Chapter 5 - The Ultimatum
The silence that followed Vincent’s threat was absolute. You could have heard a pin drop on the marble floors three floors above us.
Then David Sterling let out a tight, nervous chuckle. “It’s not a threat, Vincent. It’s an inevitability. You have twenty-four hours to sign the transfer papers. Think about your legacy... and think about the people who work for you. Accidents happen to vulnerable people every day.”
Heavy footsteps marched across the grand foyer overhead—orderly, disciplined, arrogant. The front doors of the estate slammed shut with a concussive boom that rattled the canned goods on the pantry shelves around us.
They were gone. For now.
The heavy steel door of the pantry clicked and swung open. Renzo Moretti stood in the doorway, his pistol re-holstered, his face carved from hard granite. He looked down at me and Mia sitting on a sack of flour.
“They’re gone,” Renzo said tersely. “Boss wants to see you in the study immediately.”
My stomach plummeted. I set Mia down, brushing flour off my skirt, my hands shaking uncontrollably. “Renzo, I swear I didn't mean to overhear—intercom, the vent shaft, it carried the sound—”
“Clara,” Renzo cut me off, his expression softening just a fraction. “He knows you heard them. He knew where you were hiding the second the perimeter alarms went off.”
I swallowed hard, taking Mia’s small, warm hand in mine. “Is he going to fire me now?”
“Fire you?” Renzo let out a dry, humorless scoff. “Clara, after what David Sterling just walked in here and threatened, the boss doesn't consider you an employee anymore.”
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“Then what am I?” I whispered.
Renzo looked down the stone corridor toward the grand staircase. “You’re in the crosshairs. Come on.”
