Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE HOUSE
Luca ordered Vivian locked in a guest suite.
Not arrested.
Not removed.
Locked inside his own house.
Naomi didn’t understand.
“You’re keeping her here?”
Luca looked at her.
“If I throw her out, whoever she’s working with disappears.”
“She hurt your mother.”
“I know.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“Then act like it.”
Marco went rigid.
Nobody spoke to Luca Moretti like that.
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“You think I’m not angry?”
“I think she slapped a seventy-one-year-old woman who can barely defend herself, and you’re treating this like a business problem.”
“It is a business problem.”
“It’s your mother.”
His face hardened.
“And that is why Vivian is still breathing.”
Naomi stopped.
The room suddenly felt colder.
Luca turned toward Isabella.
His mother sat wrapped in a blanket, watching them.
Luca crouched beside her.
“I need to know who D is.”
Isabella frowned.
“Do you know?”
High note.
No.
“Have you seen him?”
She hesitated.
Then low.
Yes.
Luca leaned forward.
“In this house?”
Low.
Yes.
Marco cursed under his breath.
Naomi looked toward the hallway.
Someone inside the mansion was involved.
Someone trusted.
Luca stood.
“Nobody leaves.”
Marco immediately spoke into his radio.
The estate went into lockdown.
Thirty-two employees.
Nine guards.
Four household staff.
Two drivers.
One nurse.
Everyone became a suspect.
Naomi stayed beside Isabella while Luca searched Vivian’s phone.
An hour passed.
Then another.
Near midnight, Luca walked into the kitchen.
Naomi was making Isabella tea.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I don’t sleep much.”
“I noticed.”
He leaned against the counter.
For the first time, he looked tired instead of dangerous.
“You really broke that door down.”
“Yes.”
“You could’ve called security.”
“I did what your mother needed.”
His eyes held hers.
“Most people in this house do what they think I need.”
“I’m not most people.”
“No.”
The way he said it made her uncomfortable.
Not because she feared him.
Because she didn’t.
That was probably worse.
Luca set Vivian’s phone down.
“D uses encrypted messages. No number.”
“So you have nothing?”
“I have one thing.”
He pushed the phone toward her.
A photograph filled the screen.
Naomi’s breath caught.
It showed Naomi outside a grocery store.
Taken three days ago.
Another photo showed her getting off a bus.
Another showed her apartment building.
“What is this?”
“Someone has been following you.”
Naomi stared.
“Why?”
Luca’s expression darkened.
“Because Vivian wasn’t planning to just frame you.”
He swiped again.
A photograph appeared.
Naomi asleep in her bedroom.
Taken through her window.
Her entire body went numb.
Luca spoke softly.
“You’re not going home tonight.”
Naomi looked up.
“I can take care of myself.”
“This isn’t a suggestion.”
“That sounds exactly like a suggestion I’m going to ignore.”
His mouth almost moved.
Almost a smile.
Then Marco rushed into the kitchen.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
He placed a small black device on the counter.
A listening bug.
“Where?”
Marco glanced at Naomi.
“In Mrs. Moretti’s piano.”
Naomi felt sick.
Luca straightened.
“Who had access?”
Marco hesitated.
“Only five people.”
“Names.”
“Me. Vivian. Naomi. Your mother.”
“And the fifth?”
May you like
Marco swallowed.
“Your brother.”
