Elias called Bruno.

“Chelsea. I need you.”

“How many?”

“Unknown.”

“Five minutes.”

“I need three.”

Bruno hung up.

Adeline locked the door.

“That hinge won’t hold,” Ben said.

“I know.”

Elias crossed toward the window.

His shirt collar shifted, revealing more of the dark tattoo covering his upper chest.

Adeline stared at him.

“What exactly do you do?”

“Tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Keep you alive.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“It’s the answer that matters.”

A knock came.

Three slow taps.

“Adeline?” a voice called. “Building maintenance.”

Ben whispered, “At seven in the morning?”

Elias held one finger to his lips.

The doorknob moved.

Then stopped.

Elias positioned himself beside the wall.

A moment later came the sound of retreating footsteps.

Then silence.

Adeline exhaled.

“Why did they leave?”

Elias looked through the window.

A black SUV had stopped outside.

Bruno stepped out with three men.

“Because mine arrived.”

Minutes later, Bruno entered.

His gaze swept the room.

Then landed on the photograph.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“You recognize him?” Adeline asked.

Bruno nodded.

“Daniel Hayes.”

“You knew my father?”

“He saved Elias. I arrived about ninety seconds afterward.”

Adeline looked from Bruno to Elias.

“Then why didn’t anyone help him?”

Elias absorbed the accusation without defending himself.

“We tried to find him.”

“You’re telling me a man with your resources couldn’t find one mechanic in Boston?”

“He gave us a false name.”

Adeline blinked.

Bruno smiled.

“Your father told us his name was Mickey Mouse.”

Ben burst out laughing.

Even Adeline covered her mouth.

“That,” she admitted, “also sounds like Dad.”

The tension broke for three seconds.

Then Elias handed Bruno the notes.

Bruno read them.

His expression hardened.

“Rourke?”

“Possibly.”

“He recommended hiring her.”

Adeline looked up.

“What?”

Elias nodded slowly.

“Rourke personally approved your application.”

“I thought Human Resources hired me.”

“They did after he put your résumé on top.”

Adeline stared at the photograph.

“So he knew who my father was?”

“Maybe.”

Ben frowned.

“Why would that matter?”

Elias answered.

“Because Rourke knew I owed Daniel Hayes my life.”

The pieces connected quickly.

Rourke had selected Adeline.

Created suspicion around her.

Placed her near compromised routes.

If Elias discovered the leaks, the evidence would point toward the desperate maid stealing food for her sick brother.

“She was supposed to be the scapegoat,” Bruno said.

Adeline’s voice sharpened.

“I’m standing right here.”

Bruno nodded.

“Sorry.”

Elias paced.

“Rourke leaked the routes. Then he arranged camera footage placing Adeline near the records rooms.”

“And when you discovered everything?” she asked.

“You would disappear.”

Ben went silent.

Adeline stared at Elias.

“You say that like you’re discussing paperwork.”

“I’m telling you what Rourke intended.”

“And what would you have done?”

That stopped him.

Adeline stepped closer.

“If you hadn’t followed me tonight, what would you have done when Rourke showed you his evidence?”

Elias did not answer immediately.

That answer frightened her more than any lie could have.

Finally he said, “Three years ago, your father saved me before knowing who I was.”

She said nothing.

“And tonight I followed his daughter because I assumed poverty made her dishonest.”

“That still doesn’t answer me.”

“No.”

Elias met her eyes.

“It doesn’t.”

His phone buzzed.

A photograph appeared.

The Baron townhouse.

Then a message.

COME HOME ALONE OR YOUR HOUSEHOLD STAFF PAYS FOR YOUR MISTAKE.

Bruno read it.

“Trap.”

“Obviously.”

Adeline grabbed Elias’s sleeve as he turned.

“You’re actually going?”

“My employees are inside.”

“They’re your responsibility?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’re yours too.”

Elias looked down at her hand on his tattooed wrist.

“No,” he said quietly. “You’re Daniel Hayes’s children.”

He removed her hand gently.

“That makes you family debt.”

Adeline shook her head.

“My father didn’t save you so you could spend the rest of your life owing him.”

Elias paused.

“How do you know?”

“Because I knew him.”

For the first time that morning, Elias smiled.

“So did I,” he said.

Then he turned to Bruno.

“Take them somewhere safe.”

Adeline immediately answered.

“No.”

Elias looked back.

She picked up the notes.

“If Rourke chose me to frame you, then I’m the one person he won’t expect to walk through your front door beside you.”

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