Chapter 7 - SOMEONE WAS LISTENING
Z
Dominic found the camera at six the next morning.
It had been installed inside a smoke detector in Marcus’s apartment.
Marcus stared at it with disbelief.
“This unit was swept yesterday.”
“Then somebody installed it afterward,” Dominic said.
Only seven people had access.
The list was terrifyingly short.
Alessandro.
Elena.
Lena.
Rosa.
Dominic.
Marcus.
And Marcus’s restaurant manager, Paul Devlin.
Paul had worked for Marcus for eleven years.
By eight o’clock, he was missing.
Security footage showed him leaving through the restaurant kitchen at 2:13 a.m.
Two minutes after Noah returned to bed.
He had heard everything.
Including Alessandro promising Elena that he intended to choose her publicly.
“Wonderful,” Elena muttered. “Now the criminal underworld knows more about my love life than I do.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“You called it a love life.”
“That is what you focused on?”
“Yes.”
“Hopeless.”
Dominic failed to hide a grin.
The humor disappeared when Marcus received a call.
Paul’s car had been found near the East River.
No Paul.
Blood in the driver’s seat.
Another witness erased.
“They’re cleaning the board,” Marcus said.
Alessandro paced.
“Victor. Paul. Anyone who can connect the Hales to Matteo.”
Lena entered.
“Then I’m next.”
Everyone went silent.
She hugged herself.
“And probably Noah.”
“No,” Alessandro said.
The word carried absolute certainty.
“You can’t guarantee that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“How?”
“By ending this before they get close.”
Lena looked at him.
“You sound exactly like Matteo.”
Alessandro stopped.
“He thought he could fix everything alone too.”
That accusation reached him.
Elena watched him make a visible decision.
“All right.”
Everyone stared.
Alessandro faced Marcus.
“What do you need from me?”
Marcus blinked.
“Did Elena replace you during the night?”
“What do you need?”
“Access to Moretti Development’s internal servers.”
“You’ll have it.”
Dominic frowned.
“That gives Marcus sensitive corporate data.”
Alessandro looked at him.
“Yes.”
“A year ago you would have shot someone for suggesting that.”
“A year ago I was wrong about almost everything important.”
His eyes moved briefly toward Elena.
She felt the meaning.
For the next six hours, Marcus’s analysts and Alessandro’s people worked together.
At 4:26 p.m., they found the pattern.
Each property Moretti Development purchased corresponded with a future Hale Security contract.
Warehouses.
Data centers.
Port facilities.
But one address appeared repeatedly without any obvious business reason.
An abandoned textile mill in Patterson.
Alessandro recognized it.
“Matteo died six miles from there.”
Marcus checked dates.
“The mill was purchased two weeks before his murder.”
Elena leaned over the screen.
“Who approved it?”
Nobody spoke.
The authorization carried Alessandro’s electronic signature.
He stared.
“I never signed this.”
Dominic looked sick.
“Your credentials were used.”
“Who had them?”
Dominic hesitated.
“I did.”
The room froze.
Marcus slowly moved his hand toward the weapon at his side.
Alessandro lifted one hand.
“No.”
Dominic stared at the document.
“I didn’t approve this.”
“You had my credentials,” Alessandro said.
“Yes.”
“Who else knew?”
“Victor.”
“And?”
Dominic swallowed.
“My wife.”
Alessandro’s expression changed.
Elena remembered hearing about Dominic’s wife only a handful of times.
Rachel Russo.
An attorney.
Private.
Elegant.
Rarely present at Moretti events.
“Where is she?” Alessandro asked.
Dominic pulled out his phone.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
He called their home security system.
Offline.
Dominic’s face drained of color.
“I need to go.”
Alessandro grabbed his arm.
“It could be a trap.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“She’s my wife.”
“And that is exactly why you should.”
Dominic looked ready to fight him.
Elena stepped between them.
“Both of you stop.”
They did.
Elena pointed toward Alessandro.
“You know what it feels like to think you failed someone you love.”
Then Dominic.
“And running into a possible ambush alone won’t help Rachel.”
Dominic breathed hard.
Finally he nodded.
They went together.
Rachel’s townhouse in Greenwich was unlocked.
No broken windows.
No alarms.
No Rachel.
On the dining table sat one envelope.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Matteo.
Alive.
Taken the night before his murder.
Beside him stood Rachel.
Dominic looked as though someone had punched him.
Alessandro took the photograph.
“What was she doing with him?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
On the back of the picture were four handwritten words.
ASK HER ABOUT THE BABY.
Dominic sat down.
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“What baby?”
“I don’t know.”
His voice cracked.
“Rachel and I never had children.”
Alessandro examined the photograph.
Rachel looked younger.
Terrified.
Matteo had one hand on her shoulder.
Not romantic.
Protective.
Then Elena noticed something.
Rachel’s other hand rested on her stomach.
“No.”
Dominic looked up.
Elena pointed.
“She was pregnant.”
Dominic stared.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then whispered, “She never told me.”
A phone rang.
Not theirs.
A disposable phone hidden beneath the envelope.
Alessandro answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You want Rachel alive?”
Dominic surged forward.
Alessandro put the call on speaker.
“Who is this?”
“Bring Lena Carter and Matteo’s evidence to the Patterson mill by midnight.”
Lena’s name.
The trap was obvious.
Then the voice continued.
“And bring Elena Brooks.”
Alessandro went completely still.
Elena’s blood turned cold.
“Why me?”
The caller laughed.
“Because the maid has been opening doors she was never supposed to see.”
The line disconnected.
Alessandro looked at Elena.
“No.”
She folded her arms.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
“And?”
“No.”
“This isn’t your decision.”
“They asked for you specifically.”
“Which means I matter to whatever they’re hiding.”
“Exactly.”
“Then use that.”
His eyes flashed.
“I will not use you as bait.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You promised you wouldn’t use me without giving me a choice.”
Alessandro froze.
She continued.
“I’m choosing.”
“No.”
“Alessandro.”
“No.”
Dominic whispered, “Elena…”
She looked at the devastated man.
Rachel could be dead before morning.
Elena turned back to Alessandro.
“You said you wanted to choose me where everyone could see.”
“I do.”
“Then start by seeing who I actually am.”
His jaw tightened.
“I am not fragile because I clean your house. I’m not foolish because I care about you. And I am not going to hide while another woman dies because powerful men decided I needed protecting from my own decisions.”
Alessandro stared at her.
There was fear in his eyes.
Pure fear.
Finally, he whispered, “I hate this.”
“I know.”
“If anything happens to you—”
“Then make sure nothing does.”
Silence.
Then Alessandro nodded once.
“Fine.”
Elena breathed out.
“But you do exactly what I tell you when we get there.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“We’ll negotiate.”
Despite everything, Dominic laughed.
May you like
And for the first time Alessandro understood that loving Elena would never mean putting her behind him.
It would mean learning how to stand beside her.
