Chapter 7 - One House, Two RulesMaya had spent nights at David’s mansion before.
Living there was different.
On the first morning, she opened the wrong door and discovered a room containing nothing except wine.
She closed it.
Opened it again.
Still wine.
David appeared behind her.
“Problem?”
“You have a wine room.”
“Yes.”
“A room.”
“Yes.”
“For wine.”
“That is generally what a wine room is.”
Maya turned.
“People are starving.”
David stared.
“I donate millions to food programs.”
“That was annoyingly responsible.”
“Thank you.”
She looked inside again.
“Still excessive.”
By the third morning, Maya had learned that David woke at 5:30.
By the fourth, David had learned that Maya considered any hour before seven an act of aggression.
By the fifth, Marcus had learned that allowing the two of them to share a kitchen was dangerous.
“I’m making breakfast,” Maya announced.
David looked concerned.
“Why?”
“Because people eat.”
“I have a chef.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you cooking?”
“Because I can.”
David watched her crack an egg.
“You’re doing that wrong.”
Maya slowly turned.
“Would you like to survive breakfast?”
David lifted both hands.
Marcus entered.
“What’s happening?”
“David criticized my egg technique.”
Marcus immediately backed toward the door.
“I was never here.”
The domestic absurdity gave Maya something she desperately needed.
Normality.
Outside the gates, reporters were still asking questions.
Online, strangers still dissected her life.
But inside the mansion, David argued about coffee.
Marcus complained about scheduling.
Maya called her mother twice a day.
And for several hours at a time, she could almost forget the photograph.
Almost.
The investigation continued.
David did not hide it from her.
That was part of their new agreement.
No secret protection.
No decisions about Maya without Maya.
It was harder for him than he expected.
One evening, Marcus placed several documents on the dining table.
“We found something.”
Maya sat across from David.
“What?”
Marcus looked at her, then David.
David nodded.
“Tell her.”
Marcus opened the file.
“The message sent to Maya came through a disposable number, but the photograph was taken by a private investigator.”
“Working for Victoria?” Maya asked.
“Indirectly.”
“What does that mean?”
“He was hired by a company called Northstar Consulting.”
David’s expression changed.
Maya noticed.
“You know it.”
“I know the name.”
Marcus continued.
“Northstar was created six months after Nathan Cole disappeared.”
Maya looked between them.
“And who owns it?”
“That’s the interesting part.”
Marcus slid a document across the table.
“On paper, nobody important. Shell companies. Holding entities. Standard structure.”
“But?”
“One of the original directors worked for Richard Vale.”
David stood.
Maya watched him walk toward the window.
“So Victoria, Nathan, and Vale are connected,” she said.
“Possibly,” Marcus answered.
David turned.
“Definitely.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I should have known three years ago.”
There it was.
The old David.
Not cold.
Not arrogant.
Something worse.
Self-blaming.
Maya recognized it because she had done the same thing every time her mother’s condition worsened.
If only I had worked more.
If only I had saved more.
If only I had noticed sooner.
She stood.
“David.”
He did not look at her.
“You trusted someone.”
“I ignored things.”
“So?”
“So twenty-eight million dollars disappeared.”
“And?”
He turned sharply.
“And?”
Maya crossed her arms.
“Did people lose their jobs?”
“No.”
“Did the company collapse?”
“No.”
“Did you recover?”
“That’s not the point.”
“It is to me.”
David stared.
“You think losing money was the worst thing that happened.”
Maya shook her head.
“It wasn’t.”
He said nothing.
“You lost trust.”
That hit harder.
Maya walked closer.
“And then you built your whole life around never losing it again.”
David looked away.
“Until you.”
The room became quiet.
Marcus glanced toward the door.
“I’m going to…”
Neither of them noticed him leave.
Maya looked at David.
“Until me?”
“Yes.”
“You trust me?”
David’s answer came without hesitation.
“Yes.”
“That should terrify you.”
“It does.”
She smiled faintly.
“Good.”
David frowned.
“Good?”
“It means you’re not pretending.”
She reached for his hand.
This time, she initiated the touch.
David looked down at their hands.
Maya said, “You don’t have to know how this ends.”
“I usually know how things end.”
“That’s because you control them.”
“And you think I should stop?”
“I think you should learn the difference between control and safety.”
David looked at her.
“That sounds like something your mother would say.”
“It is.”
“I knew it.”
Maya laughed.
Then Marcus returned.
His expression had changed.
David immediately noticed.
“What?”
“We found Victoria.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
Maya frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus looked toward the front of the house.
“She’s at the gate.”
David’s face hardened.
“No.”
Maya stopped him.
“Wait.”
“No.”
“You wanted answers.”
“Not with you here.”
Maya’s expression sharpened.
“Excuse me?”
“If she’s involved in threatening your mother—”
“Then I especially want to hear what she says.”
