mansion felt entirely different now. The luxury felt like a trap. Every shadow could be Marco or one of his loyal men.
We reached the library. Roberto pulled a specific leather-bound book on the shelf, and a heavy steel door slid open behind a bookshelf. We ushered Isabella inside. The panic room was stocked with monitors showing security feeds of the entire estate.
Roberto locked the heavy door behind us.
On the monitors, we could see Luca walking deliberately toward the basement stairs.
"He is walking right into a trap," I whispered, watching the screen. "Marco has men down there."
"You do not know Luca Moretti," Roberto said quietly. "He did not build this empire by being naive."
On the screen, Luca reached the basement doors. Marco was standing outside them, arms crossed, looking relaxed.
We watched the silent feed. We couldn't hear the words, but we saw Luca approach Marco. Luca looked calm. He nodded at Marco, pointing toward the basement door.
Marco turned to unlock the door.
In a flash of movement so fast it barely registered on the camera, Luca drew a weapon and struck Marco in the back of the knee, sending the massive man crashing to the floor. Before Marco could even reach for his own gun, Luca had him pinned, his weapon pressed to the back of Marco's head.
Isabella buried her face in my side, refusing to look at the screens. I held her tight, stroking her hair.
On another monitor, showing the driveway, we saw Vanessa frantically throwing suitcases into the trunk of a taxi. She was running.
Suddenly, Roberto gasped, pointing at a different screen. It was the feed from the East Wing hallway—right outside the sealed study we had just left.
"Look," Roberto hissed.
A figure was sneaking out of the study, carrying a heavy leather satchel. It wasn't one of the security guards.
It was a woman in a maid's uniform.
It was Sarah, the head housekeeper who had trained me when I first arrived.
She was hurrying toward the back exits.
"What is she doing?" I asked, completely bewildered.
Roberto zoomed in on the camera feed. Hanging out of the leather satchel in Sarah's hands was a thick bundle of documents—the ledgers from the ruined study.
"Marco wasn't working alone inside the house," Roberto realized. "Sarah is destroying the paper trail."
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And then, on the screen, Sarah stopped in the hallway. She pulled a walkie-talkie from her pocket, spoke into it, and pointed directly up at the security camera.
She knew we were watching.
