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"""The first thing Dominic Moretti did after the last guest left his son's birthday party was order every exterior gate locked from the inside.
No employee was allowed to leave, no delivery vehicle was permitted through the service entrance, and the security staff were told that anyone who objected could object directly to him.
Nobody did.
The ballroom still smelled of vanilla frosting and expensive flowers, which made the broken porcelain beside Ethan's chair seem more obscene somehow.
Dominic stood over it while one of his guards stretched yellow tape across the entrance to the service corridor.
"Nobody cleans this," Dominic said.
The housekeeper holding a trash bag stopped immediately.
"Not the plate, not the table, not the kitchen, not anything that touched that cake."
"Yes, Mr. Moretti."
Sophia Carter remained near the stairs with Lily asleep against her shoulder.
The little girl's cheek was pressed into the black fabric of Sophia's uniform, and one white sneaker dangled loose from her heel.
Sophia had tried twice to take her daughter back to their rooms.
Dominic had stopped her both times.
He hated himself a little for the second time.
Sophia had worked in his house for nearly six years, and he had never seen her look at him as if she needed to calculate whether obedience might endanger her child.
"She's exhausted," Sophia said.
"I know."
"Then let me put her to bed."
"I need to know exactly what she saw."
"She's three."
"And someone tried to kill my son."
Sophia's jaw tightened.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Behind Dominic, security director Vincent Hale was quietly collecting staff phones into numbered evidence bags.
Sophia glanced at the bags.
"Are we prisoners now?"
"No."
"Can we leave?"
"No."
"That's usually how prisoners work."
Dominic almost answered sharply.
Then Lily stirred and made a soft complaining sound into her mother's shoulder.
His anger had nowhere useful to go.
"Put her to bed," he said.
Sophia did not thank him.
She turned toward the staff wing.
Lily's loose sneaker slipped off and landed on the marble.
Dominic bent automatically and picked it up.
Sophia had gone three steps before she noticed.
For one awkward moment, the most feared man in the room stood holding a toddler's shoe.
He crossed to her and handed it over.
"She likes these because they light up," Sophia said, apparently because silence had become stranger than speech.
Dominic looked at the cheap plastic sole.
"It doesn't."
"The left one stopped working Tuesday."
"Tragic."
Sophia stared at him.
Then, despite everything, a tiny laugh escaped her.
It disappeared almost immediately.
Dominic returned to the ballroom.
Vincent was waiting.
"Kitchen cameras?"
"Reviewing them."
"Cold room?"
Vincent's expression gave Dominic the answer before he spoke.
"Camera went offline for eleven minutes."
Dominic stopped.
"When?"
"Six twenty-three to six thirty-four."
The cake had been brought into the ballroom at six forty.
"Failure?"
"System says maintenance reboot."
"Was maintenance scheduled?"
"No."
Dominic looked toward the dark service corridor.
"Who can authorize a reboot?"
"Me, you, and Julian."
Dominic's gaze returned to him.
Vincent rubbed the back of his neck.
"Julian says he didn't do it."
Dominic's younger brother had been standing beside Ethan when Lily knocked the cake away.
Julian had cursed at the child before anyone understood what had happened.
Then he had gone white when Dr. Harris announced the test result.
"Where is he?"
"Library."
"Keep him there."
Vincent hesitated.
Dominic noticed.
"What?"
"There were forty-seven staff members working tonight, plus the caterer's crew, musicians, florist, valet company, photographers, entertainers, and guests."
"Everyone was screened."
"Everyone who entered through the gates was screened."
Dominic stared at him.
Vincent lowered his voice.
"If Lily actually saw somebody inside the cold room, we have to consider that he was already in the house."
Upstairs, Ethan Moretti sat on the edge of his bed while Dr. Harris checked his blood pressure for the third time.
"I didn't eat it," Ethan said.
"I noticed."
"So why do you keep doing that?"
"Because your father pays me enough to be annoying."
Ethan considered this.
"How much?"
"Not enough to answer that question."
The boy smiled weakly.
His smile vanished when Dominic entered.
Dominic had spent years trying not to become the kind of father whose presence changed the temperature of his child's bedroom.
Tonight he could see that he had failed.
"Am I in trouble?" Ethan asked.
The question stopped him near the door.
"For what?"
"The cake."
"You didn't do anything."
"I asked for that flavor."
Dominic crossed the room.
"Ethan."
"If I'd picked chocolate—"
"No."
The word came out harder than he intended.
Ethan's shoulders tightened.
Dominic sat beside him.
"The person who put something in your food is responsible for what happened."
Ethan picked at a loose thread on his pajama pants.
"Lily knew."
"Yes."
"She's three."
"I am aware of Lily's age."
"She knew it was bad."
Dominic looked at his son.
"Apparently."
"How?"
That question had been waiting for him downstairs.
"I don't know yet."
Ethan nodded, although the answer clearly disappointed him.
Then he said, "Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Don't hurt anybody."
Dr. Harris suddenly became extremely interested in closing his medical bag.
Dominic kept his eyes on Ethan.
"Why would you say that?"
"Because Uncle Julian says when you get quiet, somebody's about to have a terrible week."
From beside the dresser, Dr. Harris coughed into his fist.
Dominic made a mental note to have a conversation with his brother.
Not tonight.
Tonight there were more dangerous questions.
"I promise I won't hurt anyone because I'm angry."
Ethan studied his face with the irritating precision children reserved for promises adults hoped to phrase carefully.
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
"Okay."
It was not forgiveness, but Ethan leaned against him.
Dominic put an arm around his son's narrow shoulders.
For several minutes, nothing happened.
A lawn sprinkler clicked somewhere beyond the bedroom windows.
Dr. Harris washed his hands in the bathroom.
May you like
Ethan yawned.
Dominic found himself staring at the boy's bedside table, where a plastic dinosaur stood beside a stack of library books and a tiny gold wristwatch.
