Chapter 104: Unexpected
Nico
"What do you mean she is not back yet," I asked, my voice level, controlled, as my gaze settled on the estate manager.
The woman—grey-haired, rigid, always composed—bowed her head slightly, fingers clasped in front of her like she was bracing for impact.
"We are yet to see her, sir."
No raised voice. No visible anger. Just a slight narrowing of my eyes as the meaning of her words settled deep.
Carmen wasn’t here.
Which meant something had gone wrong. Badly wrong.
Behind me, I could already hear the faint, rapid tapping of Martin’s fingers against the phone he had somehow acquired. The ridiculous pink case with glitter caught the light, completely out of place in his grip, but he handled it like it was a weapon.
"Call the police headquarters," I said, already turning toward the entrance.
"I’m already on it," Martin replied without missing a beat.
Good.
At least one thing was moving fast.
I stepped inside the mansion, the heavy doors shutting behind me with a dull finality that echoed louder than it should have. My steps were measured, unhurried, but my mind was anything but calm.
Carmen had been released first. She knew the routine...to head back to the estate. She knew better than to disappear without a word.
Unless she didn’t have a choice.
I exhaled slowly, pressing two fingers briefly against my temple as a dull, persistent thrum began to build behind my eyes.
A headache. Perfect timing.
I had lived on less sleep than this before—far less—but something about today had stretched thinner than usual. Too many moving parts. Too many loose ends.
Too many betrayals waiting to be confirmed.
"Yes," Martin’s voice cut through my thoughts as he spoke into the phone. "I’m calling regarding a detainee—Carmen Castillo. Yes... released earlier today."
His voice dropped slightly as he listened, pacing a step behind me as we moved deeper into the house.
I didn’t slow down. Didn’t turn. But I listened. A pause. A nod I didn’t need to see to know he made.
"Understood," he said, then ended the call.
I stopped just short of the hallway that led to my private quarters, turning slightly as he approached.
"She was released before us," Martin confirmed. "No irregularities on their end."
Of course not.
"They wouldn’t admit it if there were," I said flatly.
Martin nodded. "I’ll send someone there for a closer look. There should be cameras we can use to trace her steps."
"Yes," I replied. "Do that."
There was no point wasting time on speculation. Facts would come soon enough.
I turned away from him, heading in the opposite direction of my bedroom.
Toward my study.
My fingers brushed against my temple again as the pressure in my head intensified slightly, a steady pulse that made it difficult to ignore.
A cigarette would help. The thought came uninvited. I almost laughed at it.
I quit a long time ago. Not because I wanted to, but because I had decided I didn’t need it.
I still didn’t.
Pushing the thought aside, I reached my study door and stepped inside, closing it behind me with a quiet click.
Silence.
Immediate and absolute. The kind I preferred.
For a moment, I just stood there, letting my eyes adjust, letting my senses settle.
Then I moved. Straight to the bookshelf lining the far wall.
My hand slid along the spine of a book, pressing inward at a precise angle until I felt the soft shift of the hidden mechanism. A section of the wood paneling gave way with a muted sound, revealing the concealed compartment behind it.
Inside, neatly arranged, were handguns.
I reached in and pulled out two without hesitation, checking their weight out of habit before strapping them into place beneath my jacket.
Familiar. Comforting. Necessary.
I stepped back, turning toward my desk, already thinking ahead— Carmen. Gotti.
The officers. All of it.
But then—I stopped. It was subtle. So subtle most people wouldn’t have noticed but this was my study.
The documents on my desk.They were... off. Not messy. Not obviously disturbed. But wrong. A fraction out of alignment. A shift in angle that didn’t belong. My gaze hardened.
Someone had been here, worse they had been arrogant enough not to cover their tracks. A professional wouldn’t make such a mistake.
A slow, controlled breath left me as irritation flared, sharp and immediate.
First Carmen disappears. Now this.
Whoever thought today was the day to test me had very poor timing.
I moved to my desk, pulling open the locked drawer beneath it. My fingers moved quickly over the keypad, entering the code without hesitation.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a set of phones.
Identical. Clean. Untraceable.
I picked one up and powered it on, waiting only a second before dialing.
The line connected almost instantly.
"Sir?" the head of security answered.
"Turn off the cameras," I said. A pause. Brief.
"Understood." The line went dead.
I waited. Counted silently.
One... two... three...
When I was certain, I ended the call and moved back toward the bookshelf.
My hand found the second mechanism—hidden deeper, requiring more precision—and I pulled.
This time, the shift was more pronounced.
A section of the shelving unit slid aside, revealing a narrow entrance.
Without hesitation, I stepped inside and pulled it closed behind me.
Darkness swallowed me for half a second before the motion sensors triggered the lights.
The hidden room came alive.
Screens lined the walls, each connected to different camera feeds across the estate.
Every corridor.
Every entrance.
Every blind spot that wasn’t supposed to exist.
I walked forward, setting the phone down on the central console as my eyes scanned the monitors.
Efficient.
Focused.
If someone had entered my study, they had been caught on camera.
My fingers moved across the controls, pulling up the feed for my office.
Rewinding. Then slowing. There.
The door opened. I leaned slightly closer to the screen. A woman stepped in.
Vera. Not unexpected.Carmen’s maid.
My brows drew together faintly.
"What are you doing in here?" I muttered under my breath, watching as she moved hesitantly into the room, glancing around like she didn’t belong.
Because she didn’t.
She left and I let the footage play.And then—The door opened again. Another figure entered.
This time, I didn’t need to look twice.
Vanessa. I went completely still.
For a moment, the quiet hum of the monitors was the only sound in the room.
Then I leaned back slightly, my expression unreadable even to myself as the realization settled in.
"Well..." I murmured, my voice low, almost amused despite the tension coiling beneath it.
"Now that’s unexpected."
