Chapter 5
Marcus asked to speak.
I said no.
Not yet.
The man had advised me for eighteen years.
He could wait eighteen minutes.
I turned to Celia.
“What did your father put inside the watch?”
She looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Then:
“But I have his notebook.”
That changed everything.
Evan Brooks died five years ago.
His work journals remained with Celia’s mother.
Not valuable.
Not to them.
Detailed repair notes.
Serial numbers.
Sketches.
Maybe answers.
I sent Rafe.
No delay.
No warning to anyone.
Vivienne watched.
“Lucian.”
I looked at her.
“You forced a woman to wear surveillance hardware so you could test whether it burned.”
Her eyes filled.
“I didn’t know it would.”
“You still chose her instead of yourself.”
Silence.
Then:
“You threatened her mother’s home.”
She looked down.
Good.
No romance could soften that.
Gideon interrupted.
“This is bigger than a maid’s wrist.”
Celia flinched.
I saw it.
I stepped closer to him.
“That sentence is why you’ll never understand this house.”
He rolled his eyes.
I continued.
“You built a plan to uncover a twenty-year-old family secret by using one woman’s employment, another woman’s engagement, and my privacy as tools.”
Silence.
“That’s not intelligence.”
My voice lowered.
“That’s habit.”
The Cross habit.
Use people.
Then call the result strategy.
Gideon’s expression hardened.
Marcus finally spoke from behind me.
“Lucian.”
I turned.
His eyes were on the watch.
Not me.
“I know what was inside.”
The ballroom changed.
There it was.
I walked toward him.
“What?”
He answered quietly.
“A photograph.”
Not document.
Not key.
Photograph.
“Of who?”
His jaw tightened.
“My brother.”
My father.
“And?”
Marcus looked toward Gideon.
“Eleanor Cross.”
The room went silent.
Not lovers.
Something worse, judging by his face.
“What were they doing?”
May you like
Marcus answered:
“Burning a contract.”
