Anna did not scream.
She wanted to.
Instead, she grabbed Lily from the bed so quickly the little girl woke crying.
“Mommy?”
“It’s okay.”
It was not okay.
Anna rushed to the door, stopped herself from opening it, and called Dominic.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
“Someone texted me.”
Silence.
“What did they say?”
Anna read the messages.
When she finished, Dominic’s voice changed.
“Lock the door.”
“It is locked.”
“Stay away from the windows.”
Lily began crying harder.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?”
Anna held her tighter.
“Dominic—”
“I’m coming.”
He arrived less than a minute later with Marco and two armed security officers.
Dominic took Anna’s phone.
He read the messages once.
Then again.
“Can you trace it?” he asked Marco.
“Already trying.”
Dominic looked at Anna.
“Pack for Lily.”
“What?”
“You’re moving upstairs.”
“Where?”
“Family floor.”
Anna shook her head.
“I work here, Dominic. I don’t live—”
“You do tonight.”
It was the first time she had ever called him Dominic to his face.
Neither mentioned it.
“What about the staff?”
“They stay in their rooms until I know what happened.”
Anna looked at the security officers.
“You think one of them could be involved?”
“I think someone knows your personal number.”
Plenty of employees had it.
Scheduling.
Emergencies.
School calls involving Lily.
That realization did not help.
Dominic noticed.
“Anna.”
She looked at him.
“Nobody gets near her.”
He said it like a promise.
Within ten minutes, Anna and Lily were moved to a suite two doors from Ethan’s room.
Ethan was awake.
The moment Lily saw him in the hallway, she pulled away from Anna and ran.
“Ethan!”
He hugged her.
“You broke my cake.”
Lily pulled back, horrified.
“It was bad cake.”
“I know.”
“You’re not mad?”
Ethan thought.
“Maybe a little.”
Lily’s lip trembled.
Then he smiled.
“I had ice cream upstairs.”
She smiled too.
The adults watching them did not.
Dr. Harris examined Lily’s hands to make sure she had not touched enough contaminated frosting to trigger any reaction herself. She was fine.
Emily Price was not.
She had been found in the abandoned greenhouse behind the west garden, unconscious but alive. A blow to the head had left her disoriented.
When she finally woke, she remembered receiving a text.
Someone had told her a pipe had burst upstairs.
The message appeared to come from Anna.
“I never sent it,” Anna said.
Emily started crying.
“I swear I thought it was you.”
Dominic stood near the foot of the bed.
“Who did you see?”
“Nobody.”
“Who was near the kitchen?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were unconscious for almost two hours.”
“I don’t remember!”
Anna touched Dominic’s arm.
He looked at her hand.
She immediately removed it.
“She's terrified,” Anna said.
“So is my son.”
“She didn’t poison him.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Emily whispered, “Mr. Moretti, please.”
Dominic stepped back.
Marco took over.
They reconstructed the timeline.
At 6:18 p.m., Emily received a text telling her to inspect an overflowing sink.
At 6:21, she called Anna upstairs.
At 6:23, Lily wandered toward the service corridor.
At 6:24, security cameras near the cold room went dark.
At 6:31, the cameras restarted.
Eleven missing minutes.
At 6:35, Emily was apparently attacked near the west staircase.
At 6:41, the cake entered the ballroom.
At 6:47, Lily knocked Ethan’s plate away.
Someone had planned everything carefully.
Someone had failed because a toddler happened to see the wrong thing at the right time.
By sunrise, Dominic had called in an independent security specialist named Rachel Stone.
Rachel arrived wearing jeans, a dark jacket, and the expression of someone unimpressed by expensive houses or dangerous reputations.
She walked into the ballroom and looked at the ruined cake.
“Don’t clean anything.”
Anna almost laughed.
Nobody had dared.
Rachel crouched.
“Where was Lily standing when Ethan took the bite?”
Anna showed her.
“Where did she see the man?”
Lily pointed.
Rachel did not ask twenty questions.
She sat on the floor.
“What did the man wear?”
“A black coat.”
“Like Mr. Marco?”
Lily looked at Marco.
“No.”
“Like your mommy?”
“No.”
Rachel smiled.
“Did he have hair?”
Lily nodded.
“What color?”
“Gray.”
Dominic glanced toward Marco.
Rachel continued.
“Was he old?”
Lily frowned.
“Like Grandpa old?”
“I don’t have Grandpa.”
Rachel paused.
Anna looked away.
“Okay,” Rachel said gently. “Was he older than Ethan?”
Lily giggled.
“Yes.”
“Older than Mommy?”
Lily studied Anna carefully.
“Yes.”
Anna almost protested.
Dominic’s mouth twitched for the first time all night.
Rachel noticed.
Then Lily said, “He smelled funny.”
Everyone became serious again.
