I stepped back instantly, rubbing the red marks left on my skin.

“You are making a mistake, Marcus,” Luca said, wiping his hand on his trousers. “You are protecting a rat.”

“I am protecting the protocol,” Marcus said. “Until Dr. Voss determines what poisoned Alexander, everyone stays where I can see them.”

I looked toward the dark hallway.

My heart was hammering against my ribs, a frantic rhythm in the silence of my chest.

I knew I had to act now.

While they were arguing over who had the right to question me, the real evidence was waiting downstairs.

Alexander had hidden the black ledger in the old coal cellar behind the loose brick.

If Luca found it first, he would burn it, and the proof of his embezzled funds would be gone forever.

But there was someone else I needed to find.

Mrs. Conti, the head housekeeper, had been acting strangely all evening.

Her hands had been shaking when she served the tea, and she had avoided looking at me.

I had to get to the basement before Luca’s men locked down the lower floors of the mansion.