Chapter 8 - The Safe Behind the Painting
The hidden safe remained unopened.
That was what enraged Ethan most.
He had torn away the painting.
He had brought Marcus.
He had sent accomplices through her mansion.
He had risked everything.
And still the safe stayed closed.
Claire had built the office for that exact moment.
A beautiful room with cream walls, dark wood, family photographs, and one hidden safe that contained nothing Ethan expected.
The real files were not there.
The real controls were never in one place.
Ethan had invaded the wrong room for the wrong prize under the full gaze of cameras he thought were decoration.
He stood between the exposed safe and the surveillance monitor, chest rising and falling violently.
“Claire,” he said, forcing softness into his voice now. “We can still handle this privately.”
Diane looked hopeful.
Marcus looked sick.
Claire’s eyes stayed cold.
“You broke into my home in daylight with a copied key, a locksmith, accomplices, empty boxes, and your mother wearing my grandmother’s bracelet.”
Ethan’s softness died.
“It is our home.”
Claire looked at the monitor lens as if looking directly through it into him.
“Then why did you enter through the rear door?”
He had no answer.
The red and blue reflections moved faintly again across the driveway windows.
No officers shown.
No arrival revealed.
Only color.
Only pressure.
Diane backed away from the island, still trying to hide the bracelet behind her sleeve.
Claire saw it.
“Hands where the cameras can see them, Diane.”
Diane’s eyes filled with rage and terror.
“You don’t get to command me.”
Claire’s voice lowered.
“In my house, during your burglary, I do.”
The line cracked through the mansion.
One accomplice set his box down.
Then the second.
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Ethan looked around and realized the room was losing loyalty one body at a time.
Read Chapter 9 👉 Because Ethan tried to call it their home, but every hidden camera showed exactly how they entered it.
