Chapter 4 - THE MAN INSIDE THE HOUSE
Cole Mercer had protected Rhett for eleven years.
He had taken a bullet for him once.
Now Isa was staring at his name beside a payment to Mason.
Cole looked furious rather than frightened.
“Check the account number.”
Rhett did.
Cole shook his head immediately.
“Not mine.”
“You recognize it?”
“My brother’s.”
That changed the room.
Cole’s younger brother, Andrew, worked for Valin Private Security.
Rhett called him.
No answer.
They checked his apartment.
Empty.
His company vehicle was gone.
So was his passport.
Cole swore.
“He’s running.”
“Or someone wants it to look that way,” Isa said.
Rhett looked at her.
She pointed at the ledger.
“If Mason spent years hiding, he wouldn’t suddenly put real names on current payments.”
Cole nodded.
“She’s right.”
Rhett remained silent.
Isa had watched him make decisions at breakfast tables and in quiet phone calls for fourteen months.
He never rushed.
That was what made him frightening.
He didn’t explode.
He calculated.
Finally he said, “Lock the house down.”
Every entrance was secured.
Every employee sent home except essential staff.
Isa remained upstairs.
At 10:17 that night, she woke to a sound.
Click.
Her eyes opened.
Another click.
Someone was turning the handle of her bedroom door.
Isa stopped breathing.
The door was locked.
Rhett had insisted.
The handle moved again.
Then stopped.
She reached for the panic button beside the bed.
Before she touched it, a voice came from the hallway.
“Isa?”
Rhett.
She exhaled.
“Come in.”
“I can’t. You locked it.”
She almost laughed from relief.
When she opened the door, Rhett stood there in a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up.
“Someone was just here.”
His expression changed.
“Stay behind me.”
They searched the hall.
Empty.
Then Rhett noticed something on the floor.
A tiny black device beneath a decorative table.
Wireless camera.
Pointed directly at Isa’s bedroom.
Cole arrived.
“That wasn’t there this morning.”
Rhett turned toward the ceiling camera.
“Who accessed this floor?”
Cole checked.
“No one.”
“That’s impossible.”
Then Isa remembered the service passage.
The mansion had old servant corridors behind several walls.
She used them while cleaning.
“There’s another way up.”
Rhett looked at her.
Isa led them through the linen room.
One concealed panel stood open.
Inside the narrow passage were muddy footprints.
Someone had entered Valin House without appearing on the main cameras.
They followed the prints downstairs.
The trail ended beside the staff entrance.
On the wall, written with a black marker, was a message.
HELLO, WIFE.
Isa backed into Rhett.
Then she noticed a second line underneath.
ASK RHETT WHO APPROVED YOUR EMPLOYMENT.
Rhett’s face changed.
Isa whispered, “Who did?”
May you like
He already knew.
“Andrew Mercer.”
