Chapter 14 - The Man Inside the Walls
We reached Halcyon Tower in twenty-three minutes.
Gideon's convoy ran every red light from the North Shore to downtown.
I sat beside Lucian, staring at the photograph on Salvatore's phone.
Someone had entered our bedroom while we were at Bellini House.
Not a public hallway.
Not the construction level.
Our bedroom.
Behind security that required retinal scans, biometric locks, and codes changed every six hours.
“This isn't Romano,” I said.
Lucian's eyes stayed on the road ahead.
“Romano is finished.”
“Then someone has access.”
“Yes.”
“To Gideon's system?”
“Yes.”
Gideon spoke from the front passenger seat.
“Only four people have full residential access.”
I counted automatically.
“Lucian. You. Me.”
“And Mason Hale.”
I knew the name.
Mason was chief financial officer of Moretti Logistics.
Fifty-one. Harvard Business School. Perfect silver glasses. Expensive ties. He had attended two project meetings during the penthouse renovation and complained that my imported Italian stone was “economically irrational.”
I disliked him immediately.
“Mason can enter the residence?”
“He manages emergency corporate continuity,” Lucian said. “If something happens to me, he needs access to secure offices.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where is he tonight?”
Gideon checked his phone.
“Fundraiser at the Art Institute.”
Lucian looked at him.
“Confirm visually.”
Gideon made a call.
Thirty seconds passed.
Then his expression changed.
“He left forty minutes ago.”
“Destination?”
“Unknown.”
We entered the underground garage.
Security teams surrounded us.
Gideon insisted Lucian go first.
Lucian insisted I stay behind.
I ignored both of them and followed.
The elevator opened directly into the penthouse.
Nothing looked disturbed.
That was worse.
The living room glowed beneath the warm lighting I had designed.
The fire flickered.
Two champagne glasses sat on the kitchen island exactly where we had left them.
I walked toward the bedroom.
Lucian caught my arm.
“Behind me.”
We entered.
The emerald ring box remained on the nightstand.
I opened it.
Empty.
My engagement ring was on my finger.
The box had never mattered.
“It wasn't theft,” I whispered.
Lucian scanned the room.
“No.”
“A message.”
I walked slowly.
Something felt wrong.
I had designed every inch.
The curtains.
The bedside tables.
The lighting angles.
The art.
Then I saw it.
One framed photograph above the console table leaned less than half an inch to the left.
I crossed the room.
“Harper.”
I lifted the frame.
A tiny black device was attached behind it.
Gideon stepped forward.
“Camera.”
My skin crawled.
“How long?”
He carefully removed it.
“Battery this size? Maybe two weeks.”
Two weeks.
Two weeks of conversations.
Wedding plans.
Private dinners.
Lucian discussing business.
Me walking around in Lucian's shirts.
My face burned with fury.
“Someone has been watching us.”
Lucian became dangerously calm.
“Mason?”
Gideon examined the device.
“Too early to say.”
I looked toward the wall.
Then I remembered something.
During construction, Gideon had demanded every communication cable run through a protected central conduit.
No wireless device was supposed to function reliably in the master suite because of signal shielding.
“Wait.”
I pointed.
“That camera can't transmit from this room.”
Gideon looked at me.
“You're right.”
“So where is the receiver?”
We all turned toward the wall.
My wall.
Book-matched walnut panels covered reinforced steel.
Behind them ran a narrow maintenance channel for electrical systems.
I had designed concealed access points.
I went directly to the third panel.
Lucian grabbed my shoulder.
“Let security.”
I stepped aside.
Gideon opened the hidden latch.
The panel swung outward.
Behind it was a space barely wide enough for a man.
And someone was inside.
A technician wearing black clothes lunged forward.
Gideon slammed him against the wall before he took two steps.
The man hit the floor.
Lucian stared down at him.
I recognized him.
“Wait.”
Everyone looked at me.
“He worked here.”
The man's face tightened.
“During construction,” I said. “Electrical subcontractor. Name... Eric. Eric Dalton.”
Gideon searched him.
He found a burner phone.
Cash.
A forged security badge.
And a small flash drive.
Lucian crouched in front of him.
“Who hired you?”
Eric smiled through a split lip.
“Go to hell.”
Lucian's expression didn't move.
Gideon handed him the phone.
One message was visible on the lock screen.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
PAYMENT CONFIRMED.
I stared at the sender.
Initials only.
M.H.
Mason Hale.
Lucian stood.
“Find him.”
Gideon was already moving.
I looked at the flash drive.
“What did he upload?”
Eric laughed.
Lucian turned toward him.
The laugh stopped.
Gideon inserted the drive into an isolated laptop.
Folders appeared.
Security layouts.
Corporate records.
Personal correspondence.
And one file titled ALESSANDRO_LEDGER_SCAN.
Salvatore stepped closer.
“That’s impossible.”
Gideon opened it.
Page after page of handwritten transactions filled the screen.
The missing blue ledger.
Someone had already scanned every page.
Then the final image appeared.
A transaction dated four days before Lucian's parents died.
Payment: $2,000,000.
Authorization code: S.M.
Lucian slowly looked at his uncle.
Salvatore's face went white.
“Lucian.”
The room became silent.
May you like
Because everyone knew those initials.
Salvatore Moretti.
