"Do you think it was Howard?" Franz asked. They were outside, keeping their voices low from long habit, though the device was dead and sealed in a bag inside the house.
"We can’t be certain." Arianne’s hand moved in slow circles on her belly. "It could be him. It could be paparazzi trying to get audio of our private life. It could be a corporate competitor looking for leverage. Any of them would have reason to plant something in our home."
"But you think it’s him."
"I think we should assume the worst until we have evidence otherwise." She looked at him. "Howard Brennan has been watching our family for decades. He watched my mother until she broke. He watched me when I was a child. If he’s escalated to putting devices in our children’s toys, we need to treat this as the opening move of something larger, not an isolated incident."
"We are taking it seriously."
"We need to take it more seriously." She held his gaze until he nodded, and then she turned back to the table. The Lion lay where they’d left it, arm detached, button eyes open to the afternoon sky. She looked at it without speaking, long enough that Franz followed her gaze.
"I want the security footage reviewed. Every camera on the estate perimeter. Look for any vehicles getting too close, any patterns, anyone who shouldn’t be there. Go back three months."
"Three months?"
"At minimum. If this device was placed during the restoration, they’ve been listening since then. I want to know if anyone was positioning themselves to retrieve recordings. Someone with a reason to be in the area who kept coming back."
"I’ll have the head of security start tonight. Full review."
"And I want everything tightened before the baby arrives. More cameras. More patrols. Anyone who comes onto the property needs to be vetted — delivery drivers, maintenance workers, everyone." She paused. "No exceptions. I don’t care how long someone has been coming here."
"What about the perimeter itself? The wall on the east side has a gap where the old gate was bricked over. I’ve been meaning to get it reinforced."
"Do it this week. And I want a report on every contractor who’s set foot on this property in the last six months. Names, dates, what they were here for."
"That’s going to be a long list."
"I know." She said it without apology. "Start with anyone who had access to the interior of the house."
"I’ll have it to you by tomorrow morning, cross-referenced against the visitor logs." Franz closed his phone and slid it into his pocket.
Arianne’s hand rested flat on her belly now, no longer moving.
"Franz. Whoever put that device in Leo’s doll — they were close to the children. They had access to the restoration process. They knew which toy Leo carried with him. They knew it would be in our home, in the twins’ bedroom, in our sitting room. They’ve been inside our lives for months."
"I know."
"If they could get to the twins, they could get to the baby." Her voice was steady, but underneath it something was hard and cold and entirely protective. "I don’t want our child left alone. Not in the nursery. Not with anyone who hasn’t been thoroughly vetted. Not once."
Franz didn’t answer immediately. He looked at her belly, thirty-eight weeks of a person they hadn’t met yet, and his jaw tightened once before he had control of it again. He pushed it down. There would be time for it later. Right now she needed him to be useful.
"I have a contact — former protection detail, not connected to anything in our circles. He could have a team here within forty-eight hours."
"Female guards." Arianne didn’t frame it as a correction. "They’ll be less conspicuous with the children. We present them as nannies, not security. If someone is watching, I want them to underestimate what we have in place."
"Mira, then."
"Mira. Two to start: one with the twins, one rotating. We’ll adjust after the birth. I want them here by the end of the week."
"She can do that." He took out his phone. "I’ll call her tonight."
"Good." A beat passed. "And the doll. We need to have it repaired again. Properly this time, by someone Gio has vetted himself. Leo will ask for it the moment he sees us come back inside."
"Should I tell him it needed cleaning? He saw me take it."
"Tell him the tea got into the seam and it needed to be restitched. That’s true enough." She glanced at the table. "Don’t mention the arm. He doesn’t need to know it was pulled apart again."
"I’ll sort it."
"Soon. He notices when things are missing."
"I know he does."
"What about Lily?"
"Lily will want to know why the doll looks different. Tell her the same thing and change the subject fast."
Arianne looked at the Lion one more time, something passing across her face that wasn’t grief exactly but wasn’t far from it. Then she set her jaw and turned away from the table.
"Have Gio vet the restorer thoroughly. No more oversights."
"I want to talk to the restorer myself first. Before Gio does. I want to know if he was coerced or if he took money — it changes what we do next."
Arianne held his gaze, then nodded. "Fine. You go first."
Arianne pushed herself up from the chair. Franz was at her side immediately, his hand on her elbow, taking her weight without being asked. She was heavily with their child, and someone had been listening to their family for months. Had been close enough to download recordings. Had violated the one place that was supposed to be unreachable.
She looked at him. Her eyes were dark and hard and completely resolved.
"Whoever it is," she said, "they made a mistake. They came after the children."
He took her hand. They walked back toward the house together, leaving the broken Lion on the table behind them.
The afternoon light hadn’t changed. The garden was as undisturbed as it had been an hour ago. Nothing about the scene looked like a line had been crossed.
It had been, though. Franz glanced back once at the doll, arm detached, button eyes open to the sky, and then followed Arianne inside. Through the door came Lily’s voice, and then Leo’s answering her, irritated about something small. Franz pulled the door shut behind him. He’ll get the doll later.