Chapter 4 - Someone Inside the House
Ethan returned to the estate alone.
Vivien stayed at the hospital under observation.
He hated leaving her there.
He hated even more that she seemed relieved when he did.
“Go,” she had told him. “Figure this out.”
“You'll call if anything changes?”
“Yes.”
“If the doctor says—”
“I will call.”
“If you feel dizzy—”
“Ethan.”
He stopped.
Vivien looked at him with exhausted amusement.
“I survived fourteen months working for you.”
He almost smiled.
“You can survive one afternoon without supervising me.”
He left.
But halfway down the hospital corridor, he turned back.
Vivien was still watching him.
For one strange second, neither moved.
Then she lifted her hand.
A tiny wave.
Ethan left before the gesture could do something dangerous to him.
At the estate, Sterling Brooks waited in the library.
Sixty-one.
Silver hair.
Gray suit.
A man Ethan had trusted since childhood.
Sterling had known Ethan’s father.
Buried Ethan’s mother.
Handled contracts during Ethan’s rise to power.
He was more than an attorney.
He was history.
Which made suspicion unbearable.
Ethan closed the library door.
“You knew about Julian.”
Sterling sat.
“Yes.”
“You knew he was still here.”
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
“I’m not.”
Ethan placed the hospital photograph on the desk.
Sterling stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“Julian sent it to Vivien.”
Sterling's face changed.
“He contacted her?”
“For three months.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She was trying to tell me.”
Sterling understood immediately.
His expression became grim.
“What happened?”
Ethan ignored the question.
“Who inside my house is connected to Julian?”
Sterling hesitated.
“Ethan—”
“Name.”
“I don't have one.”
“You called me and said—”
“I said someone inside your house helped him.”
“Who?”
“We found evidence years ago.”
“What evidence?”
Sterling removed a folder.
Inside were copies of financial records.
Ethan scanned them.
Payroll transfers.
Security logs.
Access codes.
A Romano employee had been providing Julian with internal information.
The payments stopped shortly before Julian disappeared.
“No name.”
“No.”
“Then how do you know they're still here?”
Sterling pointed to a transaction.
Ethan read the date.
Three months ago.
The same month Vivien began receiving messages.
“How?”
Sterling leaned back.
“One of the old shell companies suddenly became active again.”
Ethan stared.
“And you didn't tell me.”
“I wanted proof.”
“Vivien was threatened while you wanted proof.”
“I didn't know about Vivien.”
Ethan stepped away.
He felt a dangerous kind of anger.
Not explosive.
Precise.
“Who had access?”
Sterling listed names.
Senior household manager.
Security supervisor.
Personal assistant.
Two accountants.
Marco.
Ethan shook his head.
“Not Marco.”
“You asked for names, not feelings.”
Ethan turned.
“Anyone else?”
Sterling hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Vivien.”
The room became still.
Ethan stared at him.
“Careful.”
“She has access to schedules, guest lists, household accounts, deliveries—”
“She is the person being threatened.”
“That doesn't automatically make her innocent.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“You think she arranged her own collapse?”
“No.”
“You think she spent fourteen months protecting this house so she could sabotage it?”
“I think you have a blind spot.”
Ethan laughed coldly.
“Yesterday you would have accused me of ignoring her. Today you're accusing me of trusting her too much.”
Sterling studied him.
“This isn't professional trust.”
Ethan went silent.
Sterling leaned forward.
“You're in love with her.”
Ethan's expression did not change.
But the truth moved through him anyway.
Love?
No.
Impossible.
He barely knew what the word meant anymore.
His last serious relationship had ended seven years earlier after his fiancée sold private information to a competitor.
Since then, he kept people at controlled distances.
Vivien had somehow slipped through every wall without asking permission.
Not through seduction.
Not manipulation.
Coffee.
Schedules.
Quiet observations.
Remembering which flowers he hated.
Waiting outside his office.
Caring.
Ethan looked away.
“This conversation is over.”
Sterling almost smiled.
“That means I'm right.”
“It means I can still fire you.”
“After twenty years?”
“Especially after twenty years.”
Sterling stood.
“Then find out who has access before deciding who you trust.”
They began reviewing security logs.
By evening, one irregularity appeared.
Three weeks earlier, Ethan's assistant, Colin Reeves, had accessed a storage room containing old financial archives.
At midnight.
On a Sunday.
Ethan stared at the log.
“Why?”
Sterling shook his head.
Colin had worked for Ethan for eight years.
Efficient.
Private.
Loyal.
Or so Ethan believed.
“Bring him in.”
Colin arrived twenty minutes later.
He looked confused when he saw Sterling.
“Sir?”
Ethan pointed at the chair.
“Sit.”
Colin did.
“Where were you three Sundays ago at midnight?”
Colin blinked.
“Home.”
Ethan slid the access log forward.
Colin stared.
“That wasn't me.”
“Your badge.”
“I wasn't here.”
“Who has your badge?”
“No one.”
Ethan watched him carefully.
Colin looked genuinely frightened.
“Check the cameras.”
“We did.”
The archive hallway camera had gone offline for eighteen minutes.
Colin shook his head.
