Chapter 3 - The Secret Lens
The tension in Alejandro’s private command center was thick enough to cut with a knife. The room was illuminated only by the blue glow of high-definition monitors. Standing behind Alejandro were Bruno, two senior lieutenants, and a visibly nervous Clara, holding a sleeping Emma in her arms.
Alejandro tapped a series of encrypted commands into his phone. The central monitor flickered to life, displaying a crystal-clear, high-angle view of his private study from earlier that afternoon. The camera was hidden inside the antique wooden clock mounted above the marble fireplace—a secret known only to Alejandro himself.
"Fast forward to 4:00 PM," Alejandro ordered softly.
The video footage sped up. On the screen, the empty study came into view. At 4:10 PM, the door slowly creaked open.
A figure stepped into the frame, holding a silver tray with a crystal decanter and a glass of deep red Barolo wine.
It was Marco, the trusted head butler.
Clara gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand. "Oh my God..."
On the video, Marco paused near the writing desk. He looked around nervously, checking the doorway. Seeing that he was entirely alone, he reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a small glass vial containing a clear liquid. With practiced, cold precision, he uncapped the vial and poured three drops directly into the wine glass. He carefully stirred it with a silver pin, placed the vial back in his pocket, wiped the desk edge with a cloth to remove any stray prints, and walked out.
"That bastard," Bruno roared, his face flushed with rage. "Fifteen years! You took him out of the gutters, Don Alejandro! You paid for his mother's cancer treatment!"
Alejandro didn't shout. He didn't smash anything. His reaction was far more terrifying: complete, dead silence. His dark eyes locked onto the screen, glowing with a cold, murderous intent that made even his hardened lieutenants step back in apprehension.
"He didn't act alone," Alejandro said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Marco is a coward. He doesn't have the stomach to orchestrate a hit on me. Someone bought him. Fast forward to 4:25 PM."
Bruno clicked the fast-forward button.
At 4:25 PM, before Alejandro had entered the study, Marco returned to the room. The video showed him opening the side drawer of Alejandro’s desk—the drawer where secret financial ledgers and territorial maps were kept. Marco pulled out a smartphone, took quick photos of several top-secret documents, and sent them via an encrypted message app.
"Pause," Alejandro commanded. "Enhance the phone screen."
The tech technician sitting at the console quickly ran an enhancement algorithm on the reflection in the glass window behind Marco's phone. The image zoomed in, sharpening the grainy pixels until a contact name and a partial preview of the text message became visible.
The contact name read: DON LORENZO.
"Lorenzo Rossini," Bruno spat the name like venom. "The head of the Rossini Syndicate. Your oldest rival."
"Lorenzo wants my territory, my routes, and my life," Alejandro said smoothly, leaning back in his chair. "He promised Marco wealth and protection in exchange for poisoning my glass and delivering my empire's secrets."
Suddenly, the screen showed the moment Alejandro entered the room at 4:30 PM, drank the wine, and collapsed. Then, it captured the heart-wrenching moment four-year-old Emma ran into the room with her pink rabbit backpack, slamming the EpiPen into his leg to save his life.
Alejandro looked at Clara. "If your daughter hadn't saved me, Marco would have returned an hour later, disposed of the poisoned glass, made it look like a sudden heart attack, and handed my entire empire over to Lorenzo on a silver platter."
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"What do we do now, boss?" Bruno asked, pulling his weapon. "Do I drag Marco to the basement?"
"No," Alejandro said, a sinister smile creeping across his handsome face. "If Marco knows we suspect him, Lorenzo will know. We are going to play along. We are going to let Marco think his plan is succeeding... right up until the trap snaps shut on both of them."
