Chapter 2 - The Necklace Was Still Transmitting
Dominic Vale had built his fortune by noticing what other people missed.
A hesitation before a signature.
A number buried inside an audit.
A smile that arrived half a second too late.
But as he stood in the center of his Manhattan penthouse dining room, staring at the green reflection pulsing inside Victoria’s diamond necklace, he realized he had missed something inside his own home.
“Take it off,” he said.
Victoria’s hand closed around the necklace.
“What?”
“The necklace.”
Her face went pale.
Around them, the dinner guests had been moved toward the far end of the room while Dominic’s security team kept everyone away from the gold-framed chair.
Grace remained beside the wall.
Her hands were shaking.
Dominic saw it.
He also saw the security chief, Marcus Kane, calculating the distance between himself and the nearest door.
“Marcus,” Dominic said.
The man stopped moving.
Dominic had hired Marcus seven years earlier.
Former military intelligence.
Impeccable references.
The man had guarded Dominic through hostile acquisitions, overseas negotiations, and two credible kidnapping threats.
Now Grace claimed she had seen him crouched beneath Dominic’s chair.
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“You’re trusting a maid over me?”
Dominic’s expression did not change.
“I’m trusting evidence over everyone.”
Victoria laughed nervously.
“This is insane.”
Dominic held out his hand.
“The necklace.”
“No.”
That single word changed the room.
Victoria seemed to realize it immediately.
Dominic took one slow step toward her.
“You’ve worn that necklace to every dinner for three months.”
“It was a gift.”
“From whom?”
She hesitated.
Dominic noticed Grace looking at the floor.
“Grace?”
Grace lifted her eyes.
“I’ve seen it before, sir.”
Victoria spun around.
“Stop talking.”
Dominic’s voice cut through hers.
“Where?”
Grace swallowed.
“Mr. Kane had it.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“When?”
“Last Tuesday.”
Grace spoke carefully, as if every word might explode.
“I was cleaning the library. Mr. Kane came in with a black velvet box. He thought the room was empty.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
Two guards immediately blocked him.
Dominic looked at Victoria.
“You told me the necklace belonged to your grandmother.”
Victoria’s lips parted.
No answer came.
Dominic’s phone vibrated again.
A second anonymous message appeared.
SHE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEE MARCUS.
Dominic’s eyes moved toward Grace.
She looked terrified.
The message was not merely proof that someone was watching.
It was proof that someone knew exactly what Grace had seen.
Dominic showed the phone to no one.
“Lock down the penthouse,” he ordered.
Marcus gave a humorless laugh.
“You think your people are loyal?”
Dominic turned toward him.
“Are you?”
Marcus stared back.
Neither man blinked.
Then a sharp electronic chirp sounded from Victoria’s necklace.
Everyone froze.
Victoria looked down.
The green reflection stopped blinking.
A woman among the guests whispered, “What was that?”
Dominic’s technology specialist, Aaron Pike, entered from the service hallway carrying a detection unit.
He had been called upstairs by security the moment Grace exposed the device beneath the chair.
Aaron scanned the necklace from several feet away.
His expression changed.
“That isn’t jewelry.”
Victoria backed away.
Aaron looked at Dominic.
“There’s a transmitter inside the clasp.”
Grace covered her mouth.
Dominic felt something cold settle in his chest.
“What kind?”
“I need to examine it.”
“Can it record?”
“Yes.”
“Transmit?”
Aaron nodded.
“Almost certainly.”
Dominic looked around the dining room.
Business partners.
Family friends.
Executives.
People who had discussed deals worth billions at this table.
Victoria had been carrying a listening device through all of it.
“How long has it been active?”
Aaron checked the detector.
“Right now.”
Victoria ripped the necklace from her throat.
“Then turn it off!”
Aaron shouted.
“Don’t touch the clasp.”
Too late.
Victoria’s thumb pressed something hidden behind the center stone.
The lights in the penthouse went out.
Grace screamed.
A crash came from the dining table.
Dominic reached toward where Grace had been standing.
“Grace!”
No answer.
Emergency lighting flickered on three seconds later.
The chair remained untouched.
Victoria stood near the windows.
Marcus was gone.
And so was Grace.
Dominic stared at the open service door.
Someone had used three seconds of darkness to take the only person who had noticed the trap.
Then his phone vibrated for the third time.
This message contained a photograph.
Grace was inside the service elevator.
A gloved hand covered her mouth.
May you like
Below it were seven words.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT HER LIFE COSTS.
