Chapter 1 - The Red Light Under the Seat
(Word count: ~800 words)
At 8:47 p.m., thirty guests sat beneath the enormous crystal chandeliers of the Moretti mansion in downtown Chicago, surrounded by white roses, flickering candlelight, and enough diamonds to pay off a mortgage ten times over.
Luca Moretti, the thirty-four-year-old head of the Moretti family empire, stood at the head of the long mahogany dining table in his tailored black suit. He was preparing to take his seat at his own engagement dinner.
Beside him stood Vanessa Bellini, his fiancée, looking breathtaking in a floor-length red silk gown.
Just as Luca reached for his chair, I stepped in. I grabbed the back of the heavy velvet chair and dragged it violently backward across the polished marble floor.
SCREECH.
The room instantly went dead silent.
“Are you out of your mind?”
Vanessa’s voice cut across the quiet dining room like a whip. She looked at me with pure disdain, her manicured fingers trembling around her crystal champagne glass.
I stood there with both hands gripping the chair, my heart pounding so hard against my ribs I could barely breathe. I was twenty-nine years old, wearing my grey housekeeper’s uniform, and I knew the cardinal rule of working for Luca Moretti.
Never interrupt Mr. Moretti when he has guests.
“Put that chair back, Grace,” Vanessa snapped, stepping closer. “I am so sorry, darling,” she turned to Luca with a practiced, sweet smile. “Apparently, our stupid little housekeeper has forgotten how furniture works.”
A few guests near the middle of the table chuckled nervously. My face burned with hot humiliation.
“Mrs. Bellini, please—” I started.
“Don't you dare,” Vanessa hissed, pointing a diamond-ringed finger toward the service entrance. “You can collect your things after dinner. You’re fired.”
My stomach dropped into a cold abyss. I needed this job. My mother had spent twenty-two years running a small alterations shop in South Chicago before the building was sold and her lease doubled. I had promised her she wouldn't lose the house she and my father had worked their entire lives to keep.
Losing my paycheck meant losing our home.
But pretending I hadn't seen what Vanessa had done twenty minutes ago was impossible.
Luca didn't shout. He turned his deep gray eyes away from his fiancée and looked directly at me.
“Why did you move my chair, Grace?”
I swallowed down the dry lump in my throat. “Because that's not your chair, sir.”
Vanessa gave an incredulous, dramatic laugh. “For heaven's sake! I had the chairs rearranged for our engagement photographs!”
I shook my head firmly. “That's not what I mean.”
Vanessa’s smile instantly vanished. Her eyes flashed with something dark and dangerous. “Grace. Leave. Now.”
Luca lifted one hand. The simple gesture carried so much authority that Vanessa stopped talking immediately.
“Let her finish,” Luca said.
I took a deep breath. Twenty minutes earlier, I had been adjusting the silverware when Vanessa entered through the side door carrying a heavy upholstered chair from the sitting room. She had ordered me to replace Luca’s usual leather seat with it. When I returned from the kitchen with fresh candles, I caught her crouching beside the chair, her hand disappearing beneath the velvet frame.
“Turn the chair around, Grace,” Luca ordered softly.
My hands trembled as I tilted the heavy chair forward. There, hidden deep beneath the velvet cushion where no one would ever look, was a sleek black electronic box. A tiny green light was blinking twice every three seconds.
Vanessa folded her arms, her chin held high. “Oh, please. It's extra security equipment. I had it installed for tonight’s event.”
Luca looked at his chief security officer standing near the double doors. “Who cleared this room?”
“We did, sir,” the guard answered instantly. “At six o'clock. That device was not there.”
Vanessa’s fingers tightened so hard around her glass the crystal groaned. “Luca, you're seriously going to interrogate me because a maid found a microphone?”
Luca didn't answer her. He reached beneath the frame, detached the device, and turned it over in his palm. His jaw tightened until a muscle twitched near his temple.
“Grace,” Luca asked, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying register. “When did the light start blinking?”
“Just before dinner, sir,” I remembered clearly. “When Miss Bellini came back into the room.”
Luca looked down at the tiny digital frequency display on the box. He slowly rose to his full, imposing height.
“Vanessa,” he said softly. “Why is this device transmitting to an outside frequency?”
Vanessa’s face drained of all color. “Luca, I can explain—”
“Who knew I was holding a private family meeting in this room after dinner?” Luca demanded.
Vanessa opened her mouth, but before she could formulate a lie, the tiny green light on the transmitter suddenly flickered and turned a solid, blood red.
May you like
A cold, unfamiliar male voice cut through the tiny speaker embedded in the box.
“Vanessa, don't say another word. He knows.”
