Chapter 9 - THE MIDNIGHT LURKER
At midnight, the guests finally departed, their limousines carving deep tracks through the fresh snow on the driveway.
The mansion grew quiet.
The Christmas lights blinked steadily along the mahogany banister.
I sat in the library, staring at the empty fireplace where the embers were slowly turning to gray ash.
A soft click echoed from the hallway.
Not the heavy doors of the front entrance.
The side service latch leading from the staff quarters.
I stood up quietly, slipping out into the dimly lit hallway.
A dark figure was creeping toward the master study—moving with the silent, practiced stealth of a man who knew every blind spot in the estate's security grid.
Luca.
Except Luca wasn't supposed to be inside the house at this hour.
He was supposed to be supervising the gate security.
I followed him silently down the corridor, keeping close to the shadow of the velvet drapes.
Luca stopped in front of Nicholas’s private office.
He pulled a small metal pick from his pocket, slipped it into the brass lock of the study door, and turned it with a soft click.
The door opened.
Luca stepped inside, closing it halfway behind him.
I crept forward, pressing my ear against the polished mahogany wood.
"...the shipment from Palermo arrived early," Luca’s voice whispered through the crack, low and frantic on a burner phone. "Grimaldi suspects nothing. If we intercept the ledgers tonight before the federal marshals review the safe..."
My breath caught in my throat.
Luca wasn't just a loyal enforcer.
May you like
He was the leak.
---
