Chapter 3 - The Missing Minute.
Adrian entered the estate smiling as though he had arrived for a late drink.
He wore a charcoal overcoat over a tailored black suit and carried no luggage.
The smile disappeared when Marcus met him in the foyer.
“Why are the doors locked?” Adrian asked.
“Lorenzo wants everyone in the dining room.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened.
“Everyone?”
“Everyone.”
When Adrian entered, Mia immediately hid behind Lorenzo.
That was the first thing Lorenzo noticed.
The second was Adrian’s right hand.
The DeLuca signet ring gleamed beneath the chandelier light.
Adrian glanced at Celeste.
It was only a glance.
But Celeste looked away too quickly.
“Brother,” Adrian said.
“You look like someone died.”
“Not tonight.”
Lorenzo nodded toward the sealed wine glass.
“Sit down.”
Adrian did not move.
“What is this?”
“Mia says she saw Celeste put something in my drink.”
Adrian’s expression turned toward theatrical disbelief.
“You locked down the estate because of something a three-year-old said?”
Mia’s small fingers tightened around Lorenzo’s sleeve.
Lorenzo noticed.
Adrian did not.
“Then she said a man was watching from the service passage,” Lorenzo continued.
Adrian’s eyes flicked toward the velvet curtain.
That tiny movement was enough.
Lorenzo felt something cold settle in his chest.
Adrian laughed.
“And now I suppose I’m the mysterious man.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Marcus entered carrying a tablet.
“I pulled the local recording cache from the dining room camera.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
Adrian finally sat.
Marcus placed the tablet on the table.
“The camera lost connection at 11:31 p.m.”
“For how long?” Lorenzo asked.
“Sixty-eight seconds.”
Marcus tapped the screen.
“Connection resumed at 11:32 and eight seconds.”
Lorenzo looked at Celeste.
“That is exactly when Mia came downstairs.”
Marcus nodded.
“There is something else.”
The camera had not simply failed.
Someone had logged into the control system remotely and disabled only the dining room feed.
The administrator record showed the login source as Lorenzo’s private study.
Adrian leaned back.
“That proves nothing.”
“No,” Lorenzo said.
“It proves someone was in my study.”
Adrian shrugged.
“You leave that room unlocked half the time.”
“No, I don’t.”
For the first time, Adrian stopped smiling.
The family had one rule about Lorenzo’s study.
Nobody entered without permission.
Not Celeste.
Not the staff.
Not even Adrian.
Marcus opened another screen.
“The study door sensor registered an entry at 11:29.”
“Whose code?”
“That is the problem.”
The record showed no code.
The lock had been opened with the physical master key.
Only two master keys existed.
Lorenzo kept one inside a biometric safe.
The other belonged to Marcus.
Every face in the room turned toward the security chief.
Marcus stared at the tablet as if it had betrayed him.
“My key has not left my possession.”
“Prove it,” Adrian said immediately.
Marcus’s jaw clenched.
Lorenzo raised one hand.
“No one accuses anyone until we have facts.”
Adrian gave a thin smile.
“That is generous, considering how you greeted me.”
Before Lorenzo could answer, the dining room lights dimmed once.
Then the wall monitor turned on by itself.
A black screen appeared.
White text slowly formed in the center.
STOP TESTING THE WINE.
Celeste made a small sound in her throat.
A second line appeared.
THE NEXT GLASS WON’T BE YOURS.
Lorenzo looked down at Mia.
She was staring at the message too.
May you like
The threat was not aimed at him.
It was aimed at his daughter.
