Sadie had never slept in a bedroom with an armed guard outside.
She discovered she didn't like it.
The Vale estate had seventeen guest rooms, each larger than the apartment where she had grown up, but Marcus placed her in one directly across from Gabriel's library because it sat inside the most secure section of the house.
At six that evening, a woman from housekeeping brought Sadie fresh clothes.
At six-fifteen, another guard delivered dinner.
At six-thirty, Sadie opened the door and found Marcus standing there.
“I want to go home.”
“No.”
“My things are there.”
“We'll get them.”
“My mother's sewing box is there.”
“We'll get that too.”
Sadie folded her arms.
“You can't imprison me.”
Marcus looked almost amused.
“We can protect you.”
“This feels identical from this side of the door.”
He lowered his voice.
“Evan Rourke knows where you live.”
Sadie's anger disappeared.
Marcus continued.
“He accessed employee files three days ago.”
Her blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“We're trying to find out.”
“Did he access everyone?”
“No.”
That single word settled between them.
Sadie sat slowly on the edge of the bed.
“Mine?”
“And two nurses.”
“Why me?”
Marcus shook his head.
“We don't know whether it happened before or after you spoke up.”
She thought back.
Three days ago.
She had noticed the thread before then.
Had she said something?
Not to a doctor.
But maybe somebody had seen her watching.
Maybe Rourke had.
“Where is he?”
“His phone was found near Trenton.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he wanted us looking near Trenton.”
Sadie looked toward the hallway.
“And Gabriel?”
“Improving.”
The relief she felt surprised her.
Marcus noticed.
“You don't owe him anything.”
“I know.”
“You saved him. That's enough.”
Sadie gave him a tired look.
“Do you always talk like everything is a debt?”
“In this house?”
“Yes.”
“No wonder everyone looks exhausted.”
This time Marcus actually smiled.
It changed his face completely.
Then it vanished.
“You need anything, call the desk.”
He turned.
“Marcus?”
He looked back.
“Why would Evan want Gabriel dead?”
Marcus was silent for a long moment.
“Power. Money. Fear. Pick one.”
“You don't believe that.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because if you did, you wouldn't have paused.”
Marcus studied her.
“You watch too much.”
“That's how we got here.”
He accepted that.
Then he said quietly, “Gabriel was planning to reorganize everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“He wanted out of certain businesses.”
“Illegal ones?”
Marcus did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Sadie looked toward Gabriel's room.
“Maybe someone didn't want him out.”
“Maybe.”
Marcus left.
At midnight, Sadie couldn't sleep.
She sat by the window overlooking the sea, her mother's words repeating in her head.
Find the first wrong stitch.
The black thread had been one wrong stitch.
But was it the first?
The ambush.
The surgeon.
The contaminated material.
The false purchase order.
The timing.
Someone had built a chain.
Sadie opened her bedroom door.
The guard stood.
“Miss Brooks?”
“I want to see Gabriel.”
“He's resting.”
“I know.”
The guard hesitated.
Then Marcus appeared at the end of the hall, as if the mansion itself summoned him whenever someone broke a rule.
“What?”
Sadie looked at him.
“The shooting.”
“What about it?”
“Was Gabriel supposed to survive?”
Marcus's expression sharpened.
“Explain.”
“The bullet missed everything important.”
“Barely.”
“But what if that wasn't an accident?”
Marcus stepped closer.
“You think someone intentionally shot him somewhere survivable?”
“I think maybe the bullet wasn't the murder.”
The hallway became very quiet.
Sadie continued.
“The bullet got him into surgery. Surgery got the thread inside him.”
Marcus's face changed.
He pushed open Gabriel's library door.
Gabriel was awake.
“What happened?”
Marcus looked at Sadie.
“Tell him.”
She did.
Gabriel listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he stared at the ceiling.
“Who knew the route that night?”
Marcus answered.
“Inner circle. Drivers. Rourke. Me.”
“Restaurant booking?”
“Rourke's office handled it.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Sadie whispered, “The ambush wasn't meant to kill you.”
Gabriel turned toward her.
“It was meant to wound me.”
“So someone could control what happened afterward.”
Marcus swore under his breath.
Gabriel's voice became cold.
“Pull every record from Keller's first treatment.”
“We did.”
