Chapter 2 - THE BUTTER DISAPPEARED
The butter dish was gone.
Marco discovered it less than five minutes after sealing the kitchen.
The silver tray remained.
The bread remained.
The knife remained.
But the small porcelain dish containing the butter had vanished.
Alessandro turned toward the kitchen staff.
“Nobody leaves.”
There were seven employees in the room.
Chef Antonio.
Two assistants.
A dishwasher.
Elena.
Another housekeeper.
And Pietro, Alessandro’s personal valet.
Every face showed fear.
Elena looked worse than the others.
Her daughter had just accused the future mistress of the house.
Alessandro walked toward her.
“Where is Sofia?”
“With Rosa upstairs.”
“Good.”
Elena swallowed.
“Sir, my daughter would never make something like that up.”
“I know.”
Her eyes widened.
“You believe her?”
“I believe she saw something.”
That was all Alessandro was willing to say.
He had survived long enough by separating certainty from suspicion.
Isabella had behaved like a guilty woman.
That did not yet prove what was on the bread.
Marco checked the pantry.
Then the trash.
Then the service corridor.
The butter dish had disappeared during the three minutes between Sofia’s warning and Marco’s order.
Someone in the house had moved fast.
Too fast.
Alessandro looked around the kitchen.
“Who knew I ate that butter every morning?”
Everyone.
That was the problem.
It had become part of his routine.
Coffee.
Two eggs.
Toast with Isabella’s preferred butter.
Exactly 7:15 every morning.
Routine made powerful men easier to predict.
His father had taught him that.
Alessandro had forgotten.
Marco approached.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“There’s something else.”
He held up a small dish towel.
Yellow residue stained one corner.
“Found behind the laundry cart.”
Chef Antonio looked confused.
“That towel isn’t from my kitchen.”
Elena leaned closer.
“It belongs to the upstairs service pantry.”
Alessandro turned toward Pietro.
The valet’s expression remained neutral.
“Who uses that pantry?”
“Mostly Miss Isabella.”
Pietro answered.
“And guests.”
“Who was there this morning?”
“I don’t know.”
Alessandro looked toward the security monitors.
“Cameras?”
Marco shook his head.
“The pantry camera went offline at 6:48.”
“When did it return?”
“7:22.”
Isabella entered the kitchen behind two guards.
Her face had recovered some color.
“This is insane.”
Alessandro ignored her.
Marco continued.
“Someone disabled the feed manually.”
“From where?”
“The security room.”
That changed everything.
The estate did not have an intruder problem.
It had an inside problem.
Isabella could manipulate a servant.
She could manipulate a cook.
But accessing the security room required trust.
Alessandro turned toward Marco.
“Who had access at 6:48?”
Marco’s expression tightened.
“Three people.”
“You.”
“Me.”
“Enzo.”
Alessandro’s cousin.
“And?”
Marco hesitated.
“Your brother.”
The room became completely still.
Alessandro’s younger brother, Luca, had arrived at the estate late the previous night.
May you like
He had told everyone he wanted to surprise Alessandro before the wedding.
Now Alessandro wondered whether the surprise had begun months earlier.
