Chapter 2 - The Names Hidden Inside the Security Logs
Roman spent the next three hours dismantling his own organization from the inside.
He started with the cameras.
The official security server showed nothing unusual.
At 1:36 p.m., the courtyard appeared normal.
At 1:37, Roman’s car entered.
At 1:39, the image froze for seven seconds.
At 1:39 and eight seconds, the feed resumed.
Then the truck struck.
Roman stood in the security room, staring at the monitor.
“Seven seconds,” he said.
Darius nodded.
“The archive server was manually overridden.”
“By whom?”
“We’re tracing it.”
Roman looked at him.
“You have five minutes.”
Darius left.
I stood near the doorway with Lily on my hip.
Roman noticed.
“You should be upstairs.”
“I’m tired of people telling me where I’m supposed to stand.”
He looked at me for a moment.
Then he almost smiled.
“You’re afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I frowned.
“Good?”
“Fear keeps people alert.”
“Fear also makes people stupid.”
“That’s why I need you to stay beside people you trust.”
“Who do I trust?”
He didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Lily suddenly pointed at the monitor.
“That one.”
Everyone turned.
She pointed to a man standing near the gate in an old recording.
“The smiling man.”
Darius leaned closer.
Roman looked at the timestamp.
The man was one of the estate’s overnight guards.
His name was Elliot Price.
“Bring him.”
Elliot was dragged into the room ten minutes later.
His hands were trembling.
Roman did not accuse him.
He simply asked:
“What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
Roman sat.
“Try again.”
“I swear, boss.”
Roman remained silent.
The silence stretched.
Elliot finally broke.
“The truck came early.”
“How early?”
“Twenty-two minutes.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“I was told not to.”
“By whom?”
Elliot looked down.
Roman leaned forward.
“By whom?”
“Marcus.”
The room became cold.
Marcus was already being held in a locked conference room.
Roman looked toward Darius.
“Bring him.”
Within minutes, Marcus appeared.
Roman placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Marcus entering the security booth at 1:11 p.m.
“You gave an order not to report the truck.”
Marcus stared at the photograph.
“It was a precaution.”
“Against what?”
“An unknown vehicle.”
“You instructed my men to ignore it.”
Marcus said nothing.
Roman leaned back.
“Who were you protecting?”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“You were going to destroy the entire organization.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“Who told you that?”
Marcus looked at Victor.
Victor remained silent.
Then Roman’s phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
“Roman Hail.”
A woman’s voice spoke.
“You’re asking the wrong questions.”
Roman stood.
“Who is this?”
“You think Victor and Marcus planned everything.”
“Didn’t they?”
“No.”
The line went dead.
Roman stared at the phone.
Darius asked:
“Trace it?”
“Already.”
Three minutes later, Darius returned.
“Burner phone. Location is outside the estate.”
Roman looked at me.
“Who knows this place?”
“Too many people.”
“Who knew you and Lily would be here today?”
I thought.
“Everyone.”
“No.”
His eyes held mine.
“Not everyone.”
“What do you mean?”
“They prepared an alibi.”
He looked at Lily.
“They needed witnesses.”
I felt sick.
“They knew Lily would be here.”
Roman’s voice lowered.
“And they knew you’d be carrying towels at that exact time.”
I stared at him.
“How?”
He stood.
“Someone inside this house has been watching your routine.”
Lily began squirming.
I sat her on a chair.
Roman crouched in front of her.
“Lily, sweetheart.”
She looked at him.
“Who told the blue truck to come?”
She held her toy car tightly.
“The man.”
“What man?”
She pointed toward the ceiling.
“The attic man.”
My blood ran cold.
Roman looked at Darius.
“There is no one in the attic.”
Lily frowned.
“Yes there is.”
Roman asked gently:
“Can you show me?”
She nodded.
We followed her upstairs.
Past the bedrooms.
Past the linen room.
To a narrow staircase I had never noticed.
Lily opened a wooden door.
Dust filled the air.
There were old boxes inside.
And a chair.
And a small camera.
A hidden one.
Roman walked toward it.
The lens was pointed directly at the hallway outside Lily’s bedroom.
My stomach dropped.
He removed the device.
Then he found something else.
A small black recorder taped beneath the windowsill.
Roman pressed play.
For several seconds there was only static.
Then a voice.
Mine.
“We’ll be home by one.”
My own voice.
I remembered saying it during a phone call the day before.
Someone had been listening.
Roman shut the recorder off.
“Get every device in this house removed.”
Darius nodded.
I looked at Roman.
“Why would they watch us?”
He stared at the recorder.
“Because the hit was never just about killing me.”
“What was it about?”
He looked at me.
“They wanted control.”
That night, Roman sat alone in the library.
I brought him coffee.
He looked surprised.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m used to not sleeping.”
“That doesn’t make it healthy.”
He almost laughed.
“You sound like my doctor.”
“I’m cheaper.”
That actually made him smile.
It lasted only a second.
Then he asked:
“Why did Lily call out at exactly the right moment?”
I set the cup down.
“I don’t know.”
“She saw the truck before any of us.”
“She’s observant.”
“She described the driver’s signal.”
I looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying someone taught her what to watch for.”
My chest tightened.
“She’s three.”
“I know.”
Neither of us spoke.
Then Lily appeared at the library door holding the red car.
“Roman?”
He turned.
“Yes?”
“Your shoulder hurts.”
He nodded.
“A little.”
She walked over and handed him the toy.
“You can borrow it again.”
Roman accepted it.
“Thank you.”
Lily pointed at his bandage.
“Do you hurt here?”
“Yes.”
She touched her own shoulder.
“My mommy used to touch my boo-boos.”
I watched Roman carefully.
The word “mommy” hit him differently than it usually did.
Because there was something he still didn’t know.
Something I had never told him.
Something about why Lily had been born.
I had sworn I would never reveal it.
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But tonight, as Roman held my daughter’s toy car, I realized secrets had become more dangerous than truth.
And before sunrise, Roman would uncover one that could tear all three of us apart.
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