“I swear to you.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Then explain.”
“I can't.”
Sterling watched silently.
Colin reached into his pocket.
Ethan's security guard immediately stepped closer.
“Easy.”
Colin froze.
“It's my wallet.”
He removed it slowly.
Inside was his access badge.
He handed it to Ethan.
“That's been with me.”
Ethan examined it.
Same identification number.
Impossible.
Unless it had been cloned.
Sterling's phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
Then at Ethan.
“What?”
Sterling turned the phone around.
Another transaction.
From Julian's shell company.
Made that afternoon.
Recipient:
M. BELLINI.
Ethan stared.
Marco.
“No.”
Sterling's expression stayed neutral.
“That's his name.”
“No.”
“Ethan—”
“I said no.”
He walked out.
The kitchen was quiet.
Marco stood at the counter chopping herbs.
His right hand shook slightly.
Ethan stopped in the doorway.
Marco looked up.
“You look terrible.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“Need to ask you something.”
“Sit. You haven't eaten.”
“Marco.”
The chef read his expression.
The knife stopped.
“What?”
“Do you know Julian Mercer?”
Marco's face went pale.
That was answer enough.
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“You do.”
Marco set the knife down.
“Where is Vivien?”
“Hospital.”
“I know. Is she safe?”
“Why?”
Marco looked toward the door.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Why, Marco?”
The chef whispered:
“Close the door.”
Ethan did.
Marco leaned both hands against the counter.
“I knew Julian a long time ago.”
“How long?”
“Twenty-five years.”
Ethan froze.
“How?”
“He worked for your father before he worked for you.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
Marco looked at him.
“Before that.”
Ethan's patience thinned.
“Explain.”
Marco swallowed.
“Julian was friends with your father.”
“Friends?”
“Very close.”
“My father barely trusted anyone.”
“He trusted Julian.”
“Then why was he an accountant?”
“Because after your mother died, everything changed.”
The mention of his mother stopped Ethan.
Marco continued.
“Your father blamed Julian for something.”
“For what?”
Marco looked genuinely afraid.
“I promised I would never tell you.”
“My father is dead.”
“The promise isn't.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Vivien is being threatened.”
Marco's eyes moved.
That changed something.
He sat.
“Your mother knew Julian too.”
Ethan stared.
“Everyone did.”
“Where is this going?”
Marco's voice dropped.
“Before your father married your mother, she was engaged to Julian.”
Silence.
Ethan felt as if the floor shifted.
“What?”
“She left Julian for your father.”
Ethan laughed once.
“That makes no sense.”
“It happened.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because after she died, your father erased every trace of Julian from the family history.”
Ethan struggled to process it.
“What does this have to do with Vivien?”
Marco looked at him.
“I don't know.”
“You're receiving money from Julian.”
Marco froze.
“What?”
Ethan placed Sterling's phone screenshot on the counter.
Marco stared.
His expression shifted from confusion to horror.
“I did not receive this.”
“Your initials.”
“Look at the account.”
Ethan did.
The final digits were unfamiliar.
“Not yours?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
Marco shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Ethan studied him.
He believed him.
Against every instinct that had kept him alive professionally, he believed him.
Then Marco's eyes widened.
“What?”
“M. Bellini.”
“Yes.”
Marco looked toward the hallway.
“Maria.”
Ethan went still.
“Maria's last name is Bellini?”
“My niece.”
Ethan's face changed.
“You never told me.”
“Because she wanted the job on her own.”
Ethan turned toward the door.
Maria had worked at the estate for eight months.
Quiet.
Kind.
Young.
Vivien trusted her.
Maria had been the person who brought Vivien's handbag to the hospital.
The person who knew Vivien's location.
Ethan ran.
Maria's room was empty.
Her closet half cleared.
On the bed lay an envelope.
ETHAN ROMANO.
He tore it open.
One page.
I'M SORRY.
I DIDN'T KNOW HE WOULD HURT VIVIEN.
HE SAID HE ONLY WANTED INFORMATION.
HE SAID HE WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE TRUTH.
Ethan read faster.
There was one final line.
THE PERSON JULIAN REALLY WANTS ISN'T YOU.
IT'S VIVIEN.
Ethan's phone rang.
Vivien.
He answered instantly.
“Vivien?”
Only breathing.
Then her voice.
Weak.
“Ethan.”
He heard a door close somewhere behind her.
“What happened?”
“I think someone came into my room.”
Ethan was already moving.
“Call the nurse.”
“I did.”
“Where are you?”
“Bathroom.”
“Lock the door.”
“I already did.”
Then came a sound.
Knocking.
Three slow knocks.
Vivien stopped breathing.
Ethan's blood turned cold.
“Vivien.”
The knocking came again.
Then a man's voice spoke from the other side.
“Ms. Ashcroft?”
Vivien covered the phone.
Ethan shouted:
“Do not open that door.”
The voice outside continued.
“I only want to talk.”
Vivien whispered:
“Ethan…”
“What?”
“I know that voice.”
His heart stopped.
“Who is it?”
Tears filled her voice.
“The man from the hotel.”
Julian Mercer had found her.
May you like
And this time, he was only a few feet away.
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