“Funny how?” Rachel asked.
“Like Daddy’s garage.”
Anna froze.
Lily had only vague memories of her father. Daniel Carter had died when Lily was eleven months old after a construction accident.
“What did Daddy’s garage smell like?” Rachel asked.
Anna answered.
“Gasoline. Machine oil. Paint thinner sometimes.”
Rachel stood.
“Industrial solvent.”
Marco frowned.
“That could mean anything.”
“Maybe.”
Rachel inspected the cold room.
Ten minutes later she called Dominic over.
“There.”
A faint black smear marked the metal doorframe.
Rachel touched it with a swab.
“Grease.”
Marco said, “Kitchen equipment.”
“Wrong kind.”
“How do you know?”
“Because kitchen grease doesn’t usually contain graphite.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Lock lubricant.”
Rachel nodded.
“Used on mechanical components. Security doors. Industrial hinges.”
Anna suddenly remembered something.
Three weeks earlier, the estate’s security system had been serviced.
A contractor had spent two days replacing magnetic locks.
Dominic thought of it too.
“Who serviced the doors?”
Marco pulled out his phone.
“Tri-State Secure.”
Rachel said, “Get the names.”
The list contained nine technicians.
Eight had verified identities.
The ninth did not.
A temporary contractor listed as Martin Vale had provided credentials that belonged to a man who died four years earlier.
Dominic stared at the photograph attached to the fake employee record.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Average height.
Lily was brought in.
Rachel covered everything except the photograph.
“Have you seen him?”
Lily looked.
Her small face changed.
“That’s cake man.”
Anna’s knees nearly gave way.
Dominic caught her elbow.
They had him.
Or at least a picture.
Marco immediately began searching.
By noon, they discovered something worse.
Martin Vale had been inside the estate six times during the previous month.
He had inspected locks.
Security cameras.
Staff corridors.
And Ethan’s private wing.
The cake had not been an opportunity.
It had been the final step of a plan.
Rachel entered Dominic’s study carrying a tablet.
“You need to see this.”
Security footage from two weeks earlier appeared.
Fake Martin Vale walked through the service corridor.
A second man approached him.
They spoke briefly.
Then separated.
Dominic leaned closer.
Anna recognized the second man.
So did Marco.
“Victor Salerno,” Marco whispered.
Dominic went completely still.
Victor was Dominic’s cousin.
His late father’s nephew.
A man who had eaten Christmas dinner inside the Moretti home for years.
A man Ethan called Uncle Victor.
Anna whispered, “That can’t be.”
Dominic said nothing.
Rachel enlarged the image.
Victor handed Vale something.
An envelope.
Dominic turned away.
Marco looked furious.
“I’ll bring him in.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Dominic.
Marco frowned.
“Boss—”
“No.”
Dominic walked to the window.
“If Victor is involved, he doesn’t know we know.”
Rachel understood.
“You want him watched.”
“I want everyone watched.”
Including, Anna realized, people Dominic had trusted his entire life.
That evening, Ethan and Lily ate dinner together upstairs.
Lily drew pictures.
Ethan tried to teach her chess.
She placed every piece in the wrong square.
For fifteen minutes, they sounded like ordinary children.
Anna watched from the doorway.
Dominic stood behind her.
“She likes him,” he said.
“She thinks he’s her brother.”
Ethan heard.
“Can she be?”
Anna smiled sadly.
“That’s not exactly how it works.”
Lily looked up.
“I want Ethan brother.”
Dominic stared at the children.
Something softened in him.
Then his phone vibrated.
The softness vanished.
Marco had followed Victor to a warehouse in Yonkers.
Victor had met someone there.
Not Martin Vale.
A woman.
Rachel zoomed in on the surveillance photograph.
Anna recognized her before Dominic did.
Her mouth fell open.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You know her?”
Anna could barely answer.
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
Anna stared at the photograph.
The woman was older now.
Her hair shorter.
But Anna would never forget that face.
“Daniel’s sister.”
“Your late husband?”
Anna nodded.
“Her name is Claire.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Anna had not seen Claire Carter in almost four years.
Not since shortly after Daniel’s funeral.
Not since Claire accused Anna of destroying her brother’s life.
Not since she disappeared from theirs completely.
And now Claire was meeting the cousin of the man whose son someone had just tried to kill.
Anna reached for a chair.
Dominic caught her before she fell.
“Why would Claire want Ethan dead?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel looked toward Anna.
“Maybe Ethan isn’t the only target.”
Anna slowly looked toward the room where Lily was playing.
At that exact moment, a security alarm screamed through the mansion.
Red lights began flashing.
Marco shouted through Dominic’s phone.
“Breach on the north fence!”
Dominic grabbed Anna.
“Get the children into the safe room.”
Then the lights went out.
And somewhere downstairs, glass shattered.