Chapter 3 - Lock Every Door
Marcus reached for the handle.
Roman stopped him.
“No.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You think it’s trapped?”
“I think whoever planned this knows how we respond.”
Claire looked around.
“What do they want?”
Roman answered without hesitation.
“Me.”
“Then why come through the cellar?”
“To make me believe the threat came from outside.”
Claire stared at him.
Roman looked back at the open electrical cabinet.
“Except it didn’t.”
The emergency lights suddenly steadied.
Marcus’s radio crackled.
“Sir?”
Marcus answered.
“Go.”
“Main systems are returning. We found a vehicle outside the east perimeter.”
“Occupants?”
“Empty.”
Roman looked at Claire.
“Upstairs.”
“I can stay.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Someone entered your house because your security system was compromised, and your solution is sending me upstairs alone?”
Marcus almost smiled.
Roman didn’t.
“Fine. You stay with me.”
They returned to the kitchen.
Claire changed into a clean uniform shirt while Roman stood near the windows.
When she came back, he noticed her wrist again.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“Claire.”
“Do you have any idea how irritating it is when you say my name like that?”
Roman looked at her.
Marcus coughed to hide a laugh.
Roman pointed at a chair.
“Sit.”
Claire sat.
Roman opened a first-aid kit and wrapped her wrist.
She watched him.
“You do this often?”
“Bandages?”
“Take care of employees personally.”
“No.”
“Then why me?”
Roman paused.
“Because you’re the employee bleeding in my kitchen at two in the morning.”
“Technically, it wasn’t my blood.”
His eyes lifted.
Claire gave him the smallest smile.
For the first time that night, Roman nearly returned it.
Then Marcus entered.
“We found the breach.”
Roman stood.
“Where?”
Marcus placed a tablet on the counter.
“The east gate.”
Security footage appeared.
At 1:41 a.m., a black sedan arrived.
The gate opened.
No alarm.
No forced entry.
Claire leaned closer.
“Can you see the driver?”
Marcus enlarged the image.
Roman’s face became unreadable.
A man stepped from the sedan.
Expensive coat.
Dark hair.
Familiar posture.
Claire looked at Roman.
“Is that him?”
Roman stared at the screen.
“Yes.”
Adrian Vale.
His younger brother.
Alive.
In Blackridge.
Inside the estate perimeter.
Roman reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, a voice came from behind them.
“You always were difficult to surprise.”
Claire turned.
Roman didn’t.
He already knew the voice.
Adrian stood in the kitchen doorway.
And beside him was someone Roman trusted even more.
His attorney.
May you like
Daniel Mercer.
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