On the first floor, an elevator dings, and Noah exits—broad, steady, lethal calm wrapped in civility.He gives me a curt nod before joining Brie, flipping through her photos like he’s building a criminal case.
“And you didn’t know about this room?”With his shaved head and dark beard, he reminds me of a bouncer at a high-end nightclub in Rome.Obviously, he’s not the same man—based on what I recall from his profile from the initial briefing with KOAN, probably more lethal.
“No.I didn’t.”A bitter taste lingers on my tongue.
“Alright.We’ll need to find the surveillance video of the hallway,” he stops, and scans the ceiling.“Actually, we’ll see if we can loop the surveillance video for all of today.Whoever’s running this operation may check the video regularly for activity.If we’re lucky, he hasn’t already been alerted of activity, or if he has, he doesn’t have remote access.We’ll leave the footage of Adrien d’Avricourt and Brie.”At this point, he’s talking to himself, but he also seems to be talking to a speaker on his phone.“We’ll set up our own surveillance.If we don’t see anything within the next few days, we’ll know they’re on to us.But chances are, we’re going to figure out quickly who within your organization is behind this.”
“It’s got to be Eddie.He’s been here for eighteen years—since the original Sanctuary opened.There’s no way he’s not aware of that room.He has master access to everything, schedules all the security rotations, and…” I pause, the implications hitting me.“He’s the one who briefed me on the ‘closed circuit’ surveillance system when I bought the place.He specifically told me nothing was stored.”My hand balls into a fist at the realization I’ve been played this whole damn time.“Then, the question becomes, who’s working with him, and I’d say at least some on the security team.As far as other teams, food and beverage, hospitality, marketing, custodial, I’d say they’re less likely to be involved but you never know.Thinking it through, I should shut it down.There’s too much at stake.I can’t risk our members—” I have to stop talking.He gets the point.
“No.You can’t stop anything,” Noah insists.
Brie says, “Evidence leading to the guilty parties would evaporate overnight.I promise you, we’ll figure out who within your company is involved, but the best way to do that is to monitor and catch them in the act.Plus, I’d like to remind you, there are other parties involved.Your organization is one source of information.There’s a group out there buying and selling information.That’s the group we’re really after.”
I could argue that point, but it would be pointless.
“Quinn and I are going to plant surveillance.How much time do we have?”
I run my fingers through my hair, thinking through Mondays from the past so I can answer Brie.Given I travel frequently and often work from my home office on Mondays, since the staff isn’t here, I’m not a particularly reliable source of information.But I do know that the kitchen staff consists of a lot of night owls, and Eddie himself loves his days off and lives ninety minutes outside of the city on Long Island.He keeps a room here for when he chooses not to go home.
“It’s unlikely anyone will stop in before noon.As the day goes on, the chances increase that someone in the neighborhood might swing by to check on something.But Monday is a pretty sacred day off, and Tuesday we don’t open until evening service, so, chances are you’re safe.”Noah’s staring at me like he’s assessing how much he can trust me, and that’s a fair reaction.“There’s no guarantee,” I say, pissed at myself for this situation.“I have staff with access on days off.”
Brie steps closer to Noah, her voice dropping to a professional tone.“We’ll need to clone their system architecture before we install our own monitoring.If they’re sophisticated enough for this setup, they’ll notice new hardware.I’m going to go join Quinn in the security room.”She addresses me with a sharp, focused gaze and a crisp directive.“Why don’t you go call Alicia to create a plan should this leak to your membership.”
She’s right.That’s what I should do.Right after I console myself with my finest scotch.Jesus, Margot is going to rip me a new one.
“Alicia’s your best bet.She knows what’s going on, and you can’t yet trust your existing marketing team.”
Brie didn’t need to state the obvious, but I’ll grant her she’s quite right.
“I’ll be in my office,” I say, meaning the room where I once thought success could be distilled like good scotch—aged, smooth, and utterly safe.“But don’t leave without reconvening.”
Yes, it sounds like I’m saying it to the team, but I’m speaking to the blonde beauty who slips easily into the mist.
As I watch her vanish into the elevator, a distasteful realization settles over me.The woman I searched for across Europe is now the one standing between me and professional ruin.Salvation or punishment—I can’t yet tell which.
The doors slide closed and she’s gone.A familiar ache resumes in my chest—the echo of her absence.Years ago, I thought losing her was the cost of fantasy.Now I’m beginning to understand she may be the price of truth.
ChapterTen
Brie
Quinn taps away at the keyboard, her long, thick curls twisted up with a tortoiseshell comb that catches the fluorescent light with each head tilt.The mechanical clicking is rhythmic, almost meditative.She looks every bit like a newly minted assistant professor or grad student, and nothing like a hacker with the ability to break laws at whim.
The discovery of the server room sits foremost in my mind as I watch Quinn work.Someone has been systematically violating the trust of Adrien’s members—and whether intentional or not, he’s been complicit.The man who showed me genuine tenderness in Monaco has built his expansion on a foundation that’s rotting from within.The realization burns—not because of the operation, but because Adrien believed in this place, and he’ll feel betrayed when he realizes just how deep the decay runs.
Noah’s in the basement, searching for places to install surveillance hardware that won’t be noticed, and given the dim lighting, it’s conceivable he’ll be successful, but what Quinn’s doing holds more promise.
“You’re sure the loop won’t flag?”I replay, reviewing my handiwork, searching for any telltale static where I’ve taped over the recorded surveillance tape, but given we’re looping in still scenes, there’s not much to catch us.
“Someone would have to study the files to pick it up.Typically surveillance isn’t studied until after an incident, and if they’re unaware of the incident, today’s footage will probably get trashed.You said there are notations on files?”
Quinn hasn’t left the security room since arriving in the building.
“And numerical notations that I assume are part of an organizational system.”
“Right.So someone is going through the tapes and juicing it.Discarding the pulp I’d imagine.A bunch of recordings of no one being in the building is a fast discard.”
I agree.
