I WAS FIRED FOR STOPPING THE MAFIA BOSS FROM SITTING—THEN HIS FIANCÉE'S SECRET DEVICE EXPOSED A DEADLY BETRAYAL

Celia Grant had spent three weeks organizing the engagement dinner. She knew which doors the caterers used, where the security cameras couldn't see, and which guests would arrive late enough to avoid the receiving line. I had thought of her as efficient, cold, and unimportant.

Now I understood that unimportant was exactly how someone in her position would want to appear.

Luca called the number on her event contract. It had been disconnected. The address listed for her company led to a mailbox rental on West Madison. Her references were real businesses, but none remembered hiring her. The woman had built an entire professional identity out of things nobody bothered to verify.

“Why would she wear Evelyn's ring?” I asked.

“Maybe it belonged to her,” Marco said. “Maybe she wanted you to notice.”

I remembered the event planner kneeling beside a floral arrangement while Vanessa argued with a caterer. Celia had watched everything with the concentration of someone memorizing a room.

“I need to see the dinner footage,” I said.

Luca opened the security archive on a laptop. We watched the dining room fill with guests. At 8:19, Vanessa entered carrying the replacement chair. At 8:27, she knelt beside it. At 8:31, Celia crossed behind her and touched the tablecloth with one hand.

“Stop,” I said.

Marco froze the image. Celia's hand was partly hidden by a centerpiece, but the blue stone flashed under the chandelier.

“She was checking the transmitter,” I said. “Vanessa placed it, but Celia made sure it was working.”

“Or switched it on,” Luca replied.

We watched another minute. Celia leaned toward Vanessa and whispered something. Vanessa's face tightened. Then Celia stepped away and disappeared through the service entrance.

At 8:47, I dragged the chair backward.

I couldn't bear to watch myself again. The image showed a terrified woman in a black uniform surrounded by people who thought her livelihood mattered less than their evening's entertainment. Luca had looked at me with uncertainty. Vanessa had looked at me with contempt. Celia, near the doorway, had looked disappointed.

“She's the one who needed him in that chair,” I said.

Luca closed the laptop. “Then we find her before she disappears for good.”

He contacted Maya Chen's office through an attorney who specialized in federal investigations. By evening, Maya agreed to a secure meeting at a downtown government building. She was younger than I expected, with tired eyes and a habit of asking one question at a time. I liked her immediately.

“I can't promise protection based on an unverified story,” she said. “I can promise to document what you tell me and evaluate the evidence independently.”

“That sounds more useful than a promise you can't keep,” I replied.

She almost smiled.

We gave her copies of my father's recording, the ledger photographs, Vanessa's statement, and the bank records. We kept the originals in secure storage with a documented chain of custody. Maya listened carefully when I described the chair and the transmitter.

“Did you personally see Celia touch the device?” she asked.

“No. I saw her near the chair on the footage. I saw the ring.”

“Then those are the facts. We can investigate the rest.”

I was embarrassed by how relieved I felt to have someone separate evidence from fear.

Maya explained that Evelyn Shaw had once been an investigator assisting a federal corruption inquiry. Her death had been ruled accidental, but several internal complaints had vanished from the case file. Maya could request the archived materials if she could establish a connection to a current investigation.

“Who was Evelyn's closest surviving relative?” I asked.

“Her daughter,” Maya said. “But we haven't been able to reach her.”

“What was her name?”

Maya checked her notes. “Celia Shaw.”

My breath caught. “She changed her last name.”

“Possibly.”

I showed Maya the event contract for Celia Grant. The attorney studied the photograph and nodded slowly. “That gives us a lead. Not a conclusion.”

On the drive back, I couldn't stop thinking about Evelyn's daughter. If Celia was who we suspected, she had lost her mother to the same conspiracy that stole my father. Why would she help Enzo Bellini?

Luca offered an answer I didn't want. “Maybe she believes my family killed Evelyn. Maybe she wants all of us to pay.”

“Did they?”

“I don't know.”

I looked at him. “You keep saying that.”

“Because it's the truth.”

We stopped at a small diner rather than return directly to the safe house. It was nearly midnight, and the place smelled of coffee and grilled onions. Luca ordered soup. I ordered pancakes because I had been hungry for them since childhood, and suddenly I didn't want to deny myself anything harmless.

“You can walk away from this,” Luca said while we waited.

“No, I can't.”

“You could go somewhere safe. Let the investigators handle it.”

“My father tried that. It cost him eleven years.”

He stared at his untouched water. “I don't want you hurt because of me.”

“Then stop talking like I'm a package you're responsible for delivering.”

His eyes lifted. “What do you want me to say?”

“That you're afraid. That you don't know how to fix this. That you might need help.”

For a long moment he said nothing. Then he answered, “I'm afraid.”

It was such a simple admission that it changed the air between us.

“Of Vincent?” I asked.

“Of finding out I buried a brother who was alive. Of finding out I loved someone who helped destroy other families. And of making another decision that gets you killed.”

The waitress arrived with our food. We waited until she left. Then I placed my hand on the table, palm up. Luca looked at it before resting his fingers against mine.

It wasn't a declaration. It was a small agreement not to pretend.

At 12:14 a.m., Maya called.

“Grace,” she said, “we found Celia's apartment. It's empty, but she left a package addressed to you.”

“What was inside?”

“A flash drive and a note.”

Maya paused. “The note says, 'Ask Luca who ordered Evelyn's arrest.'”