Chapter 4 - The House Had Been Opened From the Inside
Nobody had broken through the gates.
Nobody climbed a wall.
No alarm had triggered.
The men who entered my bedroom had been admitted through the service entrance using valid credentials.
Luca’s security chief confirmed it before sunrise.
“Whose credentials?” Luca asked.
The man hesitated.
“Maintenance.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
“They were cloned.”
Julian stepped in.
“So somebody copied access.”
Luca stared at him.
“Obviously.”
Julian did not react.
He rarely did.
I sat across the library holding Mia.
She had finally fallen asleep.
The duck remained pressed between us.
I had still told nobody about the paper.
That increasingly felt like cowardice.
It also felt like survival.
Then security brought Luca a tablet.
His message history.
My text was not there.
I said:
“I sent one.”
Luca looked at me.
“What did it say?”
I repeated it.
Julian asked:
“Why didn't you call?”
“I didn't know who might hear.”
His expression barely changed.
Luca asked:
“Who were you afraid of?”
There it was.
I could have said Julian.
Instead:
“I didn't know.”
That was technically true.
Luca stared at me longer than was comfortable.
Then he looked at Mia.
“Take her somewhere safe.”
“No.”
The word came out before I thought.
Every man in the room looked at me.
I tightened my arms around my daughter.
“She stays with me.”
Luca nodded once.
No argument.
Julian noticed that too.
Later, when I carried Mia upstairs, she woke halfway.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Why didn't you show Mr. Luca the bird paper?”
I stopped walking.
A security camera blinked above us.
I whispered:
“Not here.”
Mia frowned.
Then said:
“Uncle Julian has the same bird.”
May you like
I knew.
I simply had not wanted my three-year-old to say it aloud.
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