Chapter 2
Luca stared at the folder.
“Who?”
His attorney, Benjamin Cole, closed the library doors before answering.
“Several people.”
Elena tightened her arms around Maya.
“Doctors?”
“Doctors. Accountants. Two former executives.”
Benjamin hesitated.
“And someone inside this house.”
Silence filled the room.
Luca was still standing, but suddenly his legs felt weaker.
“Inside my house?”
Benjamin opened the folder.
The first page contained bank transfers.
The second contained emails.
The third contained photographs.
Luca recognized the woman immediately.
Margaret Hale.
His late father’s younger sister.
His aunt.
The woman who had helped raise him after his mother died.
“She introduced Voss to my father,” Luca whispered.
Benjamin nodded.
“And she received payments from one of Voss’s companies for eleven years.”
Elena stepped closer.
“How much?”
“Almost nine million dollars.”
Luca sank into a chair.
He remembered Margaret visiting after his accident.
She had cried beside his hospital bed.
She had held his hand when doctors said he might never walk again.
She had encouraged him to give Voss authority over his medical care.
She had even convinced Luca to restructure parts of Moretti Holdings so he could “focus on recovery.”
Every memory suddenly looked different.
“Where is she?”
Benjamin glanced toward the window.
“According to estate security, she arrived twenty minutes ago.”
Luca looked up sharply.
As if summoned by the words, heels clicked in the hallway.
Margaret entered without knocking.
She was sixty, elegant, and perfectly calm.
Until she saw Luca sitting in a normal chair.
Her face lost all color.
“Luca.”
He smiled without warmth.
“You look disappointed.”
Margaret recovered quickly.
“I heard something happened with Adrian.”
“Dr. Voss is in police custody.”
Margaret’s hand tightened around her handbag.
“How terrible.”
Luca watched her.
“You always were a terrible liar when you were frightened.”
She stiffened.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Benjamin placed a bank statement on the desk.
Margaret looked at it.
Then at Benjamin.
Then at Luca.
Her eyes changed.
Not guilt.
Calculation.
“You should be careful,” she said quietly.
Elena stepped forward.
“Is that a threat?”
Margaret ignored her.
She looked only at Luca.
“You think Adrian created this?”
“He drugged me.”
“Yes.”
The word landed like a gunshot.
Maya gasped.
Luca stood so suddenly the chair scraped backward.
“You knew?”
Margaret’s expression remained cold.
“I knew what was necessary.”
“For what?”
“To protect the company.”
Luca laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“You poisoned me to protect my company?”
“You were going to destroy everything your father built.”
“I was thirty-one.”
“You were reckless.”
“So you stole twenty-seven million dollars?”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
“That money kept certain people loyal.”
Luca took a step toward her.
“Who?”
Margaret looked at Maya.
The girl immediately moved behind Elena.
Then Margaret smiled.
“Ask your wife.”
Elena went still.
Luca turned.
“Elena?”
Margaret’s smile deepened.
“She never told you?”
“Told me what?”
Elena looked devastated.
“Luca…”
Margaret opened her handbag.
Security moved closer.
She slowly removed an envelope and tossed it onto the desk.
A photograph slid out.
Luca picked it up.
It showed Elena outside a hotel.
Beside her stood Dr. Voss.
The date printed in the corner was seven years earlier.
Luca looked at his wife.
“You met him privately?”
Elena shook her head.
“It isn’t what she wants you to think.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
Margaret turned toward the door.
Benjamin blocked her.
“You’re not leaving.”
She laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
Her phone buzzed.
Margaret looked at the screen.
For the first time, real fear crossed her face.
Luca noticed.
“Who is it?”
She quickly locked the phone.
“No one.”
Maya suddenly pointed toward the handbag.
“Aunt Margaret.”
Margaret glared at her.
Maya swallowed.
“That phone has Dad’s company symbol on it.”
Everyone looked.
Margaret’s second phone was partially visible inside the handbag.
It was a secure executive device issued only to the highest-ranking officers of Moretti Holdings.
Luca had never authorized one for her.
Benjamin grabbed it before Margaret could react.
The screen lit up.
One message was visible.
TRANSFER FAILED. SUBJECT L IS MOBILE. INITIATE SECONDARY PLAN.
Luca’s blood ran cold.
“What does Subject L mean?”
Margaret said nothing.
Maya whispered from behind her mother.
“Maybe Luca.”
May you like
Luca looked at Margaret.
Then the estate alarms began screaming.
