Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Elevator
Gideon hit the elevator override before the doors reached the third floor.
“Stairwell,” Lucian ordered.
Two guards moved instantly.
Harper caught Lucian’s sleeve.
“She said not to trust you.”
He looked at her hand, then at her face.
“I heard her.”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“I don’t waste surprise while someone is escaping with evidence.”
“That is a very annoying sentence.”
“I have many.”
The elevator stopped between floors.
A warning light flashed.
Thirty seconds later, Gideon’s radio crackled.
“No visual on Voss. Car is empty.”
Lucian’s expression hardened.
“There’s a maintenance hatch.”
Harper looked up at the ceiling.
“She planned this.”
“Yes.”
Which meant Mara had known the penthouse well enough to enter through a secure service route, disable one guard, open Matteo’s hidden compartment, and leave before anyone could stop her.
The woman who had corrected Harper’s presentation fonts and complained about late expense reports was apparently capable of breaking into a Moretti penthouse.
Harper felt stupid.
Again.
She hated the feeling.
A guard approached with a tablet. “Garage camera caught her leaving seven minutes ago in a gray Lexus. Plates come back to a rental.”
“Find it,” Lucian said.
The guard left.
Harper turned to Lucian.
“You knew she was connected to the money.”
“I suspected.”
“You didn’t tell me you suspected she could break into your home.”
“I didn’t know.”
“What else don’t I know?”
His gaze held hers.
“Too much.”
“That answer is getting old.”
Lucian looked toward the library, then made a decision.
“Come with me.”
He led her through a private hallway to a room she had not seen before.
Unlike the rest of the penthouse, this room looked lived in.
Books stacked on the floor. A worn leather chair. Framed photographs on a console.
Harper stopped at one.
Two young men stood beside an older woman on a sailboat.
Lucian was maybe twenty-two. He looked younger when he smiled.
The man beside him had the same dark hair, but softer eyes.
Matteo.
“This was his room,” Lucian said.
Harper looked around.
“You kept it.”
“My mother did.”
Lucian opened a drawer and removed a thick envelope.
“I found this three months after Matteo died.”
Inside was a copy of a handwritten letter.
Lucian handed it to her.
If something happens to me, do not assume Vittorio acted alone.
The sentence made Harper’s stomach tighten.
Below it were three names.
Vittorio Moretti.
Damian Rusk.
Enzo Moretti.
Harper read the third name twice.
“Enzo.”
“My father.”
She looked up.
Lucian’s face gave nothing away.
“Your father was involved?”
“I don’t know.”
“He’s on the list.”
“Yes.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Lake Forest.”
Harper lowered the letter.
“You have a living father who may have helped murder your brother, and you waited until now to mention him?”
“Would you have preferred that in the first ten minutes?”
“I would have preferred it before I opened a secret wall in your library.”
“That is fair.”
She stared at him.
“You agree with me too calmly. It’s unsettling.”
“I can argue if it would help.”
“It would not.”
Lucian leaned against the desk.
“My father built Moretti Maritime into what it is. He also taught us that loyalty was more important than law.”
“And you?”
“I believed him until Matteo died.”
Harper felt the weight of the answer.
“Did you ever do illegal things for him?”
Lucian did not look away.
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Bribes. Threats. Payments to make investigations disappear. I never moved people or weapons. I never ordered a killing.”
“That is a very specific line.”
“It is the line I can live with.”
Harper put the letter down.
“This is why Mara told me not to trust you.”
“Possibly.”
“Is she wrong?”
Lucian took a long breath.
“No.”
Harper blinked.
He continued before she could speak.
“You should not trust me because I want you to. You should trust only what I prove.”
That was not the answer she had expected.
He stepped closer, but not close enough to touch her.
“I frightened you the first night. I investigated you without permission. I brought you into this because I believed you were connected to something I wanted. Those are facts.”
Harper’s pulse slowed.
“And now?”
“Now I know Kyle used you. I know someone put a listening device in your possessions. I know Mara came into my home looking for the same evidence. And I know that if I had left you alone this morning, your apartment would still have been torn apart.”
Harper looked down.
“That doesn’t make you safe.”
“No.”
“Good.”
His mouth moved slightly.
“Good?”
“I’m tired of men telling me they’re safe.”
Lucian’s eyes darkened.
