Chapter 2 - The Housekeeper Who Wasn’t
Adrian cleared the ballroom within twenty minutes.
Not because Vanessa asked.
Because Naomi did.
“Too many witnesses are posting clips,” she told him quietly. “If somebody inside this house disabled your system, the last thing you want is three hundred people wandering around while evidence disappears.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Evidence?”
Vanessa heard the word.
“Oh, please. She’s a maid.”
“Housekeeper.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
He had spent six months watching Naomi move through the estate without attracting attention.
Never seemed surprised by raised voices.
And tonight, she had caught a kick like she had been expecting it.
“Who are you?” he asked.
Naomi glanced toward the remaining staff.
“Not here.”
“Of course. Now she’s mysterious.”
Adrian’s aunt, Evelyn Cole, entered from the side hall.
Seventy-two. Silver hair. Sharp eyes.
“It’s time.”
“Time for what?”
“I hired Naomi.”
“You what?”
“Three months ago.”
“As a housekeeper?”
“As cover.”
Naomi hated reveals. They made people theatrical.
But there was no clean way around this one.
“For eight years,” she said, “I worked executive protection and internal threat assessment.”
“A bodyguard?”
“Sometimes.”
“For who?”
“People who paid me not to say.”
“Someone has been leaking private schedules from this estate. Guest movements. Board meetings. Security rotations.”
“What?”
“It started after the Lakebridge acquisition talks.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“And you decided to plant a spy in my home?”
“It’s Adrian’s home.”
Naomi explained that two confidential meetings had been exposed to competitors. A donor’s private arrival had been photographed from a restricted gate. Someone knew where security cameras did not reach.
“So you suspected staff?” Adrian asked.
“I suspected access,” Naomi replied.
Vanessa pointed at her.
“And she decided it was me?”
“No.”
Naomi’s answer came immediately.
“That happened later.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
Adrian asked:
“What happened later?”
Naomi looked toward the service corridor.
“Your fiancée started asking staff for access cards that weren’t hers.”
“I live here.”
“You also entered the west office at 2:14 a.m. last Thursday.”
“That office contains Foundation records.”
Vanessa’s smile thinned.
“I was looking for you.”
“I was in Chicago.”
Then Naomi reached into her apron pocket.
She placed a small black device on the table.
“What is that?”
“A cloned access tag.”
Vanessa went completely still.
Naomi continued:
“I found it taped under the desk in the west office.”
May you like
Then Evelyn said the one thing Vanessa clearly had not expected.
“And the tag is registered to you.”
