Chapter 12 - THE PRICE OF LOYALTYMarco had been working for Anthony.
Not recently.
For twelve years.
Every report.
Every medical appointment.
Every business decision.
Everything.
Luca had trusted him because Marco had been the one man who never left his side.
Turns out that had been the point.
Luca escaped the station through a maintenance tunnel.
He emerged outside the city.
Elena found him an hour later.
She looked at his bloodied clothes.
"What happened?"
"Marco."
Her face fell.
"He's alive?"
"Unfortunately."
Maya was in the back seat.
She threw herself into Luca's arms.
He held her.
Then he noticed something.
A bruise around her wrist.
His face hardened.
"Who touched you?"
"No one."
"Maya."
She looked away.
"Someone asked me about Tommy."
"Who?"
She whispered:
"Uncle Anthony."
Luca closed his eyes.
"Did he hurt you?"
"No."
She looked up.
"He was scared."
Luca frowned.
"What?"
"He kept saying Tommy would ruin everything."
Luca looked at Elena.
The pieces were becoming clear.
Tommy wasn't merely the second heir.
He was evidence.
Evidence of something Anthony needed buried.
They went back to the estate.
Luca locked it down.
No staff.
No outsiders.
No phones.
He opened Connor's old files.
They found a photograph of Tommy's mother.
Her name was Sarah Reyes.
Tommy's last name was not supposed to be Reyes.
It was Costello.
Sarah had been one of Connor's accountants.
She had discovered transfers between Voss Laboratories and Anthony's shell companies.
She had also discovered something worse.
Anthony had been secretly siphoning money from the family trust.
Sarah threatened to expose him.
Three weeks later, she died in a car accident.
Tommy survived.
Connor hid him.
Or so they thought.
Luca stared at the records.
"Connor knew."
Elena nodded.
"And he protected Tommy."
"Until Anthony found him."
A phone rang.
Luca answered.
Anthony.
"You know now."
"Where is Tommy?"
"Come to the river."
"Why?"
"Because I have something you need."
"What?"
"Your original medical file."
Luca froze.
Anthony laughed.
"The real one."
They met at the river at midnight.
Anthony stood alone.
No visible weapons.
He held a folder.
"You were poisoned," he said.
"I know."
"You were poisoned because our father ordered it."
"I know."
"But here's what you don't know."
Anthony opened the folder.
The original scan from the night Luca collapsed.
Luca stared.
There was no stroke.
No vascular damage.
The image showed clean arteries.
Anthony whispered:
"Your father wanted you alive."
Luca looked at him.
"Then why?"
"Because he needed a son who could disappear."
"What are you talking about?"
Anthony smiled.
"Your paralysis was a disguise."
Luca froze.
"For what?"
Anthony's smile vanished.
"Because someone was coming for the family."
"Who?"
Anthony looked toward the dark river.
Then he whispered:
"The federal government."
A shot rang out.
Anthony fell.
Luca turned.
Across the river stood a man wearing a black coat.
He lowered a rifle.
Then disappeared.
Luca looked down.
Anthony was bleeding.
He grabbed Luca's sleeve.
May you like
"Don't trust the government."
Then he died.
