Chapter 3 - Someone Had Been Watching Mia
Alessandro stared at the photograph for several seconds.
There was no timestamp visible.
No number.
No message.
Only the image.
The laundry room.
The baby bag.
The narrow hallway beyond it.
Someone had taken the picture from inside his home.
That changed everything.
Alessandro had spent years building a world where strangers couldn't get close enough to surprise him.
Yet someone had entered his private residence and photographed his employee's baby.
He looked at Elena.
“Did you receive anything?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Did anyone threaten you?”
“No.”
“Then why are you so afraid?”
Elena's fingers tightened around Mia's blanket.
“Because the man who asked about her came back after midnight.”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
“What happened?”
“I heard the laundry door open.”
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know it was him?”
“Because Mia started crying.”
Elena looked down.
“I came out of the staff room and saw a shadow.”
She swallowed.
“He wasn't looking for clothes.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“He was looking at her.”
The words settled heavily between them.
Alessandro walked toward the laundry room.
Mia remained in his arms.
He pushed open the door.
The little sleeping corner Elena had built was still there: foam mat, two pillows, three toys, a folded blanket.
It looked painfully ordinary.
That was what bothered him.
Someone had known.
Someone had watched.
And whoever it was had been close enough to enter his home without being stopped.
Alessandro crouched beside the mat.
His fingers brushed the floor.
There was a faint scratch near the baseboard.
He looked closer.
A small piece of plastic had been wedged beneath it.
He pulled it free.
A broken clip.
Elena stared.
“I've never seen that.”
Alessandro recognized it.
Not the object itself.
The color.
Dark blue.
The same color as the temporary identification clips used by one of his private maintenance contractors.
He called his security chief.
“Freeze every contractor badge issued in the last six months.”
The chief hesitated.
“Every badge?”
“Every one.”
A pause.
Then the answer came.
“One badge has been reported missing.”
Alessandro looked at Elena.
“Whose?”
The security chief gave him the name.
Alessandro's face changed.
Because the missing badge belonged to a man who had worked for him for seven years.
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And the man had disappeared three days ago.
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