David shook his head.
“Maya.”
“No secret protection. Remember?”
“This isn’t protection.”
“What is it?”
David had no answer that would survive the question.
Maya folded her arms.
“Let her in.”
David looked at Marcus.
Marcus wisely said nothing.
Finally, David nodded.
Victoria entered ten minutes later.
Maya had seen photographs.
Reality was different.
Victoria was elegant in the kind of effortless way that probably required enormous effort.
Dark coat.
Perfect hair.
Calm expression.
But she looked tired.
Not defeated.
Afraid.
Her eyes moved immediately to Maya.
“So you’re Maya.”
Maya stood.
“And you’re the woman photographing my mother.”
Victoria’s face changed.
“I didn’t send that.”
David stepped forward.
“Then who did?”
Victoria looked at him.
“You still think this is about jealousy.”
“You leaked the photographs.”
“Yes.”
Maya stared at her.
Victoria did not apologize.
“I needed his attention.”
“You had his phone number,” Maya said.
“He wouldn’t listen.”
“That tends to happen when you cheat on someone.”
Victoria almost smiled.
“I see why he likes you.”
“Don’t.”
The smile disappeared.
David moved closer.
“What do you want?”
Victoria reached into her bag.
David’s security officer immediately moved.
Victoria froze.
“It’s paper.”
She slowly removed an envelope.
Placed it on the table.
David did not touch it.
“What is it?”
“Something I should have given you three years ago.”
Maya watched him open it.
Inside were bank records.
Transfers.
Corporate names.
Signatures.
David’s expression changed.
Marcus moved beside him.
“Oh, hell.”
Maya looked at them.
“What?”
David placed the papers down.
“The twenty-eight million wasn’t stolen from me.”
Maya frowned.
“You said it disappeared.”
“It did.”
Victoria spoke.
“It was moved.”
“To where?”
She looked directly at David.
“Into your company.”
Silence.
David stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Victoria shook her head.
“It was hidden inside subsidiaries. Vale used your investment to cover losses that already existed.”
Marcus began reading faster.
David looked at Victoria.
“Why?”
“Because Prescott Holdings was already being robbed.”
David’s face went cold.
“By who?”
Victoria swallowed.
“Someone inside your company.”
“Name.”
“I don’t know.”
David stepped closer.
“You came here after three years with this, and you expect me to believe you don’t know?”
“I know Vale was working for someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
“I’ve been trying.”
Victoria’s voice cracked for the first time.
“Nathan disappeared because he found out.”
Maya looked at her.
“Your brother?”
Victoria nodded.
“He didn’t run with the money.”
David stared.
Victoria continued.
“He found evidence that someone had been moving funds through your companies for years.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He tried.”
David’s face changed.
“What?”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“Vale intercepted it.”
“And you?”
“I believed Vale.”
David laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Of course you did.”
Victoria flinched.
“I was sleeping with him.”
Maya looked away.
David did not.
Victoria continued.
“I thought Nathan was trying to destroy my relationship with Richard. Then Nathan disappeared.”
Her eyes filled, but she refused to cry.
“By the time I realized he had been telling the truth, it was too late.”
David looked at the documents.
“Why now?”
“Because Vale contacted me.”
Marcus looked up.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“What did he want?”
“The records.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is cleaning up the old accounts.”
David’s expression sharpened.
“Who?”
“I told you. I don’t know.”
Victoria looked toward Maya.
“But whoever it is knows about her.”
Maya felt cold.
“How?”
“Because you changed your habits.”
Victoria looked back at David.
“You stopped bringing women home. You canceled meetings. You started appearing in places without your normal security pattern.”
David’s jaw tightened.
Victoria continued.
“You became predictable.”
“Because of Maya.”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at David.
For the first time, she understood something frightening.
She was not simply a target because David cared about her.
She was useful because David cared about her.
Victoria looked at Maya.
“The photograph of your mother wasn’t from me.”
“Then who sent it?”
“I think Vale.”
“Why?”
“To make David react.”
Maya thought about it.
“He wanted me here.”
Victoria nodded.
“Probably.”
David turned toward Marcus.
“Lock down the house.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“David.”
He stopped.
She looked at him.
“Ask.”
His instinct fought him visibly.
Then he forced the words out.
“Maya, will you stay here until we understand what’s happening?”
She looked at Victoria.
At Marcus.
At the papers.
Then at David.
“Yes.”
David nodded.
Victoria exhaled.
“There’s something else.”
Nobody liked the sound of that.
David looked at her.
“What?”
Victoria hesitated.
“The person inside your company…”
“Yes?”
“I think they’re still there.”
Marcus went still.
David’s expression changed.
“How high?”
Victoria looked at the four of them.
“High enough to know where Maya sleeps.”
May you like
The room became silent.
And somewhere inside the mansion, a security alarm began to ring.
