Chapter 2 - THE CAMERA CONNECTED TO ALINA’S ROOM
Alina did not cry when Dominic searched her apartment.
She wanted to.
Instead, she stood beside Mia’s little bed with her arms folded while three security specialists photographed every outlet, router, vent, and smoke detector.
Vincent remained near the door.
Not touching anything.
Not defending her either.
That hurt more than she expected.
“You think I installed the camera?”
“No.”
His answer came immediately.
She looked at him.
“Then why are they searching my home?”
“Because the network access came from here.”
“That sounds like yes with better manners.”
His jaw tightened.
“Alina.”
“No. I understand. You don’t know me.”
“Correct.”
“At least that’s honest.”
Mia sat on the floor feeding plastic peas to a stuffed rabbit.
One investigator called from the small kitchen.
“Found something.”
Everyone moved.
Behind the refrigerator was a wireless relay no bigger than a matchbox.
Dominic crouched.
“This bounced a signal through her router.”
Alina stared.
“So someone put it there.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Dominic checked dust patterns.
“Recently.”
Vincent turned toward her.
“Who has been inside?”
“Me. Mia. Housekeeping supervisor once. Maintenance twice.”
“Names.”
“Mrs. Alvarez. And Frank sent two men when the sink leaked.”
Frank again.
Dominic noticed too.
“When?”
“Last month.”
Vincent’s eyes became colder.
Then Mia spoke from the floor.
“Not sink man.”
Everyone turned.
Alina crouched.
“What, baby?”
Mia pointed toward the refrigerator.
“Hat man.”
Vincent approached slowly.
“What hat?”
Mia touched her own head.
“Blue.”
Dominic opened a staff database on his tablet.
“Maintenance wears gray.”
Alina’s pulse changed.
“Who wears blue?”
Frank answered from the doorway.
“Garage staff.”
Nobody had heard him arrive.
Vincent looked at him.
Frank held up both hands.
“I came because Dominic asked about apartment access.”
Dominic had not.
His face gave that away.
Vincent’s expression did not move.
“Did he?”
Frank looked toward Dominic.
A mistake.
Small.
But visible.
Dominic answered:
“No.”
The room went silent.
Frank recovered quickly.
“I must have misunderstood the message.”
“What message?” Vincent asked.
Frank pulled out his phone.
No message.
Nothing.
His face tightened.
Then he laughed awkwardly.
“Fine. I heard people talking downstairs. I came up.”
Vincent stared at him long enough to make the air heavy.
“Go back to the garage.”
Frank’s mouth twitched.
“Yes, boss.”
He left.
Alina looked at Vincent.
“You think it’s him.”
“I think he just lied.”
“Isn’t that basically a job requirement around here?”
Dominic almost smiled.
Vincent did not.
But something in his eyes warmed.
Then one of the technicians held up another object.
A photograph.
Found taped beneath the relay.
Not of Vincent.
Not of the estate.
Of Alina.
She stood outside a grocery store six years earlier.
Pregnant.
Very pregnant.
Her face went white.
“Where did you get that?”
The technician handed it to Dominic.
On the back:
ALINA RUIZ. WATCH UNTIL CHILD IS BORN.
Vincent looked at her.
“Who was Mia’s father?”
Alina’s entire body stiffened.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“You were being watched before you ever worked here.”
“I said it has nothing to do with this.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Then explain the photograph.”
“I can’t.”
“Try.”
She turned away.
Memory hit harder than fear.
A small apartment.
A man named Gabriel.
Promises.
Then disappearance.
“No.”
Vincent’s voice softened.
“Alina.”
She looked at him.
“Mia’s father died before she was born.”
Vincent became still.
“What was his name?”
She hated the question.
Because the last time she had spoken the name aloud, she had been signing paperwork at a morgue.
“Gabriel Reyes.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Vincent’s expression changed completely.
Alina noticed.
“What?”
Neither man answered.
“What do you know?”
Dominic looked toward Vincent.
Vincent finally said:
“Gabriel Reyes worked for my family.”
Her stomach dropped.
“No.”
“He did.”
“He installed security systems.”
“Yes.”
“That’s what he told me.”
“That part was true.”
“What part wasn’t?”
Vincent looked at Mia.
Then back at Alina.
“He didn’t die in a construction accident.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Alina’s voice became thin.
“I identified his body.”
“No.”
“I was there.”
“You identified his watch and wallet.”
Her face drained.
A closed casket.
Fire damage.
Officials telling her not to look.
“You’re saying he survived?”
“I’m saying the body was never conclusively identified.”
Mia continued feeding peas to the rabbit.
Completely unaware.
Alina whispered:
“Why would Gabriel disappear?”
Vincent’s answer came carefully.
“Because three days before his supposed death, he stole something from my father.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Dominic looked toward Mia.
“Names, accounts, locations, payments.”
Alina swallowed.
“And you think Gabriel hid it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We never knew.”
Then Mia picked up her wooden truck and said something so casually that every adult in the room froze.
“Daddy has one.”
Alina stared.
“What?”
Mia pushed the truck across the floor.
“Daddy truck.”
Her heart stopped.
“Mia, you never met Daddy.”
The child frowned.
“Yes.”
Alina’s knees nearly failed.
“When?”
Mia pointed toward the window.
May you like
“At night.”
And according to her three-year-old daughter, a man Alina believed had been dead for almost four years had been standing outside their apartment window.
