Chapter 118: The Waiter Is Dead

This Chapter is Dedicated to ’’Shawnnie’’

He walked slowly along the line of staff members, watching their faces.

Most looked genuinely confused. Concerned. Innocent.

Marco’s eyes swept across the line, looking for tells....sweat, averted eyes, trembling hands.

Nothing obvious.

"We’ll be taking everyone’s fingerprints," Marco continued. "Running DNA tests. Checking bank accounts for unusual deposits. This building has security cameras at every angle. Someone saw something. Someone knows something."

He paused, let that sink in.

"And when I find out who, when I connect the dots....the person responsible will wish they’d never been born."

Before anyone could respond, one of Marco’s men burst into the ballroom.

"Boss. Bathroom. Second floor. You need to see this."

Marco’s jaw clenched. "What is it?"

"A body."

The ballroom went silent.

Marco handed the evidence bag to Lucas. "Keep questioning them. No one leaves. I’ll be back."

He followed his man upstairs to the second-floor bathroom.

The door was propped open. Two more of his men stood guard outside.

Inside, slumped in one of the stalls, was a young waiter.

James.

The name tag on his vest confirmed it.

His eyes were open, staring at nothing. His lips were blue. Foam at the corners of his mouth.

Dead.

Marco crouched beside the body, checked for a pulse even though he already knew.

Nothing.

"Poison?" he asked.

"Looks like it. Fast-acting. Probably administered within the last thirty minutes."

Marco’s mind raced.

Someone had killed the waiter.

Someone who knew he was a witness.

Someone who wanted to silence him before he could talk.

"Seal the bathroom. Get the coroner. And pull security footage for this floor for the past hour." Marco stood. "I want to know everyone who came near this bathroom."

"Yes, sir."

"Boss, we have a problem. Isabella Russo. We can’t find her in the building."

Marco’s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you can’t find her?"

"She’s not at her table. Not in any of the public areas. We checked the bathrooms, the coat check, everywhere. She’s gone."

"That’s impossible. We locked down the building the second Ms. Thorne collapsed."

"I know, sir. But she’s not here."

Marco’s jaw clenched. "Check the security footage. Find out when she left and how."

"Already on it. But sir....there’s another problem."

"What?"

"The security footage for the main ballroom. The feed cut out at 9:46 PM. Right after the incident. Someone corrupted the files."

Marco felt cold fury wash over him.

Someone had planned this.

Had killed the waiter to silence him.

Had probably corrupted the security footage to hide Isabella’s movements.

Had helped her escape a locked-down building.

This wasn’t just Isabella acting alone.

Someone was protecting her.

"Keep searching," Marco ordered. "And get me a list of everyone who had access to the security system tonight."

He hung up, stared at the dead waiter.

James.

Twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

Dead because he’d been bribed to drug a drink.

Dead because someone needed him silent.

Marco stood in the bathroom, looking at James’s body, and felt the pieces starting to connect.

Marco turned to his men. "I want every inch of this building searched. I want guest lists cross-referenced with staff access logs. I want to know who corrupted that security footage and how."

"Yes, sir."

"And find Enzo Valentino. I want to know where he is right now."

***

(20 minutes later)

Marco was reviewing security logs when one of his men approached with a young bartender....maybe nineteen, twenty at most.

"Boss, this is Danny. He says he saw something."

Marco looked up. "What did you see?"

Danny shifted nervously. "I saw James...the dead guy talking to a woman earlier tonight. During the cocktail hour."

"Can you describe her?"

"Not really. I was pretty far away. But she was sitting near Table 47, I think. Silver dress, maybe? Dark hair? I’m not sure exactly where she was sitting, just that she was in that area."

Table 47.

Isabella’s table.

"Did you see them exchange anything?" Marco asked.

"No. I just noticed them talking because James looked nervous. He kept looking around like he didn’t want anyone to see."

"How long did they talk?"

"Maybe a minute? Then she walked away and James went back to the bar."

Marco nodded slowly. "Thank you. If you remember anything else, you tell me immediately. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

The bartender left.

Marco turned to Lucas. "Start collecting fingerprints from everyone who was working tonight. Run them against the prints on that atomizer. And get me DNA swabs too....saliva, skin cells, anything that might be on that container."

"You really think we’ll find a match?"

"I think whoever used that atomizer wasn’t wearing gloves. I think they thought they’d get away with it. And I think they left evidence." Marco’s voice was cold. "We’re going to find it. And when we do, we’re going to trace it back to whoever’s responsible."

His phone rang. One of his men at the isolated hotel.

"Boss, confirmed. Isabella Russo and Catarina Milano entered the building forty-three minutes ago. Used the service entrance. No cameras captured them arriving."

"Are they still there?"

"Security logs show no departure. They should still be in the suite."

"Don’t approach. Maintain surveillance. I want to know if they try to leave."

"Understood."

His phone buzzed again. The forensics team.

"Sir, we identified the compound. Compound X-7. It’s a pharmaceutical-grade aphrodisiac. Creates intense physical arousal. The only way to alleviate the symptoms is through sexual release. Effects last four to six hours."

Marco’s blood ran cold.

Eve had been dosed with a sex stimulant.

A compound that would cause her body to need relief desperately.

And whoever drugged that drink had meant it for Dimitri.

Had wanted to drug him, make him need sex, and then offer herself as the solution.

Instead, Eve had drunk it.

Marco stood in the ballroom, the evidence bag in his hand, the dead waiter upstairs.

The pieces were all there.

He just needed to connect them.