His Dog Growled at the Wall for Twenty Minutes, but the Housekeeper’s Hand Exposed the One Man the Mafia Boss Would Never Suspect / Chapter 3 / 6

Chapter 3 - The Digital Ghost"A key card can be cloned, Clare, and a pin can be observed," Marco said, stepping into the study from the side corridor holding a tablet displaying access logs. "The system shows your credentials logging into the sub-basement maintenance terminal at 2:00 AM on three separate occasions when you were off-duty."

Clare stared at the tablet screen, watching the timestamps scroll by. Her heart hammered against her ribs, not out of guilt, but from the terrifying realization that she was being systematically framed.

"Look at the dates," Clare said, stepping closer to the desk, her finger pointing at the screen. "March 12th, May 4th, and August 19th."

Marco frowned. "What about them?"

"On March 12th, I was at the emergency clinic in Evanston because Lily had a severe asthma attack. There is hospital documentation and a doctor's signature. On May 4th, I was locked out of the west wing because the power grid failed and your own security team had my physical presence recorded at the front gate logbook. And August 19th..." Clare paused, her eyes flashing with sudden clarity. "August 19th was the night Marco's own security detail conducted a full system diagnostic, requiring all administrative credentials to be temporarily mirrored to the master console."

Marco’s face tightened. He scrolled through the secondary logs on his tablet.

Dante watched them both in silence, his arms folded, his gaze sharp enough to cut glass.

"She's right," Marco muttered after a tense moment. "The mirrored credentials during the August diagnostic gave temporary root access to anyone logged onto the master server terminal that night."

"Which means," Dante said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register, "the person who planted these bugs didn't just steal Clare's key. They had root-level access to the entire estate network. They are sitting inside our inner circle."

Clare exhaled slowly, the weight on her chest shifting. "Whoever did this wanted me to take the fall. They knew I managed the maintenance schedules, so my name was the most logical smoke screen."

"And by making you the suspect," Dante added, walking toward her with measured steps, "they hoped we would lock you away and stop looking for the actual traitor."

He stopped just a foot away from her. For a man whom everyone in Chicago feared, his presence was remarkably steady, offering an anchor in the middle of the storm.