Nobody moved.

Not the thirty guests.

Not the security guards.

Not me.

The red light blinked once.

Then went dark.

Vanessa reached for the transmitter.

Luca covered it with his hand first.

“Don’t.”

One word.

Quiet.

Vanessa froze.

“Luca, listen to me.”

“I am.”

Her face changed.

Because that was worse than shouting.

He turned toward the taller security officer.

“Marco.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do not trace the device through our internal system.”

The guard hesitated.

“Sir?”

“Use the outside forensic contractor.”

That surprised me.

Apparently it surprised Vanessa too.

Her eyes flicked toward the door.

Luca noticed.

“So someone inside my security operation may know about this.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No.”

He looked at her.

“You looked at the door.”

Vanessa’s shoulders tightened.

One of the dinner guests pushed back his chair.

Luca turned.

“Everyone leaves.”

A murmur moved through the room.

Vanessa said:

“You can’t keep thirty people here and then throw them out like criminals.”

“I’m not.”

He looked toward Marco.

“Record names and contact information because they were present when the device activated.”

“No searches.”

“No phones taken.”

“No one is detained.”

That sentence mattered to me.

Maybe because Luca Moretti’s reputation suggested other options.

Guests departed in uncomfortable clusters.

Nobody looked at me anymore.

That was a relief.

I tried to follow the staff toward the kitchen.

“Grace.”

I stopped.

Luca was watching me.

“Stay.”

My stomach tightened.

“Am I in trouble?”

His expression shifted.

“No.”

Then he looked toward Vanessa.

“You may be the only reason I know there is trouble.”

I didn’t know whether that was supposed to comfort me.

It didn’t.

Within fifteen minutes, the dining room contained only Luca, Vanessa, two security officers, me, and a silver-haired woman who had been one of the guests.

She introduced herself as Miriam Shaw.

Outside counsel.

Apparently wealthy men also invited attorneys to engagement dinners.

Useful.

Miriam put on disposable gloves before touching the transmitter.

“Anyone else handle this after Grace found it?”

“Me,” Luca said.

“Vanessa?”

“No.”

I swallowed.

“I moved the chair.”

“Did you touch the device?”

“No.”

“Good.”

Miriam photographed it where it sat.

Then sealed it in a clear evidence pouch.

Vanessa laughed bitterly.

“You’re treating me like a criminal.”

Miriam looked at her.

“I’m treating an unauthorized recording device like evidence.”

Different.

Vanessa turned toward Luca.

“I was trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

She said nothing.

Miriam asked:

“Did you install it?”

Silence.

“Vanessa?”

“Yes.”

There.

My heartbeat changed.

Not because I was surprised.

Because hearing truth after watching someone lie has a physical effect.

“Why?” Luca asked.

Vanessa looked at me.

“I’m not discussing this in front of staff.”

I almost laughed.

Staff had apparently become dangerous once staff knew things.

I stepped back.

“I can leave.”

Luca looked at Miriam.

She shook her head.

“Grace is a witness.”

Then to me:

“You may leave if you want.”

Choice.

Good.

I stayed.

Maybe stupid.

Maybe curious.

Probably both.

Miriam continued.

“Who gave you the transmitter?”

Vanessa’s jaw clenched.

“I bought it.”

“Where?”

“Online.”

“Model number?”

“I don’t know.”

“Receiver?”

No answer.

Luca leaned forward.

“The voice knew I discovered it.”

Vanessa looked away.

“That means whoever was listening had live audio.”

No answer.

“Who?”

Still nothing.

Then Marco’s phone rang.

He answered away from the table.

Spoke quietly.

Returned.

“Outside contractor found the transmission frequency.”

Luca waited.

“Short-range encrypted digital signal.”

“How short?”

“Depending on interference, approximately half a mile.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

Luca noticed.

“So the receiver is nearby.”

Marco nodded.

“Likely.”

“Can they locate it?”

“They are triangulating from exterior sensors.”

Luca looked toward the windows.

Chicago lights beyond the glass.

Then at Vanessa.

“Who is sitting outside my house listening to dinner?”

She whispered:

“You don’t understand.”

“Then help me.”

She looked at him.

For one second, I saw something besides calculation.

Fear.

Real fear.

“Luca, you need to stop tonight’s meeting.”

That changed his face.

Not because she admitted the bug.

Because she knew the meeting mattered.

“What do you know about it?”

“Enough.”

“What is enough?”

Her voice lowered.

“The restructuring.”

Miriam went still.

I had no idea what they meant.

Luca did.

The private meeting after dinner was apparently supposed to include only four people.

Luca.

Miriam.

His chief financial officer, Daniel Keane.

And a retired federal prosecutor named Howard Ames.

No Vanessa.

No family.

No senior lieutenants.

Not even Luca’s longtime operations chief.

I learned that because Luca asked:

“Who told you?”

Vanessa said nothing.

Then Marco’s phone buzzed.

He read.

His face changed.

“Sir.”

“What?”

“They have a probable location.”

“Where?”

“The parking structure across the street.”

Luca stood.

“Vehicle?”

“Black Escalade.”

Vanessa whispered:

“No.”

Everyone looked at her.

Too late.

Marco continued.

“Registered to Bellini Development Group.”

Vanessa’s family company.

Luca slowly sat again.

Then asked:

“Who in your family knew about the meeting?”

Vanessa’s eyes filled.

“My brother.”

“Adrian?”

“Yes.”

Adrian Bellini.

Her older brother.

One of Luca’s oldest business partners.

And one of the men who had toasted the engagement less than an hour earlier.

He had left before dessert.

I remembered because he tipped me two hundred dollars and said:

“For tolerating this circus.”

Now I understood why he was in a hurry.

Miriam asked:

“Why did Adrian need to hear the meeting?”

Vanessa shook her head.

“I can’t.”

Luca’s voice remained calm.

“You can.”

“No.”

“He’ll destroy everything.”

“What?”

She looked at Luca.

And finally said it.

“The deal you’re planning tomorrow morning.”

Silence.

“What deal?”

“The port companies.”

Luca stopped breathing.

So did Miriam.

Vanessa whispered:

“He knows you’re selling them.”

Then she looked at the sealed transmitter.

“And if you sell before he moves the money, my brother loses everything.”