Chapter 2 - THREE DINNERS EVERY NIGHTThe security lights came back twenty seconds later.
It felt like twenty minutes.
I moved toward the windows.
Tessa grabbed my sleeve.
“Don't.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Stay away from the window.”
“That's my property.”
“And that's the problem.”
Her voice was shaking.
I looked outside.
The driveway was empty.
No car.
No footsteps.
Nothing.
I called security.
“Find out who entered the property.”
My head of security, Marcus Dean, answered immediately.
“We're checking now.”
“Were the cameras compromised?”
A pause.
Then:
“Sir… yes.”
I froze.
“All of them?”
“Not all. Just the east corridor, service entrance, and driveway.”
“Can you restore the footage?”
“I'm trying.”
Tessa heard that.
She stepped backward.
“I should go.”
“You're not going anywhere.”
She stared at me.
I lowered my voice.
“Not until you tell me who you're afraid of.”
She shook her head.
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I tell the truth, someone gets hurt.”
That was the first time I realized this was bigger than missing food.
I called Marcus into the hall.
“Tessa leaves with a bag every night. You've seen her.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever inspect it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because the kitchen manager signs off on leftover disposal.”
I looked at Tessa.
“You've been officially permitted to take leftovers?”
She nodded.
“Mrs. Bell said employees could take whatever was going to waste.”
That made my suspicion feel even more foolish.
Then Marcus returned with a tablet.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“The outage wasn't random.”
He showed me the security logs.
Someone had manually disabled three camera feeds.
“From where?”
“The house network.”
My blood cooled.
Someone inside the estate had done it.
I looked at Tessa.
She looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then Marcus pointed toward the driveway.
“There was a vehicle.”
I leaned closer.
“A black sedan.”
“Plate?”
“Covered.”
I looked at Tessa again.
She whispered one sentence.
“He found us.”
I didn't understand.
“Who's he?”
She closed her eyes.
“My father's debt collector.”
I frowned.
“Your father disappeared years ago.”
“He disappeared from us.”
She swallowed.
“He didn't disappear from everyone.”
That night, I ordered security to keep her in the guest quarters.
She refused at first.
Then I told her the boys could be brought here.
She immediately said no.
“My brothers cannot be seen here.”
“Why?”
“They'll use it against us.”
“Who?”
She shook her head again.
I was beginning to hate that answer.
At midnight, I went to the kitchen.
Chef Arturo was still working.
I told him about Tessa.
He listened without interruption.
Then he took off his glasses.
“She's been doing this for months.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“She asked me what food would spoil first.”
“And you let her take it?”
“Of course.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
Arturo shrugged.
“Because she never asked you for anything.”
That sentence stayed with me.
The next morning, I watched from the dining room as Tessa arrived.
She looked exhausted.
I placed three paper bags on the counter.
“One for you.”
She stared at them.
“Mr. Rossi…”
“Two for your brothers.”
“I can't accept—”
“You can.”
“I don't need charity.”
“Then call it payroll.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You work for me. Consider it part of your employment.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she took the bags.
“Thank you.”
At 8:10 a.m., I saw something strange.
She didn't leave through the staff entrance.
She walked to the street.
A black sedan was parked across from the gate.
Tessa stopped.
Her shoulders stiffened.
The sedan rolled away.
I immediately called Marcus.
“Find that car.”
“We have no plate.”
“Then find the driver.”
By noon, Marcus returned.
“We couldn't identify him.”
I was about to dismiss it when he handed me the third notebook.
I stared.
“How did you get this?”
“Tessa left it in the service hallway.”
I opened it.
The first pages were children's drawings.
Then I found something different.
A page with dates.
April 7.
April 21.
May 2.
May 15.
Beside each date was a small black rectangle.
I turned the page.
One sentence appeared.
THE MAN WITH THE SILVER RING CAME AGAIN.
My pulse quickened.
I knew that ring.
I had seen it every day for five years.
Marcus saw my face change.
“Sir?”
I closed the notebook.
“Who has access to this house after midnight?”
“Security. Staff. Management.”
“And which employee wears a silver ring?”
Marcus thought.
Then looked at me.
“Victor Hale.”
I felt the room contract around us.
Victor was my operations director.
He managed payroll.
Suppliers.
Staff schedules.
Security contractors.
Almost everything.
He was also the man who had urged me, three weeks earlier, to investigate Tessa.
I remembered his exact words.
“Poor employees sometimes take advantage of generous employers.”
At the time, I hadn't questioned it.
Now I did.
I called Victor.
He answered on the second ring.
“Zo?”
“Come to the library.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Twenty minutes later, Victor walked in smiling.
He was fifty, polished, calm, and always perfectly dressed.
A silver ring gleamed on his right hand.
His smile faded when he saw the notebook on my desk.
“What is this?”
I slid it toward him.
“Tell me.”
Victor glanced at the page.
For one tiny moment, his expression changed.
Fear.
Then it disappeared.
“I have no idea.”
I leaned back.
“That's interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because my maid's eleven-year-old brother claims you visit her building at night.”
Victor laughed.
“I've never met her brothers.”
I watched his right hand.
His thumb slowly moved across the silver ring.
A nervous gesture.
A very small one.
But I noticed.
Then Victor said something that changed everything.
“Zo, you should be careful.”
“About what?”
“People like Tessa don't survive long when they make powerful enemies.”
I stared at him.
“What enemies?”
He stood.
“You'll understand soon.”
He left.
I waited ten seconds.
Then called Marcus.
“Follow him.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
Marcus hesitated.
“And sir?”
“Yes?”
“We checked Victor's access card logs.”
I straightened.
“What did you find?”
“His card opened the east service corridor at 11:42 p.m. last night.”
The same corridor where the cameras were disabled.
I looked at the silver ring drawn in Noah's notebook.
May you like
Then at the door Victor had just walked through.
For the first time, I wondered whether the person I had accused of stealing from me had actually been protecting something inside my house.
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