Chapter 13 - THE LAST FILEThe bullet that killed Anthony was impossible to trace.
The weapon was gone.
The shooter was gone.
The river carried no evidence.
But Anthony's folder remained.
Inside was the truth about Luca's paralysis.
The poison had been real.
The neurological damage had been real.
But the purpose had been different.
Twelve years earlier, federal investigators had been preparing to dismantle the Costello organization.
Connor had discovered an informant inside his own family.
A person selling information to the government.
The problem was that the informant had access to everything.
Names.
Accounts.
Locations.
Operations.
Connor believed Luca was the target.
So he staged Luca's death within the organization.
The poison would make him useless.
The wheelchair would make him politically irrelevant.
And the world would believe Luca had been removed.
Anthony was supposed to protect the empire until Luca could be restored.
But Anthony became addicted to power.
He never intended to give it back.
The most horrifying document was near the end.
A list of names.
Each marked with a date.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Security officers.
Accountants.
Witnesses.
Every person who had suspected the truth had died.
The final name was Elena Harper.
Luca stared at it.
Her name had been added twelve years ago.
Long before she became his housekeeper.
"Why was she marked?"
Elena looked at the page.
"I don't know."
Maya stood beside her.
Then she noticed something.
"Mom."
Elena looked down.
Maya was pointing at the signature.
"That's not the same ink."
Luca leaned closer.
She was right.
The list had been amended recently.
Elena's name had been added within the last month.
Someone had just ordered her death.
The realization hit like ice water.
The danger was not twelve years old.
It was happening now.
Luca grabbed his phone.
"No calls."
"Why?"
"They know the old numbers."
He looked at Elena.
"We disappear tonight."
They packed only what they could carry.
By midnight, the estate was empty.
Or so Luca thought.
As they moved toward the gate, a car blocked the road.
The driver stepped out.
Viktor Sloane.
Alive.
Luca raised his weapon.
Viktor smiled.
"You really thought that bullet killed me?"
Luca looked at Maya.
"Get behind me."
Viktor shook his head.
"I'm not here to hurt you."
"Then why are you here?"
"I came to tell you something your father never had the courage to say."
"What?"
Viktor looked directly at Maya.
"She isn't the second heir."
Luca froze.
"Then who is?"
Viktor pointed toward the car.
Tommy stepped out.
But he was not alone.
A woman walked beside him.
Elena's face went white.
She whispered:
"Sarah?"
Tommy's mother.
The woman officially dead for nine years.
She looked at Luca.
Then she smiled.
"Hello, Luca."
Maya stepped forward.
"Mom?"
Elena could barely breathe.
"That's impossible."
Sarah looked at her.
"No."
May you like
Then she raised a gun.
"It's exactly what your family wanted everyone to believe."
