Chapter 4 - The Maid's Observation
Dinner was a masterclass in deception.
Adrian sat at the head of the long dining table, the freshly roasted lamb filling the room with a savory aroma.
Veronica sat to his right, radiant in a silk emerald dress.
She smiled at him, raising her wine glass.
“To us, darling,” she purred.
Adrian raised his newly replaced, completely safe crystal glass.
“To us.”
He took a sip of the water, watching her over the rim of the glass.
Veronica’s eyes flickered to his glass, then to his face.
A microscopic twitch of her left eyebrow betrayed her confusion.
She had expected him to be dead by now.
“Is everything alright with the water, Adrian?” she asked smoothly.
“Perfect,” he replied, slicing his lamb. “Though I heard there was a small accident earlier.”
Veronica’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second.
“An accident?”
“Yes. Grace’s daughter, Lily. She was running around and bumped the table.”
Adrian took a bite of his food.
“Knocked my glass right over. Grace had to fetch a new one.”
Veronica’s knuckles turned white around her wine stem.
“How clumsy of her. I’ve told you, Adrian, having a child underfoot is unprofessional.”
“She’s a child, Veronica. No harm done.”
“Still,” Veronica pressed, “perhaps it’s time we look for a new head maid. Someone without baggage.”
Adrian wiped his mouth with his linen napkin.
“Grace is loyal. Loyalty is very hard to find these days.”
He stared directly into Veronica’s eyes as he said it.
She didn't flinch, offering only a sweet, condescending smile.
“Of course, darling. Whatever you think is best.”
As Grace came in to clear the plates, she kept her head down.
Adrian noticed Veronica glaring at the maid's back.
The sheer hatred in his fiancée's eyes confirmed everything he needed to know.
Veronica wasn't just trying to kill him; she was angry that her perfect plan had been thwarted by an eight-year-old.
Later that evening, Adrian met Marcus in the underground garage.
“Did you find the master keycard?” Adrian asked.
“No sign of it in her usual spots,” Marcus reported.
“But I did run a sweep of your private office.”
“And?”
“She didn't just snoop, Boss. She planted something.”
Marcus held up a small, clear plastic bag.
Inside was a micro-USB drive.
“We found it plugged into the back of your secure server.”
Adrian’s expression darkened. “What is on it?”
“It’s a mirroring program. It’s been copying every financial transaction you’ve made for the last two weeks.”
“She’s stealing my financial data.”
“She’s routing it to an external server,” Marcus explained.
“I tracked the IP address.”
“Who does it belong to?”
Marcus took a deep breath.
“The Marzano family.”
Adrian felt a cold knot form in his stomach.
The Marzanos were his biggest rivals on the East Coast.
If they had his financial ledgers, they could dismantle his empire piece by piece.
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Veronica was a spy.
And tonight, she had escalated from corporate espionage to murder.
