Chapter 2 - Ellie Had Seen Someone Before Arthur
Vincent cleared the foyer immediately.
No shouting.
No panicked running.
Dominic remained still until trained emergency personnel arrived and took control of the situation. Clare carried Ellie into a secure sitting room at the far end of the mansion while the executives were escorted away from the glass conference room.
Nobody attempted to examine the device further.
Nobody touched Dominic’s prosthetic except the specialists responsible for making the area safe.
An hour later, Dominic sat in another room wearing a temporary rehabilitation limb while his regular prosthetic remained secured as evidence.
The preliminary message was short and horrifying.
The concealed object was dangerous.
That was all Dominic needed to know.
He did not ask how it worked.
He asked who put it there.
Arthur sat across the room under Vincent’s watch.
“You touched my leg.”
Arthur did not deny it.
“Yes.”
Vincent’s jaw hardened.
“When?”
“Earlier.”
“How much earlier?”
“Perhaps twenty minutes before Dominic came into the foyer.”
Dominic stared.
“And you said nothing.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
“I saw the casing slightly open.”
“Then why did you touch it?”
“I thought something had caught inside.”
“You opened it?”
“Enough to see something unfamiliar.”
Vincent took one step toward him.
“And then?”
Arthur looked ashamed.
“I closed it.”
Dominic actually laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You saw a foreign object hidden inside my prosthetic and closed the casing?”
“I did not know what it was.”
“You didn’t think that mattered?”
“I thought it might be a tracker.”
That answer shifted the room.
Arthur explained that the meeting Dominic was about to attend was highly sensitive. Executive tensions had been building for weeks. Arthur believed someone might be monitoring Dominic’s movements or trying to learn what he planned to say inside the conference room.
“So your brilliant decision,” Vincent said coldly, “was not to tell security?”
Arthur’s eyes lowered.
“My decision was wrong.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I intended to speak to you privately before Dominic entered the meeting.”
“You had twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
Dominic stayed quiet.
Arthur’s failure was obvious.
But it did not explain the device.
Then Clare entered.
Ellie held her hand.
“I’m sorry,” Clare said, “but Ellie keeps saying we misunderstood her.”
Dominic looked toward the child.
Ellie seemed more irritated than frightened now.
Four-year-olds do not always understand why adults turn one sentence into a story they never intended.
Dominic crouched carefully on his temporary limb.
“You pointed at Arthur.”
Ellie nodded.
“Did you see Arthur touch my leg?”
“Yes.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Then Ellie added:
“But he was second.”
Everyone stopped.
Vincent leaned forward.
“Second?”
Ellie nodded firmly.
“The shiny-watch man did it first.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Which man?”
Ellie pointed toward the glass conference room.
Most executives had already been removed.
One leather portfolio remained on the table.
Beside it lay a forgotten silver pen.
Dominic knew immediately who had been sitting there.
Caleb Rowan.
His chief operating officer.
May you like
His oldest friend.
And the only person inside that meeting room who already knew exactly what Dominic planned to announce that afternoon.
