Chapter 2 - THE MAN AT THE STORE
Elena reached Lily and dropped to her knees.
“Sweetheart, what happened? Did you hurt yourself?”
Lily shook her head. “No, Mommy. I saved Mr. Dante.”
Elena looked at the cut tie in Dante’s hand. Her face went pale.
Dante rose slowly.
“Marco, seal the entrance. Nobody leaves this house until we know how that device got into my clothing.”
Marco Bellini immediately spoke into his radio. Two guards moved toward the front doors while another checked the security monitors.
Elena pulled Lily close.
“Mr. Moretti, I'm sorry. She shouldn't have touched your things.”
Dante studied her. “Your daughter may have just saved my life.”
Elena blinked.
“Or saved a meeting that was meant to remain private,” Marco added. “That microphone could have transmitted everything in this house.”
Dante turned the tiny device over in his palm. It was no ordinary recording tag. Its casing had been custom-made to fit between layers of fabric. Whoever installed it knew exactly which tie Dante wore when he attended important meetings.
“Lily,” he said gently, lowering himself again. “You said you saw someone at the store. Which store?”
“The big one with the shiny floors,” she answered. “Mommy was looking for shoes. You were talking to the man with the silver hand.”
Elena frowned. “The department store?”
Lily nodded enthusiastically.
“He had a shiny ring. And he was holding Mr. Dante's tie.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“When was this?”
“Last Saturday,” Elena replied. “We went to pick up Lily's winter shoes. You were there with Mr. Bellini and two other men. I thought you were meeting someone.”
Dante remembered. He had been called away to take a business call. His personal assistant, Lorenzo Valli, had remained with the shopping bags and the garment case.
“Describe the man,” Dante said.
Lily thought carefully.
“He had a shiny ring with a black stone. And a little line here.” She touched the skin beneath her right eyebrow.
Marco's expression changed.
“Lorenzo,” he said.
Dante looked at him.
“Bring him to the study.”
Elena's fingers tightened around Lily's shoulders.
“Please don't frighten her.”
Dante's expression softened for a moment.
“No one will frighten your daughter.”
Then he looked toward the guards.
“And nobody touches her or her mother.”
A few minutes later, Lorenzo Valli entered the hall. He was forty-two, elegantly dressed, and had served Dante for nearly a decade. A black-stone ring rested on his right hand. A thin scar crossed the skin beneath his eyebrow.
Lily pointed immediately.
“That man.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“Good morning, little one.”
Lily hid behind Elena.
Dante held up the tiny microphone.
“Do you recognize this?”
Lorenzo glanced at it for less than a second.
“No.”
“Interesting. My daughter says she saw you handling my tie at the department store.”
“I was collecting the garment bag. Anyone could have been near it.”
Dante's voice remained quiet.
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“Then you won't mind explaining why a listening device was sewn into it.”
Lorenzo's smile disappeared.
