Chapter 6 - Dinner With a Traitor
Anthony Duca arrived at 7:03 carrying wine.
Marco wanted to shoot him at 7:04.
Tessa prevented it.
“Evidence first.”
Marco looked at her.
“He sent men after you.”
“We have a phone record routed through 4 shell accounts.”
“That’s enough.”
“In your world, maybe.”
“My world is currently trying to kill you.”
“And my world is why you finally know it.”
Marco hated when she was right.
He hated more that she usually knew it.
Anthony entered smiling.
At 34, he was younger, lighter, easier than Marco. People liked Anthony because he made them comfortable.
Tessa remembered her own warning.
People get comfortable.
Dinner began.
Cal sat nearby.
Tessa sat opposite Anthony.
Anthony smiled at her.
“So you’re the famous security consultant.”
“Famous?”
“My brother doesn’t usually redesign his entire security operation because a woman stole his fruit.”
Marco set down his glass.
Anthony grinned.
Tessa noticed something.
He knew about the pear.
That detail had never been released outside the house.
Maybe staff told him.
Maybe not.
She smiled.
“Marco exaggerates.”
Marco looked at her.
She kicked his shoe beneath the table.
He understood.
Play along.
“Constantly,” he said.
Anthony laughed.
Tessa continued.
“The funny part is I didn’t even enter through the main house.”
Anthony reached for wine.
“No?”
“No. Old utility tunnel.”
His hand stopped.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Marco saw it.
Tessa saw it.
Cal saw it.
Anthony recovered.
“What tunnel?”
Tessa smiled.
“Exactly.”
After dinner, Anthony excused himself.
Cal followed through the cameras.
Anthony entered a guest bathroom.
Pulled out a second phone.
Made a call.
The surveillance system captured only his side.
“She knows.”
Pause.
“No, Marco doesn’t.”
Pause.
“We move tonight.”
Anthony left 10 minutes later.
Marco stood at the window watching his brother’s car disappear.
Tessa remained behind him.
“You can be angry.”
“I’m beyond angry.”
“He may not have ordered the attack.”
Marco turned.
“You heard him.”
“I heard him talking to somebody.”
“You still want more evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you destroy your brother and we’re wrong, you can’t undo it.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“And if we wait and he hurts you?”
Tessa went quiet.
There it was again.
Not strategy.
Not the Bell Tower.
Her.
“You’re scared for me.”
Marco looked directly at her.
“Yes.”
The honesty landed harder than flirting would have.
Tessa stepped toward him.
“Marco—”
“I know this is a bad time.”
“It’s an objectively terrible time.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“I’d be concerned if you thought otherwise.”
She smiled.
His hand touched her waist.
Tessa’s breath caught.
Neither moved closer.
Not yet.
Then the mansion went dark.
Marco pulled her behind him.
Emergency lights should have activated.
They didn’t.
Tessa whispered, “Someone knows the new system.”
Glass shattered downstairs.
Gunfire followed.
Marco pushed Tessa toward the hidden safe room.
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“I’m not hiding while—”
A bullet struck the wall.
Marco dragged her down.
Cal appeared.
“East corridor compromised.”
“Anthony?”
“Unknown.”
Tessa crawled toward a wall terminal.
“What are you doing?”
“Fixing your house.”
She opened the panel.
Thirty seconds later, emergency lighting returned.
Cameras rebooted.
Locks engaged sequentially.
Marco’s men regained control.
The attackers realized they were trapped.
Three surrendered.
One ran.
Marco intercepted him in the courtyard.
The man reached for a weapon.
Marco disarmed him and slammed him against a column.
“Who sent you?”
The attacker laughed.
“You still think this is about your brother?”
Marco froze.
Inside, Tessa’s laptop chimed.
A file had been remotely delivered.
She opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
Victor Duca.
Daniel Morgan.
And a third man.
Cal Foster.
Underneath was a date.
Two days before both fathers were killed.
Tessa looked toward Cal.
He stared at the photograph.
Then at her.
“Cal?”
His face had gone pale.
“I can explain.”
May you like
The mansion doors locked automatically behind him.
And for the first time since Tessa had met Marco’s most trusted man, Cal looked afraid.
