Chapter 1 - Ten Minutes)
Caesar had built his fortune by making decisions while everyone around him panicked.
He had negotiated hostile acquisitions while competitors threatened lawsuits.
He had once walked through a burning warehouse to rescue an employee trapped beneath a collapsed steel beam.
He had sat across from men who smiled while planning to destroy him.
Nothing had prepared him for Evelyn standing beside Amelia’s old stuffed rabbit with a memory card in her hand.
“Marcus, lockdown protocol.”
Marcus immediately touched the microphone hidden beneath his jacket.
“Full lockdown. Nobody enters or exits the estate.”
Vanessa grabbed Caesar’s arm.
“You heard the call. We need to leave.”
Caesar looked at her fingers gripping his sleeve.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You were desperate to leave before you even knew what the alarm meant.”
Her hand dropped.
“That is not what happened.”
The alarm continued.
A mechanical female voice sounded through the mansion.
“Security breach. Lower service level.”
Caesar turned toward the second bodyguard.
“Daniel, take Evelyn and Samuel to the secure room.”
“No!”
Evelyn clung to Clara.
“I stay with her.”
Caesar glanced at Clara.
Until five minutes ago, she had been one of hundreds of employees who passed through the Moretti estate. He knew she had worked in the mansion for eight months. He knew she had excellent references. He knew Evelyn trusted her.
Now his daughter had called her mother.
“Who are you?” Caesar asked.
Clara’s face tightened.
“Not here.”
“That answer is no longer acceptable.”
A crash echoed somewhere below.
Marcus stepped toward the door.
“Sir, we need to move.”
Caesar took the memory card from Evelyn.
“Secure room. Everyone.”
Vanessa stepped back.
“I am not going anywhere with that woman.”
Caesar turned.
“You are.”
She stared at him.
For the first time in the twelve years Marcus had protected Caesar, he saw fear in Vanessa’s eyes when Caesar spoke.
Not anger.
Fear.
They moved through the upstairs corridor.
The mansion was enormous, but Caesar suddenly felt trapped inside it.
Security shutters began closing over exterior windows.
Doors locked automatically.
Staff members were ordered into designated areas.
Marcus led them through Caesar’s private study and opened a concealed panel behind a bookcase.
The safe room beyond was built like a small apartment.
Reinforced walls.
Independent ventilation.
Medical supplies.
Surveillance monitors.
Weapons locked behind biometric glass.
Caesar entered last.
Marcus sealed the door.
The alarm became faint.
Evelyn sat beside Clara on the sofa.
Samuel was still crying, though more weakly now.
Clara looked down at the baby.
“We need a doctor.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“He is upset because she frightened him.”
Clara looked at Caesar.
“The liquid in that cup was not ordinary medicine.”
“How do you know?”
“I smelled it.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You smelled it?”
“Bitter almonds.”
Silence.
Caesar stared at her.
Clara continued.
“Very faint. Mixed with something sweet.”
Marcus looked toward Caesar.
“That could mean several things.”
Including cyanide.
Nobody said it.
They did not have to.
Caesar unlocked a cabinet and removed a portable medical testing kit.
Vanessa moved toward him.
“You are seriously believing the maid?”
“I believe evidence.”
“You have known me seven years.”
“I knew Amelia for eleven.”
Vanessa flinched.
Clara noticed.
So did Evelyn.
Caesar placed the memory card into an encrypted laptop isolated from the mansion network.
Nothing appeared.
The system requested a password.
Evelyn whispered, “Bluebird.”
Caesar looked at her.
“What?”
“Mommy used to call me her bluebird.”
He typed BLUEBIRD.
Incorrect.
Evelyn wiped her cheeks.
“She always said, ‘My bluebird came home at sunset.’”
Caesar stared at the password field.
He typed SUNSET.
Incorrect.
Vanessa exhaled impatiently.
“We are wasting time.”
Clara spoke softly.
“What date did Amelia die?”
Caesar’s jaw tightened.
“October fourteenth.”
He typed 1014.
The screen unlocked.
Three folders appeared.
EVELYN.
CAESAR.
IF I DIE.
No one spoke.
Caesar opened IF I DIE.
A video appeared.
Amelia filled the screen.
Caesar’s first wife sat inside what looked like her private dressing room.
Her blonde hair was tied back.
Her face was pale.
She looked frightened.
Alive.
Caesar reached instinctively toward the screen.
Amelia began speaking.
“If you are watching this, Caesar, then either I finally found the courage to tell you everything, or someone made sure I never got the chance.”
Vanessa backed toward the safe room door.
Marcus noticed.
Caesar did too.
Amelia continued.
“The person you trust most in this house is not who you think.”
Static interrupted the video.
The image distorted.
Then Amelia returned.
“I found payments connected to Project Orpheus. I found medical reports that were never supposed to exist. And I found proof that Evelyn is in danger.”
Caesar’s eyes shifted toward his daughter.
Evelyn squeezed Clara’s hand.
Amelia leaned closer to the camera.
“If anything happens to me, do not trust Vanessa.”
Vanessa screamed.
“This is fake!”
Caesar did not react.
On the screen, Amelia continued.
“And whatever you do, Caesar, do not trust the man who tells you he saved you the night of the fire.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Caesar slowly turned toward him.
Because only one man had ever claimed to have saved Caesar from the Moretti warehouse fire fifteen years earlier.
Marcus.
The loyal bodyguard who was standing three feet away.
Marcus reached inside his jacket.
Daniel raised his gun.
Clara pulled Evelyn to the floor.
Vanessa screamed.
Caesar stared at his oldest friend.
“Take your hand out slowly.”
Marcus did.
He was holding a phone.
On its screen was a single incoming message.
He turned it toward Caesar.
May you like
The message contained five words.
THE MAID IS AMELIA BENNETT.
