Page 47 of Benjamin and the Thief

“This isn’t over,” Amaury said.

Benjamin turned on his heel and left the office. When the door shut behind him, he felt Nina’s hand on his forearm.

“What are you planning?” she asked.

“Why do you think I’m planning something?” he deflected.

Nina shook her head, smiling at him. “Baby, I know you better than you know yourself. You never give in so easily.”

She put her arms around him and rubbed her enticing body against him. He slid his hands onto her ass and held her tightly.

“And you think I can’t see through what you’re doing right now, chérie? Seducing me so I won’t look into who this girl is and what she really wants from our son?”

Nina pouted. “But we got interrupted earlier.”

She was right, but just this once, he wouldn’t let her distract him. He had to make sure that his son wasn’t taken in by a hardened criminal who would lead him onto the wrong path. He had to protect his family no matter what. And Nina would help him.

“Tell me what else you know about Catalina.”

“Baby, really? Can’t you let him deal with this his way?”

“No. Not this time. I think neither you nor Benjamin realize that if the Prestons want to give us trouble, they will file charges not only against Catalina, but also against Benjamin. We have to get ahead of this.”

“I hate it when you’re playing the boss card,” she sighed.

Knowing that he’d won, he dipped his head. “How about you get to play the boss later? You can even tie me up.”

He sank his lips to her neck and licked over her soft skin. Beneath it, he could feel her pulse drum against his lips, calling to him like a siren called to a sailor. When he heard Nina moan softly, he knew that she wouldn’t mount another protest.

“As much as I would like to drink from you right now, I need to take care of this first.” He pulled his head back to look into her eyes.

“Tease,” she murmured. “It’s not fair when you look at me like that.”

“Ditto.” He winked at her. “Now, tell me what else you know about her. What kind of car did she drive?”

21

Fuck! The shit had just hit the fan.

Benjamin was less concerned about his father’s anger than the more important issue: the Prestons had a security tape of Catalina trying to break into their safe. How could he have missed this detail? He knew that there were cameras around the house, but somehow, he hadn’t thought that they would actually have a security camera in their bedroom. Who did that? Although the camera angle hadn’t encompassed the bed, it was still odd. Was the camera running all the time, or did they only switch it on when they had guests in the house?

In any case, it didn’t really matter. It had happened. They’d caught Catalina trying to break into the safe. His only luck was that there was no audio, so at least nobody knew what he and Catalina had been talking about. The Prestons couldn’t know that they knew each other. The only reason his father had guessed that they were intimate was because his mother had blabbed about their encounter the day before the party.

Not that he could blame his mother. His parents had an incredibly close relationship and didn’t keep secrets from each other, making it impossible to hide anything. He and his twin had learned that early on. If one of them knew, the other one did too. Even though his mother hadn’t said anything aloud, she probably had told his father telepathically that she’d seen how he’d interacted with Catalina. He’d spent enough time with his parents to recognize when they communicated without speaking.

But enough of this. He couldn’t change what had happened. He could only hope that the Prestons hadn’t recognized Catalina. He was sure they knew what she looked like. They would have seen her in court, supporting her brother. He was glad that she’d donned a wig and glasses, but if his mother had recognized her from the security video, the Prestons might too at some point. That meant he didn’t have as much time to look into Santiago’s case as he’d thought. Because once they knew who Catalina was, and what she had been trying to do, they would be on their guard, and if there was anything to be found that could prove Santiago’s innocence, it would disappear forever.

Benjamin hurried back to his office, logged into his computer, and clicked on the video link Anita had sent him. When the video began to play moments later, he realized why it had been such a damning piece of evidence at the trial: the security video was recorded by the same camera that had recorded him and Catalina in the master bedroom.

It clearly showed Santiago opening the safe in the Prestons’ walk-in closet and removing a necklace from inside. He zoomed in on the item in question, and from his recollection of the photos he’d seen in the police file, he knew that the item in Santiago’s hands was indeed the priceless piece of jewelry the papers had reported on.

He watched the video twice to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Was it possible that it had been doctored? Was it a deepfake? The technology certainly existed today. But how could he be certain? No, not just certain—he needed to prove that the video was a fake. He downloaded it onto a tablet and left his office once more. He needed somebody with extensive technical and IT knowledge to go over the video with a fine-tooth comb and see if there were any oddities in it that would suggest that the video had been altered with the use of AI.

Again on the top floor of the building, he walked to Eddie’s office and knocked. Both Eddie and Thomas were busy on their computers.

“Hey, what’s up?” Eddie asked, without looking up.

Benjamin placed the tablet in front of him and tapped on the video. “I need to figure out if this video is real or a fake. Can you help me?”