Chương 3 - Someone Inside the Tower
Clare stared at the photograph until the traffic light changed.
The cab moved.
She barely noticed.
Her first instinct was to call Luca.
Her second was anger at herself for having that instinct.
She had spent months slowly surrendering pieces of her independence to Evan without recognizing what was happening. She was not going to escape one controlling man by making another powerful man responsible for her safety.
So she called the police.
Then she called Luca.
He answered before the first ring finished.
“Clare.”
“Someone sent me a picture from the elevator.”
Silence.
Not surprise.
That frightened her more.
“You know.”
“Security discovered the breach two minutes ago.”
“Did Evan do it?”
“We don’t know.”
She looked through the rain-streaked window.
“I’m going to the police.”
“Good.”
Again, he surprised her.
“I thought you’d tell me to come back to the tower.”
“I was going to ask.”
“And if I said no?”
“I’d dislike your answer privately.”
Clare closed her eyes.
“Someone inside your building helped him.”
“Possibly.”
“You trust your security.”
“I did ten minutes ago.”
That word mattered.
Did.
“Where are you?”
“Sixth Avenue.”
“I’m sending Marco to the precinct. Not to interfere. The company needs to report the breach separately.”
“Fine.”
She paused.
“Luca?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t hurt Evan.”
A longer silence.
“Clare—”
“I mean it.”
“I heard you.”
“That isn’t a promise.”
“No.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Promise me.”
Luca stood alone in his office forty floors above Manhattan, looking at the city that had spent twenty years teaching him power solved problems.
Money bought information.
Fear bought obedience.
Connections bought silence.
Violence bought temporary certainty.
Clare was asking for something none of those could purchase.
Trust.
“I promise.”
Her breath escaped.
“Thank you.”
The call ended.
Luca stared at the phone.
Then he called Marco.
“Find the leak legally.”
Marco hesitated.
That alone told Luca how strange the instruction sounded.
“Legally?”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
“And Marco?”
“Boss?”
“If anyone approaches Mercer, threatens Mercer, frightens Mercer, or accidentally causes Mercer to fall down a staircase, I will assume you misunderstood me.”
Marco almost smiled.
“Very clear.”
By midnight, the breach had become worse.
The credentials used to access the footage belonged to Daniel Russo, Duca Holdings’ deputy security director.
Russo had worked for Luca for nine years.
He had also died eleven months earlier.
Someone had preserved his administrator account.
That meant the breach was not opportunistic.
Someone had prepared for it.
Clare arrived at Luca’s office shortly after 1:00 a.m. with Detective Maya Torres, a cybercrime investigator from Manhattan South.
She looked exhausted but composed.
Luca stood when she entered.
Torres noticed.
Clare did too.
Luca Duca did not ordinarily stand for anyone.
“Mr. Duca,” Torres said, “your people tell me you’re giving us full access.”
“To the relevant systems.”
“That qualification worries me.”
“It should.”
Clare gave him a look.
Luca sighed.
“Full access.”
Torres smiled faintly.
“I like her.”
“So does everyone who enjoys correcting me.”
They spent two hours reviewing access logs.
At 3:14 a.m., a technician found something.
The dead employee’s credentials had been activated three times during the previous month.
The first access concerned elevator cameras.
The second involved executive calendars.
The third had opened Clare’s personnel file.
Her home address.
Emergency contacts.
Salary.
Travel schedule.
Clare went pale.
Luca’s anger became something cold.
Torres looked at him.
“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
Clare answered for him.
“He promised.”
Torres raised an eyebrow.
Luca looked mildly offended.
“I’m capable of respecting promises.”
Clare folded her arms.
“Your face is currently planning a felony.”
“It’s my face.”
For the first time that night, she laughed.
Small.
Tired.
Real.
Then the technician interrupted.
“We found another connection.”
A spreadsheet appeared on the screen.
It contained confidential details about Duca Holdings’ upcoming acquisition of three freight terminals along the Eastern Seaboard.
Luca stepped closer.
Only twelve people knew the full terms.
Clare was one.
Evan Mercer was another.
His investment firm represented one of the financing groups.
“This isn’t about me,” Clare whispered.
“Maybe not only you,” Torres said.
The pieces began rearranging themselves.
Evan’s jealousy.
His obsession with Clare’s schedule.
His constant questions about Luca’s meetings.
The occasions he had casually asked whether she traveled with the executive team.
Clare remembered all of them differently now.
“I told him things.”
Luca looked at her.
“Nothing confidential.”
“I complained about work. Meetings running late. Trips being moved. Names of restaurants where you had dinners.”
“That isn’t a crime.”
“It might have helped him.”
“That still doesn’t make this your fault.”
She looked at Luca sharply.
He meant it.
No accusation.
No suspicion.
The realization almost hurt.
At 4:06 a.m., Torres received another result.
Evan’s firm had quietly accumulated options connected to property surrounding the terminals Duca Holdings intended to acquire.
If the deal closed, those properties could multiply in value.
If someone knew the confidential timetable in advance, millions could be made.
Torres straightened.
“Now we have motive.”
Clare stared at the screen.
“So he proposed to me because of my job?”
Nobody answered.
That silence was crueler than certainty.
Luca wanted desperately to tell her no.
He could not lie to her.
Clare walked toward the window.
Dawn had begun turning Manhattan gray.
Four years of working beside Luca had taught her to recognize his silence.
This one meant he was choosing every word.
“I can investigate what happened,” he said finally.
“I can pay for the best lawyers in New York. I can put security outside every door. I can make sure Evan never enters this building again.”
She looked at him.
“But?”
Luca swallowed.
“But I can’t buy you the answer you want.”
Clare’s eyes filled.
“Did he ever love me?”
Luca said nothing.
May you like
Because that was the one thing his power could never buy.
The truth inside another person’s heart.
