Chapter 3
I moved the party into lockdown.
No speeches.
No shouting.
The doors simply closed.
Bodyguards took positions.
Guests stayed where they were.
Lily sat beside me with hot chocolate while Adrian remained close enough that I could see him.
Celeste hated that.
“You're frightening her.”
I looked at her.
“You locked her outside in December.”
“She was being stubborn.”
“She is three.”
“Exactly.”
Celeste smiled thinly.
“At that age, you teach obedience before bad habits become permanent.”
Lily lowered her eyes.
I noticed.
So did Celeste.
She liked that reaction.
That was when I understood this wasn't the first time.
“What else have you punished her for?”
Celeste laughed.
“Punished?”
“Answer.”
“She touches things she shouldn't.”
“Like?”
“Your study.”
Marcus leaned back against the bar.
“Children need boundaries.”
I looked at him.
“So do capos.”
He stopped smiling.
Adrian spoke.
“Celeste told Lily her mom died because she didn't know how to leave things alone.”
Celeste's face changed.
I went still.
“What?”
Adrian looked at Lily.
“She said it last month.”
Celeste snapped:
“He's lying.”
Lily whispered:
“No.”
Celeste looked at her.
Lily shrank into my side.
That was another answer.
I crouched.
“What did Celeste tell you?”
Lily twisted the sleeve of my jacket.
“She said Mommy touched Daddy's things.”
Celeste cut in.
“Oh, for God's sake.”
I turned.
She kept going.
“You're letting a toddler repeat nonsense and treating it like testimony.”
I stood.
“Say another word about my daughter.”
Her lips closed.
Marcus pushed away from the bar.
“This is getting embarrassing.”
“For you?”
“For everyone.”
He glanced toward the guests.
“You're dismantling a family gathering over a dead woman's tape and a child who doesn't understand what she saw.”
I smiled.
“You sound nervous.”
“I sound tired.”
“Then sit.”
He didn't.
A bodyguard entered.
“Boss.”
He carried a small wooden panel.
“Study floor.”
Everyone looked at it.
Beneath the loose board Lily had found was another compartment.
Empty except for one old brass key.
And a silver medallion I recognized immediately.
Elena's.
I took it.
Her initials were scratched into the back.
E.B.
Celeste stared at it.
“What?”
I looked at her.
“Nothing.”
Too quickly.
She recovered.
“It's jewelry.”
“No.”
I turned the key in my hand.
“This opened the north-gate relay cabinet.”
Marcus's face changed.
Barely.
Again.
Enough.
Three years earlier, the north gate had been one of the few entrances controlled manually during large family events.
If someone wanted to enter without appearing on the main security route, that key mattered.
I looked at Marcus.
“You said the tape was meaningless.”
“It is.”
“Then why was Elena hiding the key beside it?”
He shrugged.
“She was paranoid.”
Celeste added:
“And dramatic.”
I looked at her.
She smiled.
“She always wanted everyone to think she had discovered some grand secret.”
I slipped Elena's medallion into my pocket.
“Did she?”
Celeste's eyes hardened.
“No.”
Then one of my oldest bodyguards stepped forward.
“Boss.”
“What?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“The north gate was opened the night Elena died.”
I felt the room tilt.
“How long?”
“Eleven minutes.”
“By whom?”
He hesitated.
“Marcus changed the rotation that night.”
Every eye turned.
Marcus's face emptied.
I looked at him.
He shrugged.
“Coincidence.”
The bodyguard continued.
“The guard assigned there disappeared two days later.”
Marcus's confidence finally cracked.
I asked one question.
“Where is he now?”
The bodyguard looked at Marcus.
“We found him last year.”
“Where?”
“Working under another name in one of our western warehouses.”
Marcus said nothing.
Good.
I looked toward the door.
“Bring him.”
Celeste laughed again.
“You're digging up ghosts because a little girl gave you a birthday present.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
May you like
I held up the brass key.
“My daughter just showed me where the ghosts were buried.”
