Chapter 4 - The Traitor Unmasked
Mina slowly stepped out of the hidden alcove, her hands dropping naturally to her sides. She refused to cower, though every survival instinct in her body was screaming that she had just crossed a fatal line.
"I was dusting the upper shelves," Mina said, her voice remaining remarkably steady despite the violent thumping of her pulse. "My sleeve caught the globe. It triggered the latch. I didn't go looking for your secret room, Mr. Moretti."
Leo stared at her, his broad chest rising and falling beneath his tailored vest. He didn't pull a weapon, but the cold, calculating aura radiating from him was far more terrifying. He walked past her into the alcove, glancing down at the classified DOJ file resting on his desk.
A dark, dangerous scowl crossed his face.
"You read it?" he asked, not looking back.
"I saw the stamp," Mina replied honestly. "I know federal classification when I see it. My father was a municipal engineer who worked on government contracts. That file wasn't generated by your syndicate, and it wasn't left here by accident. Someone planted it in your private study to frame you for a federal indictment."
Leo turned around sharply. His slate-gray eyes bored into her with an intensity that could melt steel.
"You have a sharp eye for someone who claims to only wash dishes and manage vendors," he noted, his tone laced with heavy suspicion.
"I have eyes, Mr. Moretti. Living on the edge of poverty teaches you to spot traps before you step in them," Mina retorted, crossing her arms defensively. "If you think I’m an informant, go ahead and fire me. Or worse. But if you actually use your brain instead of your paranoia for two seconds, you’ll realize that the only people who have access to this library during the day are your security detail."
Leo went completely still.
The words hung in the air like a localized thunderstorm.
He didn't yell. He didn't threaten her. Instead, a slow, grim realization washed over his features. The leak wasn't external. Thomas’s second-in-command, a man named Marcus who had been acting strangely evasive all week, was the only one who had been granted unsupervised access to the east wing while Leo was downtown.
"You're standing in my private office telling me how to run my security," Leo said quietly, a faint, humorless twitch playing at the corner of his mouth.
"I’m telling you that you have a rat in your house," Mina corrected bluntly. "And if you don't deal with him, he's going to sink your entire operation while you're busy worrying about whether I locked your front door three minutes past midnight."
Leo stared at her for a long, agonizing moment. Then, he let out a short, dark chuckle that lacked any real mirth.
"Get out of my office, Miss Hayes," he commanded, though the sharp edge of lethal threat had vanished from his voice.
Mina didn't need to be told twice. She turned on her heel and walked out of the library, leaving the most feared man in Chicago standing alone in his secret room.
That evening, the estate was quieter than usual.
Mina stayed in her quarters, keeping her ear pressed to the silence of the hallways. Around 9:00 PM, she heard muffled voices downstairs in the foyer—sharp commands, the distinct metallic click of a firearm slide being pulled back, and the sound of someone being dragged across the marble floor.
Within twenty minutes, the front doors opened and closed.
May you like
Silence returned to the mansion.
Mina didn't ask questions. She knew her place. But when midnight rolled around, she walked down to the foyer, engaged the deadbolt with a steady hand, and locked the world outside.
