The Di Sante mansion never slept.
Even at three in the morning, the security room hummed with quiet electricity.
Rows of monitors covered the wall, each showing a different part of the estate—gates, gardens, hallways, garages, entrances.
Or at least they were supposed to.
Aiden Kane stood in the center of the room, studying the screens.
Something was wrong.
He felt it the moment he walked in.
Rafael leaned against the doorframe behind him, arms crossed.
"You see something interesting?"
Aiden didn't answer immediately.
His eyes moved slowly across the monitors.
Front gate.
Driveway.
South garden.
Garage.
Then he noticed it.
A blank space.
One of the monitors showed nothing but static.
Another displayed frozen footage.
Aiden stepped closer.
"Who runs the security system?" he asked.
Rafael shrugged slightly.
"The house team."
"That's not an answer."
Rafael sighed.
"Head of security is Tomas."
Aiden nodded slowly.
"And who has administrative access?"
Rafael frowned slightly.
"Why?"
Aiden pointed to the screen.
"Because your system was partially shut down last night."
The room went quiet.
Rafael pushed himself off the wall.
"What do you mean?"
Aiden tapped the keyboard.
Several recordings appeared on the main screen.
Footage from the previous night.
Timeline.
22:43
22:44
22:45
Then suddenly—
Black.
Three cameras went dark at the same time.
For exactly two minutes.
Rafael stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
"No," Aiden said calmly.
"It's deliberate."
He rewound the footage.
Again.
Black.
Two minutes.
Then the cameras returned.
As if nothing had happened.
Rafael's voice hardened.
"You're telling me someone disabled the cameras."
"Yes."
"From where?"
Aiden turned slightly toward him.
"Inside the system."
Rafael's expression darkened.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning whoever did it had full access."
Silence stretched between them.
Rafael stepped closer to the console.
"How many people have that kind of access?"
Aiden leaned back slightly.
"That's what I'd like to know."
Rafael rubbed his temple.
"Very few."
"Define few."
Rafael hesitated.
Then answered.
"Four people in the family."
Aiden waited.
"Allegra."
"Of course."
"Matteo."
Aiden nodded slowly.
"And?"
"Me."
Aiden watched him carefully.
"And the security staff."
Rafael sighed.
"Two senior guards."
Aiden leaned against the desk.
"So five or six people."
Rafael looked uneasy.
"Yes."
Aiden glanced back at the dark monitors.
"That's a small list."
Rafael didn't answer.
Because they both understood what that meant.
The killer wasn't a stranger.
He hadn't broken in.
He had walked through the front door.
A voice spoke from the doorway.
"Are you accusing my family now?"
Both men turned.
Allegra stood there.
She wore a black silk robe over a dark dress, her hair loosely tied back.
But the exhaustion in her eyes was the only sign she had lost her father a few hours earlier.
She stepped into the room slowly.
"What did you find?"
Aiden gestured toward the screens.
"Your cameras were disabled."
Her eyes narrowed.
"For how long?"
"Two minutes."
"That's all someone needed," Rafael muttered.
Allegra walked toward the monitors.
Her gaze sharpened as she watched the black gap in the footage.
"Who has access?"
Rafael answered quietly.
"You."
"Obviously."
"Matteo."
Her jaw tightened slightly.
"And you."
"Yes."
Aiden added calmly:
"And two members of the security team."
Allegra crossed her arms.
"So the man who killed my father…"
Aiden finished the sentence.
"…didn't break in."
He looked at her directly.
"He was invited."
The words settled heavily in the room.
Allegra felt anger burn slowly in her chest.
Someone inside her own house had helped the killer.
Someone she had grown up around.
Someone who had eaten at their table.
Aiden watched her reaction carefully.
Most people broke under that kind of realization.
Allegra didn't.
Instead she straightened.
"Rafael."
"Yes."
"I want those guards brought in."
"Now?"
"Now."
Rafael nodded and left the room.
Silence returned.
Only the quiet hum of the security monitors filled the air.
Aiden studied Allegra.
"You're calmer than most people would be."
She didn't look at him.
"I grew up in this world."
"That doesn't make it easier."
"No."
She finally turned toward him.
"It makes it expected."
Their eyes held for a moment.
Then Aiden spoke again.
"One more thing."
"What?"
He pointed to the timeline on the screen.
"The cameras shut down two minutes before the shot."
Allegra frowned.
"So?"
"So whoever disabled them…"
He paused.
"…knew exactly when your father was going to die."
The realization hit her instantly.
That meant the killer hadn't acted alone.
Someone inside the house had coordinated it.
Very carefully.
Allegra looked back at the dark screens.
Her voice dropped slightly.
"So the traitor wasn't just helping."
Aiden nodded.
"No."
"He was planning."
And somewhere in the mansion, one of the people she had trusted all her life—
Was now waiting to see if she would figure it out.