Chapter 1 - The Man Beneath the Chin
The first lie was spoken by a child.
“Mr. Valenti, can you teach me how to get strong enough to hurt a grown man?”
The question had sounded almost ridiculous when Lily Harper first asked it.
It did not sound ridiculous anymore.
I stood in the doorway of my library at two in the morning, watching the security footage freeze on a single frame.
Julian Carver was standing beneath the service entrance light.
His face was turned slightly away from the camera.
But the scar beneath his chin was visible.
Red.
Jagged.
Unmistakable.
A scar I had seen for thirteen years.
I had watched it bleed when Julian took a knife meant for me.
I had watched it reopen when he carried my cousin out of a burning warehouse.
I knew the shape of that scar better than I knew the faces of half the men who worked for me.
And now a five-year-old girl had drawn the exact same scar on the exact same place on the body of the man she called a bad man.
I replayed the footage.
Julian arrived at 11:47 p.m.
He looked around.
Then Emma Harper stepped through the back door.
She was barefoot.
Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself.
Julian said something.
The camera had no audio.
Emma shook her head.
Julian stepped closer.
Emma flinched.
Then the footage changed.
The light flickered.
The feed went black for eleven seconds.
When it returned, Julian was gone.
Emma was on the ground.
I sat slowly in my chair.
Eleven seconds.
My entire security system had twelve redundant backups.
No blind spots.
No dead feeds.
Except that one.
I reached for my phone.
“Mr. Valenti?”
I looked up.
Lily stood in the doorway.
She was wearing oversized pajamas now, the stuffed rabbit tucked beneath one arm.
“You’re awake.”
“So are you.”
“I had a bad dream.”
I noticed the stuffed rabbit immediately.
Brown fur.
One ear partially torn.
A faded red ribbon around its neck.
“What did you dream about?”
“The red man.”
My throat tightened.
“Tell me.”
She climbed into the chair opposite my desk.
“He was outside Mommy’s room.”
“Julian?”
She frowned.
“I don't know his name.”
“What did he do?”
“He told Mommy that if she told you, somebody would take me.”
I felt something cold move through my chest.
“Did Mommy tell him anything?”
Lily shook her head.
“He got angry.”
“What happened next?”
“He said I sleep really hard.”
I stared at her.
“Lily, does he ever come near your bedroom?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“He doesn't need to.”
That answer unsettled me more than anything else.
“Why?”
She hugged the rabbit.
“Because Mommy gives him what he wants.”
“What does he want?”
Lily looked toward the hallway.
Then she whispered.
“The box.”
“What box?”
Her eyes widened.
“I wasn't supposed to tell.”
“Who told you that?”
“Mommy.”
I leaned back.
The room suddenly felt too small.
“Where is the box?”
Lily's little fingers tightened around the rabbit.
“I don't know.”
She stood.
But before she could leave, she turned around.
“Mr. Valenti?”
“Yes?”
“The bad man isn't the worst one.”
I stared at her.
“Who is?”
Lily looked terrified.
“The man who smiles.”
Then she ran.
I stayed frozen.
The man who smiles.
That could describe half my organization.
But only one man had been smiling beside me for thirteen years.
Julian.
I walked downstairs.
Emma was in the kitchen, washing a glass with trembling hands.
She looked up.
“Mr. Valenti?”
“Where is Julian?”
Her face emptied of color.
“I don't know.”
“He was at the service entrance tonight.”
“I don't know anything about that.”
“You're lying.”
She dropped the glass.
It shattered across the marble.
Emma stared at the pieces.
Then, very quietly, she said,
“He came because someone told him to.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
For the first time since I had met her, there was no employee mask over her face.
Only fear.
“Your father.”
My blood turned cold.
“My father has been dead for nine years.”
“I know.”
Emma swallowed.
“He started threatening me before your father died.”
I stepped closer.
“What exactly did he threaten?”
Emma looked toward the hallway where Lily had disappeared.
“Not me.”
Her voice broke.
“Lily.”
I said nothing.
She continued.
“He told me that one day his people would come for her.”
“Why?”
“Because of something my husband took.”
I had never heard the name Daniel Harper before.
But I knew the feeling that came with it.
A ghost had just walked through my front door.
“What did your husband steal?”
Emma shook her head.
“He didn't steal anything.”
“Then what did he take?”
She stared directly into my eyes.
“A list.”
“A list of what?”
She whispered the answer.
“Everyone your family owns.”
My jaw tightened.
“And my husband found out.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
I turned.
Julian stood there.
His expression was calm.
His suit was immaculate.
And the red scar beneath his chin glowed beneath the chandelier.
“You wanted to see me?” he asked.
Emma stopped breathing.
I smiled.
Not because I was amused.
Because I had just decided that from this moment forward, nobody in my house was going to know what I was thinking.
“Come into my office, Julian.”
He nodded.
He followed me.
I closed the door behind us.
Then I locked it.
Julian looked at the lock.
Then at me.
“What's going on?”
I leaned against my desk.
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“Anything.”
I pointed to his chin.
“Where did you get that scar?”
For the first time in thirteen years, Julian did not answer immediately.
May you like
And that was when I knew.
Whatever came next was going to destroy the life I thought I had built.