“No. Pull who chose Keller.”
Marcus left immediately.
Gabriel looked at Sadie.
“You should be asleep.”
“So should you.”
“I own the house.”
“That doesn't make fever optional.”
His eyes held hers.
“You're not afraid of me.”
Sadie considered lying.
Then decided he would know.
“I am.”
“Doesn't look like it.”
“I grew up owing hospitals money. Fear has competition.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“What did your mother die from?”
Sadie stiffened.
“Cancer.”
“Treatment?”
“Two years.”
“Insurance?”
“Not enough.”
Something about his expression softened.
“You're still paying it.”
“How do you know?”
“People don't take jobs in houses like this because they dream of polishing silver.”
Sadie looked away.
He had noticed more than she'd expected.
“My mother worked until she couldn't stand.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Sadie added, “She was smarter than most people who ever looked down on her.”
“I believe you.”
She glanced toward his shoulder.
“She would've seen the thread faster.”
“No.”
Sadie frowned.
Gabriel's voice was quiet.
“She taught you to see it. That's the same thing.”
For a moment, Sadie could not answer.
Then Marcus returned.
His face was dark.
“Rourke chose Keller.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Marcus continued.
“And there's more.”
“What?”
“Keller was never scheduled at Saint Matthew's that night.”
Sadie felt goosebumps rise on her arms.
“Then why was he there?”
Marcus looked at Gabriel.
“Rourke called him forty minutes before the shooting.”
That was enough.
Gabriel's entire expression changed.
Whatever doubt remained disappeared.
“Evan planned it.”
Marcus nodded.
“Looks that way.”
The next morning, Gabriel's fever broke.
Dr. Reed called it the first major improvement.
His blood markers stabilized.
The tissue damage slowed.
By afternoon, he could sit up with help.
But there was no celebration.
Because Evan Rourke remained missing.
At four, Sadie's apartment was searched by Vale security.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
They collected her mother's sewing box and a suitcase of clothing.
The sewing box arrived just before dinner.
Sadie opened it on the library table.
Inside were dozens of old spools, needles, thimbles, buttons, measuring tapes, and scraps of material.
Gabriel watched from his bed.
“You kept all that?”
“All of it.”
She lifted a small notebook.
“My mother wrote down every supplier she trusted.”
Marcus entered.
“Sadie.”
Something in his voice made her look up.
He held a phone.
“What?”
“Someone called the house line asking for you.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“No name.”
“What did they say?”
Marcus looked at Gabriel.
Then back at her.
“They said, ‘Tell the maid she should've kept cleaning.’”
Silence.
Sadie's hands started shaking.
Gabriel saw.
His voice became dangerously calm.
“Trace it.”
“We're trying.”
The phone rang again.
Everybody froze.
Marcus looked at the screen.
Same line.
He answered.
“Who is this?”
Nothing.
Then a distorted male voice spoke loudly enough for Sadie to hear.
“Give Brooks the phone.”
Marcus's jaw tightened.
Gabriel held out his hand.
Marcus passed him the receiver.
Gabriel said one word.
“Evan.”
The line went silent.
Then the voice lost its distortion.
“Hello, Gabe.”
Sadie's chest tightened.
Gabriel's eyes became colder than she had ever seen.
“You made a mistake.”
Rourke laughed softly.
“No. The maid made a mistake.”
Gabriel looked directly at Sadie.
“No, Evan.”
His voice remained almost gentle.
“She made the first correct decision anyone in this house has made in three weeks.”
Rourke breathed into the phone.
“This wasn't supposed to involve her.”
“It does now.”
“You always did collect strays.”
Gabriel's expression didn't change.
“Come home.”
Rourke laughed again.
“You think I'm stupid?”
“No.”
Gabriel paused.
“I think you're afraid.”
The line clicked dead.
Marcus immediately began issuing orders.
Sadie stared at Gabriel.
“You provoked him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because frightened men make mistakes.”
“And if his mistake involves me?”
Gabriel's gaze hardened.
“Then he doesn't get close enough to make it.”
Sadie wanted to believe him.
But that night, the mansion lost power.
For exactly forty-seven seconds.
And during those forty-seven seconds, someone entered Sadie's guarded bedroom.
When the lights returned, nobody was there.
Nothing appeared stolen.
Except her mother's notebook.