Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
“Someone was going to blame me for his death.”
Sofia stared at the instruction card.
For the first time that evening, her voice broke.
She had spent eleven months polishing floors, washing expensive sheets, and keeping a mansion beautiful for people who barely knew her name.
Now she understood how easily those people could have destroyed her life.
One accusation.
One manufactured story.
One powerful person pointing at a maid.
And everything she had worked for could disappear.
Vivian reached toward Marco.
“Please. Let me explain.”
He stepped away.
“Then explain why you were carrying instructions to frame an innocent woman.”
Vivian's lips trembled.
“I didn't write that.”
“Who did?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Can't, or won't?”
She looked toward the guests.
“You don't understand what people are capable of.”
Marco's expression darkened.
“I learned something about that tonight.”
Gabriel approached.
“Boss, we have another problem.”
He held up his phone.
A short video showed Sofia sitting at a laundry table the previous afternoon.
She was holding Marco's black sleep mask.
With a small pair of scissors, she carefully opened its lining.
Gabriel turned the screen toward the guests.
“This was recorded yesterday. Before anyone reported a surveillance device.”
Vivian seized the opportunity.
“There! She planted it herself!”
Several guests murmured.
Sofia felt the room turn against her.
“I was removing it,” she said.
Vivian laughed bitterly.
“Of course you were.”
Gabriel looked at Marco.
“We need to consider every possibility.”
Marco watched the video without speaking.
For a moment, Sofia saw uncertainty cross his face.
That hurt more than Vivian's slap.
“Mr. Bellini,” she said, “I found something hard inside the stitching while washing your mask. I opened it because I was afraid someone had put something there that could hurt your eye.”
“Why didn't you tell security?”
Sofia looked directly at Gabriel.
“Because I didn't know whom to trust.”
The security chief stiffened.
Vivian pointed at her.
“Listen to her! She's accusing everyone!”
But Marco was still studying the recording.
He enlarged the image.
“Sofia, look at this.”
She stepped closer.
The camera was positioned high above the laundry table.
It showed the exact moment she had discovered the device.
Marco turned toward Gabriel.
“Why was someone secretly filming my housekeeper?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Possibly to monitor the staff.”
“Through an unauthorized camera?”
“I'm still investigating.”
Marco handed him the phone.
“Then investigate whoever filmed her. Don't accuse her simply because she was the one who found something.”
Sofia looked down.
Her eyes burned.
Marco lowered his voice.
“I owe you an apology. I should have trusted what you told me.”
She nodded, unable to answer.
Across the room, Vivian looked furious.
Dr. Price returned with a copy of Marco's latest medical assessment.
“Your improvement was documented eight days ago,” she said. “Someone should have told you.”
Marco scanned the pages.
The report confirmed that his damaged eye was recovering gradually.
He still needed protection from bright light and assistance around stairs, but the long-term prognosis was encouraging.
“Why wasn't I given this?”
Celia approached.
“Sir, I remember a delivery from the clinic. A sealed medical envelope arrived at the west gate last Thursday.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Thousands of packages come through the estate.”
“This one was different,” Celia replied. “The courier asked for a signature, but security wouldn't accept it.”
Dr. Price looked stunned.
“My office was told the delivery had been completed.”
Marco closed the report.
“Find out where it went.”
While Gabriel walked toward the security office, Sofia noticed a small slip of paper beneath the tablet.
It had been attached to a surveillance equipment inventory.
She picked it up.
The printed heading read:
HARBORLIGHT PROTECTIVE SERVICES
Below it were delivery dates and equipment descriptions.
Most concerned the mansion.
But one entry listed a vehicle installation.
The location was the Bellini garage.
The date was four months earlier.
Sofia studied it.
Then she looked toward Marco.
“Sir, what day were you ambushed?”
“June eighteenth.”
Sofia turned the page toward him.
A miniature vehicle camera had been installed on June seventeenth.
One day before the attack.
Marco stared at the entry.
Harborlight hadn't merely monitored his recovery.
Its equipment had been inside his vehicle before anyone fired a shot.
He reached into his jacket and removed an old silver pocket watch.
His father had given it to him shortly before his death.
On the back was an engraving.
A man is measured by whom he protects.
Marco closed his fingers around the watch.
Then he looked toward the door through which Gabriel had disappeared.
“Find the original installation order,” he said.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Marco, there's something you should know about Harborlight.”
“What?”
His cousin swallowed.
“They weren't hired after your accident.”
Marco's grip tightened.
May you like
Dominic looked toward the staircase.
“They were hired to review your security arrangements before the ambush ever happened.”
