Chapter 3
Red security lights flashed through the mansion.
“Lockdown initiated,” the automated system announced.
Luca grabbed the desk for balance.
Benjamin looked at the secure phone.
“Someone triggered the internal emergency protocol.”
“That requires executive authorization,” Luca said.
Margaret smiled faintly.
“I told you Adrian wasn’t alone.”
Elena pulled Maya closer.
The library doors suddenly locked.
Luca turned toward the security panel.
“Override.”
ACCESS DENIED.
His face hardened.
“Again.”
ACCESS DENIED.
Benjamin stared at him.
“Someone removed your access.”
Luca almost laughed.
For twelve years, Voss had controlled his body.
Now someone was trying to take control of his home.
A crash sounded downstairs.
Then shouting.
Maya flinched.
Luca moved toward the door.
His legs shook.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“You can barely stand.”
“I can stand enough.”
He picked up Margaret’s secure phone.
“Who is Subject L?”
Margaret remained silent.
Luca slammed the phone onto the desk.
“Who?”
“You,” she finally said.
Elena went pale.
“What is the secondary plan?”
Margaret looked toward the locked door.
“You should worry less about me and more about the people downstairs.”
A voice suddenly came through the intercom.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Luca recognized it.
Samuel Reed.
His head of security.
The man who had protected his family for nine years.
“Samuel, unlock this room.”
“I’m afraid I can’t.”
Luca stared at the speaker.
Benjamin whispered, “He’s involved.”
Samuel continued.
“Please remain where you are.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Are you threatening my family?”
“No. I’m preventing you from making things worse.”
“For whom?”
Silence.
Then Samuel answered.
“For everyone.”
The intercom clicked off.
Margaret closed her eyes.
“You shouldn’t have arrested Adrian before understanding the structure.”
Luca turned on her.
“What structure?”
“The one that kept your company alive while you played crippled king from a wheelchair.”
Elena slapped her.
Margaret staggered.
“You helped destroy twelve years of his life!”
Margaret touched her cheek.
“And you helped me.”
Luca looked at Elena again.
“Elena.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I met Voss because I suspected him.”
Margaret laughed.
Elena ignored her.
“Seven years ago, I noticed your medication changed whenever you became stronger. I confronted him at that hotel.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he threatened Maya.”
Luca’s face changed.
Maya stared at her mother.
“What?”
Elena knelt beside her daughter.
“You were a baby. He showed me photographs of your nursery. He knew your nanny’s schedule. He said if I interfered, you would disappear.”
Luca looked physically sick.
“And you stayed silent for seven years?”
“I started collecting evidence.”
“Where?”
Elena hesitated.
“In a safety-deposit box.”
Margaret’s expression suddenly sharpened.
Luca noticed.
“You didn’t know about that.”
Margaret said nothing.
Elena stood.
“I documented prescription changes, transfers, names, dates. Everything I could find.”
Benjamin looked hopeful.
“That could destroy their entire network.”
A loud bang hit the library door.
Maya screamed.
Another bang.
Someone was trying to enter.
Luca grabbed a bronze fireplace tool.
Benjamin took the second one.
Margaret backed away.
The door burst open.
Samuel Reed entered with two guards.
Their weapons remained holstered.
“Mr. Moretti,” Samuel said, “you need to come with me.”
“No.”
Samuel looked exhausted rather than angry.
“Please.”
“Did Margaret pay you?”
Samuel glanced at her.
“No.”
“Voss?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Before Samuel could answer, one of the guards behind him suddenly pulled a weapon.
Samuel spun.
The guard struck him across the head.
Samuel collapsed.
Everything exploded into motion.
Benjamin tackled the second guard.
Elena dragged Maya behind the desk.
Luca swung the fireplace tool and knocked the weapon from the attacker’s hand.
The man rushed him.
Luca’s weak leg buckled.
He fell.
The attacker reached inside his jacket.
Maya grabbed Margaret’s medical folder and threw it into his face.
It bought Luca one second.
One second was enough.
Samuel, bleeding from the temple, grabbed the attacker’s ankle and pulled him down.
Benjamin pinned him.
The second guard raised both hands.
“I’m not with him!”
Luca breathed heavily from the floor.
Samuel looked at him.
“You wanted to know who is behind this?”
“Yes.”
Samuel wiped blood from his forehead.
“Your father.”
Luca stared.
“My father died fourteen years ago.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
The room became completely silent.
“He didn’t.”
