Chapter 2
Alessandro scooped Zoe into his left arm, his right hand immediately resting on the concealed weapon beneath his tailored jacket. He did not run. He moved with cold, deliberate speed.
"Stay quiet," he murmured.
Zoe clamped her tiny hands over her mouth and nodded.
Alessandro carried her up the back service stairwell, avoiding the central foyer. The estate’s primary grid was down, which meant the panic room was on secondary battery, but whoever opened the gate with Vance’s card had administrative bypass. They knew the Romano family protocols down to the second.
He pushed open the door to the third-floor staff quarters.
The room was modest, smelling faintly of lavender and menthol. On the twin bed by the window, Emily Williams lay shivering under a thick wool blanket. Her chestnut hair was damp with sweat, her face flushed with fever.
At the sound of the door, Emily gasped, scrambling to sit up. "Zoe? Zoe, baby—"
Her voice caught in her throat when she saw the imposing figure of Alessandro Romano standing in her doorway, carrying her daughter.
"Mr. Romano," Emily whispered, panic instantly overtaking her illness. She tried to swing her legs out of bed, nearly collapsing onto the carpet. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I took two aspirin, I was just resting for twenty minutes, I swear I’m finishing the laundry—"
"Emily, stop," Alessandro commanded, his voice firm yet low.
He set Zoe gently on the edge of the mattress. Zoe immediately crawled into her mother's lap, burying her face against Emily’s chest.
"Mr. Romano, please don't fire us," Emily pleaded, her eyes glassy with fever. "I have nowhere else to take her."
"I am not here about your shift," Alessandro said. He pulled the blackout curtains completely shut, plunging the room into near darkness. "Victor is at the front gate with Carter Vance. The exterior cameras were cut from the inside."
Emily went rigid. Her hands tightened around Zoe’s shoulders. "Carter... Vance?"
Alessandro’s eyes locked onto her face. Emily was supposed to be a simple agency referral, hired six months ago after extensive background checks. Yet her reaction was not confusion. It was fear.
"You know that name?" Alessandro asked, his tone dropping an octave.
"No," Emily stammered quickly. Too quickly. "I—I don't. I just heard the panic in your voice."
Alessandro stepped closer to the bed. "Zoe saw Vance give Victor my private study cipher. She drew a picture of it hours ago."
Emily looked down at her daughter, her breathing shallow and ragged. "Zoe has an active imagination, Mr. Romano. She plays in the halls, she makes up games—"
"A three-year-old does not imagine an encrypted titanium keycard with a Romano crest," Alessandro interrupted. He leaned down, placing the folded crayon drawing on the nightstand beside her medicine bottles. "Victor asked you something yesterday, didn't he?"
Emily swallowed. Her eyes darted toward the closet. "He just... he asked what time you usually called from New York. He said he wanted to coordinate the perimeter patrol."
"And what did you tell him?"
"I told him you never call on a fixed schedule." Emily’s voice broke. "Mr. Romano, why is someone at the gate?"
Before Alessandro could answer, the mansion's internal landline beside Emily’s bed let out a sharp, muted ring.
In a blackout, only the master security line had landline power.
Alessandro picked up the receiver without a word.
Victor’s gravelly voice came through the speaker. "Boss? Are you still in Manhattan? We have a perimeter malfunction on the south lawn. Don't come back tonight. I repeat, do not come back to the estate."
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Alessandro stood perfectly still, looking at Emily’s terrified face.
"I'm already in the house, Victor," Alessandro said quietly.
