Within half an hour, she was dismissed—no severance, no apology, only a warning that the police might be contacted if the money didn’t somehow return.
By midday, Marina stood outside the iron gates with one suitcase and nowhere to go. She cried—not only because she had lost her job, but because her integrity had been destroyed without proof. She had an ill mother relying on her, and almost no savings left.
Inside the estate, however, doubt lingered. Robert couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. The house had recently been upgraded with a discreet security system—hidden cameras installed after a previous issue he hadn’t taken seriously at the time.
Late that night, restless and uneasy, Robert opened the system’s footage on his laptop. He pulled up the hallway camera near the safe.
What appeared on the screen made his stomach drop.
Someone else entered the study and opened the safe with ease. As the face came into focus, Robert felt cold all over.