Chapter 2 - THE SECOND BUG
Victor didn’t move.
Dominic rose slowly from the leather chair, one hand gripping the edge of the table as though the room itself had shifted beneath him.
“You knew,” he said.
His voice was rough from three years of disuse, but the words were unmistakable.
Victor swallowed.
“Sir, you’re confused.”
Dominic looked at the tiny black object in Marcus’s palm.
“No,” he murmured. “For the first time in three years, I’m not.”
I pulled Marcus against me, wishing I could make us invisible.
Then the ballroom doors opened behind Victor, and two armed men entered.
Dominic pointed at the device.
“Nobody leaves.”
Victor’s face hardened.
The frightened servant vanished, replaced by someone colder.
“You should have remained deaf.”
The room went silent.
Dominic stared at him.
“Why?”
Victor laughed once.
“Because you heard something you weren’t supposed to hear.”
Three years earlier, Dominic had survived an attack inside his own car. Everyone believed the explosion had damaged his hearing, but Victor finally told the truth.
The explosion had been staged.
Dominic had overheard a meeting about stolen money, hidden accounts, and names of men secretly planning to remove him.
Victor couldn’t kill Dominic without starting a war, so he paid a surgeon to place a microscopic device deep inside his ear after the attack.
It blocked sound and monitored conversations.
Dominic’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“You listened to everything?”
Victor smiled.
“For three years.”
One of Dominic’s guards raised his weapon.
Victor’s smile widened.
“You think I came here without protection?”
Suddenly every light in the conservatory went out.
Marcus screamed.
I dropped to the floor, covering him as gunshots cracked through the darkness.
Glass shattered.
Someone fell.
Then Dominic’s hand found my shoulder.
“Stay down.”
Seconds later, emergency lights flickered on.
Victor was gone, and one guard lay bleeding near the doorway.
Dominic picked up the black device.
A tiny red light was still blinking.
Then Marcus tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy.”
He pointed toward Dominic’s tablet.
A message had appeared on the screen.
DEVICE REMOVED. SECONDARY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
Dominic went pale.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
Before he could answer, Marcus touched his own right ear and winced.
May you like
“There’s another bug,” he said.
This time, he was pointing at himself.
