Chapter 6 - The Last Traitor
Four months changed everything.
Toby responded better to treatment than his doctors expected.
I moved from cleaning Adrian’s penthouse to reviewing security reports in an office three floors below his.
Adrian kept his promise.
He trained me.
Luca taught me surveillance.
An attorney named Elena Park taught me corporate compliance.
Adrian taught me the most important lesson.
“Everyone lies.”
We were in his office late one night.
“That’s depressing.”
“It’s practical.”
“Do you lie?”
“Yes.”
“At least you’re consistent.”
He looked up from his paperwork.
“You don’t fear me anymore.”
“I punched you on my first day.”
“Technically your one hundred twenty-third day.”
“I was counting from my promotion.”
His phone rang.
Luca.
Adrian answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then stood.
“Lock the building.”
I felt an old chill.
“What happened?”
Adrian put the phone down.
“Someone accessed Toby’s original medical records.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Toby leaving the hospital.
Underneath were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED A MAID.
Adrian saw it.
His face became terrifyingly calm.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Cara.”
“This is about me.”
“This is about Toby.”
“Exactly.”
I studied the photograph.
Something bothered me.
Then I saw it.
The reflection in the hospital doors.
A woman holding the camera.
I zoomed in.
My heart stopped.
“I know her.”
“Who?”
“Melissa Grant.”
My former supervisor at Apex.
“She assigned me to your penthouse.”
Within an hour, we found her.
Melissa hadn’t disappeared when Apex collapsed.
She had taken a position with a private staffing company in New Jersey.
Adrian wanted to send men.
I stopped him.
“She wants me.”
“No.”
“Adrian.”
“No.”
“She has been controlling this from the beginning.”
“She’s dangerous.”
“So are you.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
We arranged a meeting in a public parking structure with police waiting nearby.
Melissa arrived alone.
She smiled when she saw me.
“Look at you.”
“Where’s Toby?”
“Safe.”
“If you touched him—”
“I didn’t.”
Adrian’s voice came through my hidden earpiece.
“Keep her talking.”
Melissa stepped closer.
“Vincent was sloppy. Hale was weak. Sebastian was arrogant.”
“You were working with them?”
“I recruited you.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody notices maids.”
I stared at her.
“That was the entire plan?”
“You were supposed to carry poisoned cleaning supplies into Duca’s home. Vincent would use them, then investigators would trace everything back to you.”
“My brother?”
“Motivation.”
My hands curled.
“You built my desperation into your murder plan.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“But then you saw too much.”
I stepped closer.
“And now?”
“Now you disappear.”
She reached into her coat.
I froze.
Adrian’s voice exploded through my earpiece.
“Cara, move!”
Before Melissa could pull anything free, police flooded the level.
“Hands!”
She stopped.
Slowly raised them.
Adrian emerged from behind a concrete pillar.
Melissa stared at him.
“You always let women do your dangerous work?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Only when they refuse to listen.”
I smiled.
Melissa was arrested.
As officers led her away, she looked back.
“You think he saved you?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Then I looked at Adrian.
May you like
“We saved each other.”
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