Chapter 2 - THE FRIEND WHO SENT ME INTO THE MANSION
I read the message three times.
It didn’t become less horrifying.
“That isn’t possible.”
Luca watched me.
I looked at Marcus.
“Give me the phone.”
He hesitated.
Luca said, “Give it to her.”
Marcus obeyed.
My hands shook as I opened Sarah’s contact.
I called.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
I typed:
What are you talking about?
The message showed delivered.
No reply.
Luca stood several feet away.
He wasn’t crowding me.
But suspicion had returned to his eyes.
“How long have you known her?”
“Five years.”
“Where did you meet?”
“A diner in Queens.”
“She approached you?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
I hated the interrogation.
But I understood why it was happening.
“We were both waitresses.”
“Did she know about your financial problems?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Your debt?”
“Yes.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Everything needed to make this job irresistible.”
I stared.
“No.”
“You said she told you she worked here.”
“Yes.”
“Did she ever describe me?”
“Not really.”
“What did she say about the house?”
“That it was strange.”
“Specific.”
I forced myself to remember.
“She said the east wing was off-limits. She said employees lost their phones. She said the money was worth putting up with anything for six weeks.”
Marcus looked at Luca.
“That’s our current orientation.”
Exactly.
Which meant Sarah had obtained information somehow.
“Maybe she knew someone who worked here.”
“Maybe.”
Luca didn’t sound convinced.
Then my phone buzzed.
Sarah.
A second message.
ASK HIM WHAT PROCEDURE HE HAD.
I looked at Luca.
His face went blank.
“What procedure?”
Marcus immediately said, “Miss—”
“No.”
I looked at Luca.
“One of the rules was not to mention your medical procedure.”
His expression hardened.
“You were told that?”
“Yes.”
“By Marcus?”
Marcus looked sick.
“The instruction came from Dr. Bellini.”
Luca’s gaze snapped toward him.
“Dr. Bellini had no authority to brief staff.”
Marcus swallowed.
“I thought it came from you.”
“What procedure?” I repeated.
Luca turned back to me.
For four days, I had changed dressings on his arm.
Watched him hide pain.
Seen blood beneath his sleeve.
I assumed he had undergone surgery after some kind of attack.
Now I realized nobody had actually explained anything.
He rolled his sleeve higher.
The wound I had been dressing ran along his forearm.
But then he unbuttoned the top of his shirt.
Beneath the fabric, a longer surgical scar crossed his chest.
My stomach dropped.
“Luca…”
“Three weeks ago, I had a bullet removed from two inches below my heart.”
I froze.
“You were shot?”
“Yes.”
“Who did it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what procedure am I not allowed to mention?”
His eyes held mine.
“The bullet wasn’t the only thing the surgeons removed.”
I felt cold.
“What else?”
He answered quietly.
“A tracking device.”
Marcus swore under his breath.
Luca continued.
“Someone implanted it during an earlier surgery without my knowledge.”
I stared.
“Who had access?”
“One private physician.”
“Dr. Bellini?”
Before Luca could answer, my phone vibrated again.
Sarah sent a photograph.
Dr. Bellini.
May you like
Standing beside her.
And behind them was my dead mother.
