Part 3
Aleandro didn’t plug the flash drive into the computer in his study.
He had survived too many betrayals to make a mistake that simple.
Instead, he handed it back to Victor.
« Have our cybersecurity team examine it. Offline. I want to know exactly what’s on it before anyone opens a single file. »
Victor nodded.
« It’ll be done within the hour. »
After he left, silence settled over the room once again.
Sophia remained standing near the fireplace, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. She looked exhausted, as though the effort of keeping her secrets hidden had finally become too much.
Aleandro studied her for a long moment.
« You still haven’t told me everything. »
« I’ve told you what matters. »
« No, » he replied quietly. « You’ve told me enough to make me ask more questions. »
She closed her eyes.
« They contacted me four months ago. »
His expression didn’t change, but something hardened behind his eyes.
« Four months. »
She nodded.
« They knew where my parents lived. They knew where my younger brother went to school. Every conversation I had. Every place I visited. »
« And you believed them. »
« I didn’t have to believe them. »
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
« They sent me photographs. »
Aleandro felt a cold weight settle in his chest.
« What kind of photographs? »
« My mother leaving church. »
« My brother at soccer practice. »
« My father walking into his office. »
« They wanted me to understand they could reach anyone. »
She wiped at her eyes.
« I was terrified. »
« So you chose to face them alone. »
« I chose to keep you out of it. »
Aleandro let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
« You were engaged to me. »
« I know. »
« You were already part of my world. »
« I was trying to stop that world from swallowing my family. »
Neither of them spoke for several seconds.
Finally, Aleandro asked the question he had been avoiding.
« What did they want? »
Sophia hesitated.
« Information. »
« What kind? »
« Business schedules. »
« Meeting locations. »
« The names of people you trusted. »
His jaw tightened.
« And did you give them anything? »
She shook her head immediately.
« No. »
« Nothing? »
« I delayed them. »
« I lied. »
« I pretended I needed more time. »
« And tonight? »
« They told me I had run out of excuses. »
Aleandro slowly walked to his desk.
For the first time that evening, he allowed himself to acknowledge a possibility he had been refusing to consider.
This hadn’t been a simple affair.
It hadn’t even been ordinary blackmail.
Someone had spent months building a trap around him.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
Mrs. Greene stepped into the room.
« I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. »
« What is it? »
« It’s Emma. »
Aleandro frowned.
« What about her? »
« She refuses to go to bed. »
« She says she needs to speak with you. »
Sophia looked surprised.
« The little girl? »
Mrs. Greene nodded.
« She insists it’s important. »
Aleandro followed the housekeeper downstairs.
Emma sat alone in the library, hugging the same sketchbook she had carried throughout the evening.
She looked up as he entered.
« I remembered something. »
Aleandro knelt in front of her.
« What did you remember? »
She opened the sketchbook.
Most pages contained childish drawings—flowers, birds, smiling faces.
Then she turned to the last page.
Instead of crayons, this page held careful pencil sketches.
She had drawn the seating arrangement from the engagement dinner.
Every guest.
Every chair.
Every place setting.
Aleandro stared at the remarkable accuracy.
« Did you draw this tonight? »
Emma nodded.
« I like remembering where everyone sits. »
Her small finger rested on the gray-haired stranger.
« He wasn’t sitting there when dinner started. »
Aleandro looked closer.
« What do you mean? »
« He changed places. »
« When? »
« After the soup. »
« He asked the man with the mustache if they could switch. »
Aleandro frowned.
The official seating chart had been finalized weeks earlier.
No one had mentioned a change.
Emma pointed again.
« And before he sat down… »
« …he put something under the table. »
Aleandro’s heartbeat slowed.
« What did he put there? »
« I don’t know. »
« It was black. »
« About this big. »
She held her fingers a few inches apart.
Mrs. Greene looked confused.
« Why didn’t you tell anyone? »
Emma lowered her eyes.
« I thought maybe I imagined it. »
Then she looked back at Aleandro.
« But when Miss Sophia held his hand… »
« …I knew something wasn’t right. »
Aleandro gently closed the sketchbook.
« You were very brave. »
Emma managed a small smile.
As Mrs. Greene led her upstairs, Victor returned.
He carried a tablet instead of the flash drive.
« Our technicians finished. »
« So quickly? »
« They only needed six minutes. »
Victor placed the tablet on the desk.
« The flash drive contains one video. »
« No documents. »
« No malware. »
« No encrypted files. »
« Just one recording. »
Aleandro pressed play.
The screen remained black for several seconds.
Then a distorted voice filled the room.
« If you’re watching this… »
« …it means the engagement wasn’t enough. »
The voice paused.
« We warned Sophia that failure has consequences. »
Aleandro glanced toward the staircase where Sophia had disappeared only minutes earlier.
The recording continued.
« So tomorrow morning… »
« …we’ll begin with the child. »
Aleandro froze.
« What child? »
The screen suddenly flickered.
A photograph appeared.
Emma.
Standing alone outside her elementary school.
The image couldn’t have been more than two days old.
Victor’s face turned pale.
« They’ve been watching her. »
Aleandro slowly stood.
His voice was calm.
Far too calm.
« Lock down the estate. »
« No one leaves. »
« No one enters. »
« And find out who decided an innocent little girl was an acceptable target. »
For the first time in many years…
…everyone in the room understood that whoever had started this game had just made the worst mistake of their lives.
