Chapter 1 - The Sleeping Ghost
Gunther stared at the sleeping maid, his finger still hovering near the trigger of his SIG Sauer.
He had built an empire by eliminating vulnerabilities, yet here was the most glaring security breach in the history of his estate, breathing softly into his Egyptian cotton pillows. He recognized her face vaguely from the periphery of his world—one of the invisible staff who scrubbed away the physical and metaphorical grime of his life.
She looked entirely exhausted, the dark circles under her eyes a stark contrast to her pale skin.
He didn't wake her. Instead, driven by a strange, uncharacteristic curiosity, he walked to the adjoining bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. When he returned, she was still deeply asleep. He sat in the leather armchair across the room, watching her in the moonlight, trying to understand why he hadn't thrown her out.
The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed 4:00 a.m.
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Gunther finally stood, grabbed a spare blanket from the closet, and draped it over her trembling shoulders. He then walked out of his own bedroom, intending to sleep in the guest wing.
As he closed the door behind him, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows at the end of the hallway, raising a suppressed pistol directly at Gunther’s chest.