“I won’t.”
Her phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph loaded slowly.
Mara sat behind the wheel of a car.
The metal case rested on the passenger seat.
Below it was a message.
I did not steal from Lucian. I stole this from the person who was about to kill you for it.
A second message appeared.
Ask him what happened at Pier 17 in 2021.
Harper turned the phone toward Lucian.
For the first time since she met him, he looked shaken.
“What happened at Pier 17?”
He said nothing.
Harper waited.
Finally, he walked to the window.
“Matteo died in 2020.”
“That is not an answer.”
“In 2021, I believed I had found one of the men who cut his brake line.”
Harper’s stomach dropped.
“What did you do?”
Lucian stared at the lake.
“I had him brought to Pier 17.”
“And?”
“I questioned him.”
“How?”
His silence answered.
Harper’s chest tightened.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did your people?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“He escaped during a transfer. Two days later, police found him dead in Indiana.”
“Convenient.”
Lucian turned sharply.
“I did not kill him.”
Harper believed he meant it.
That did not make the rest acceptable.
“You hurt him.”
“Yes.”
The word landed hard.
Harper looked at Matteo’s photograph.
“Grief doesn’t make that right.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
There was no defense in his face.
No excuse.
Only a man who had done something ugly and had stopped pretending it was noble.
Another message arrived from Mara.
If you want the truth, come alone to the Winter Garden at 8 p.m. No Lucian. No Gideon. If they follow you, I leave.
Harper showed him.
Lucian immediately said, “No.”
Harper raised one eyebrow.
He exhaled.
“I strongly object.”
“Much better.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“She won’t talk if she sees you.”
“She may be luring you to Kyle.”
“Then we find out.”
Lucian stepped closer. “Harper.”
“No.”
His expression tightened.
She continued, “You said I should trust what you prove. Prove you can let me make a decision you hate.”
For several seconds, only the city hummed beyond the glass.
Then Lucian reached inside his jacket.
Harper stiffened.
He removed a small silver pin and placed it on the desk.
“Emergency transmitter. Press twice and it sends your location to Gideon. It does not transmit audio unless activated.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
He took out his phone, opened an app, and showed her the dormant connection.
“Have your own technician inspect it if you want.”
Harper picked up the pin.
“You really are trying.”
“I find it exhausting.”
She almost smiled.
At 7:58 that night, Harper entered the Winter Garden alone.
The glass atrium was nearly empty.
Mara sat at a table beneath a dead palm tree with two coffees between them.
Harper stopped ten feet away.
“Are you going to drug me?”
Mara looked tired.
“If I were going to drug you, I would have ordered better coffee.”
Harper sat but did not touch the cup.
“Why did you use my identity?”
Mara’s eyes filled with something that looked like shame.
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“Kyle.”
“You paid him.”
“No. Vittorio paid me. I paid Kyle.”
Harper’s hands curled beneath the table.
“Why?”
Mara looked toward the glass ceiling.
“Because fifteen years ago, my husband died on one of Enzo Moretti’s ships. The official report said mechanical failure. The truth was that the crew had been ordered to sail with a damaged fuel system to avoid delaying a weapons shipment.”
Harper went cold.
“I spent twelve years trying to prove it. Vittorio found me first. He said he would give me records if I helped him get inside Lucian’s properties.”
“So you used my company.”
“Yes.”
“You used me.”
Mara’s eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
“Did you know Kyle was sleeping with Sloane?”
“No.”
“Did you know he was using my license?”
“I found out three months ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was close to getting the evidence.”
Harper laughed once, bitterly.
“Everyone is always close to getting something when they decide I’m expendable.”
Mara flinched.
Then she pushed the metal case across the table.
“I’m trying to stop that.”
Harper did not touch it.
“What’s inside?”
“Shipping ledgers. Copies of Matteo’s notes. And one video file.”
“Of what?”
Mara’s voice dropped.
“Your fiancé meeting Enzo Moretti.”
Harper’s blood went cold.
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
The day after Harper caught Kyle cheating.
Mara leaned closer.
“Kyle didn’t sleep with your cousin because he stopped loving you.”
Harper’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t care why he did it.”
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because he needed you to leave the apartment angry enough to take your things quickly.”
Harper stared at her.
May you like
Mara whispered,
“He wanted the watch packed with you.”
