TOUCH THEM, AND YOU'RE DEAD

The service entrance came into view thirty seconds later. A dark van blocked the curb. Rosa stood against the brick wall, holding Lily behind her while a broad-shouldered man gripped her wrist.

I stopped my car across the van's front bumper. My two men arrived behind me.

"Take your hand off her," I said.

The stranger turned, startled. "Mr. Moretti, I was told—"

"Let. Her. Go."

He released Rosa. One of my guards stepped between him and the van while the other secured the exit. No shots were fired. There was no need. The man could see he was outnumbered.

I went straight to Rosa. Her wrist was reddened, but she was upright. Lily clung to the back of her skirt, shaking so hard her little shoes tapped the pavement.

"Are either of you hurt?"

"I'm all right," Rosa said, too quickly. "He tried to pull me toward the car. I wouldn't leave without knowing where we were going."

I crouched in front of Lily. "Look at me, sweetheart. You're safe now."

She threw herself against my chest. I gathered her into my arms and felt her trembling through the oversized black jacket.

"I was supposed to protect Mommy," she sobbed.

"You stayed with her. You listened to her. You did exactly what you needed to do."

"But I got scared."

"Being scared doesn't mean you weren't brave."

She held on tighter. Over her head, Rosa's eyes met mine. There was fear in them, and anger, and an exhaustion I could do nothing to erase with an order.

My men detained the driver until police arrived. I gave the responding officers the recordings from our gate cameras and Rosa gave her account. Daniel's attorney would handle the records linking the driver to his employer. I wanted Dominic answerable for what he had done, not merely afraid of what I might do.

Inside the house, Rosa sat on the sofa beside Lily while a nurse checked her wrist. I stood by the window, watching the last of the police cars leave.

"You should move into the main house for a while," I said. "There's a guest suite across the courtyard. It has its own entrance."

"For how long?" Rosa asked.

"Until the immediate threat is over."

"And if I decide I want to leave?"

"You can leave. I'll help you find safe transportation if you want it."

She considered me for a long moment. "I need you to understand something, Vincent. I'm grateful you came. But protecting Lily doesn't mean you get to make every decision for us."

Hearing my first name from her lips did something unsettling to my concentration.

"You're right," I said. "Tell me what you need."

She asked for a lock only she could control, the ability to call her sister without anyone listening, and a guarantee that Lily wouldn't be questioned again without Rosa present. I agreed. She also insisted that any security plan be explained to her rather than dictated.

"I can do that."

"Then we'll stay tonight," she said. "Tomorrow we talk again."

Lily, already half-asleep under a blanket, opened one eye. "Do bodyguards get their own rooms?"

"The best ones do," I told her.

That earned the smallest smile.

Later, Daniel met me in the library. The van's registered owner was a former private security contractor named Martin Keene. Payments to his business led to the same consulting network we were examining. Keene had admitted, in front of counsel, that a man from Dominic's office arranged the pickup and told him to use my name. We still needed to corroborate the conversation, but the payment trail was real.

"We have enough to suspend Dominic's access immediately," Daniel said. "We should assume he knows you're investigating."

I instructed the independent team to revoke his electronic credentials, notify our insurer, and preserve every server and paper record connected to his department. Dominic was away from the estate. We didn't try to lure him back or threaten him. We let the evidence decide the next step.

Before Daniel left, he gave me another piece of news. A download had occurred from our scheduling server the previous night. The file contained next week's freight routes.

"Could Dominic have taken it?" I asked.

"His administrator account accessed the directory. But that alone isn't enough to say who sat at the keyboard."

I looked toward the courtyard where a small bedroom light glowed.

"Then find out," I said. "And this time, no one gets close to Rosa or Lily."