Chapter 8: The Truth in the Study
Adrian barely had time to step forward before Everett turned toward him.
For fifteen years, Luca had imagined his brother's final moments.
A car wreck.
A body.
A funeral.
A grave.
None of those memories prepared him for this.
Adrian was alive.
Scarred.
Thin.
His hair touched with gray.
But his eyes were the same.
Luca crossed the room in three strides.
Adrian caught him.
For several seconds, neither brother spoke.
Luca gripped the back of Adrian's coat.
“You're alive.””
Adrian laughed once, painfully.
“So are you.””
Luca pulled back.
“You let me think you were dead.””
“I tried to come back.””
“When?””
“Again and again.””
“Why didn't you?””
Adrian looked past him.
At Everett.
“Because Dad made sure every road home led to someone getting hurt.””
Everett's expression remained calm.
“Still blaming me?””
Adrian stepped forward.
“You locked me away.””
“I kept you alive.””
“You murdered the man who helped me escape.””
Luca's head snapped toward his father.
“What man?””
Adrian looked at Elena.
Her face had gone pale.
“Her father.””
Elena shook her head.
“No.””
Adrian nodded slowly.
“He was helping me expose Dad.””
Everett raised his cane.
“Enough.””
Luca turned toward him.
“No.””
His father's eyes narrowed.
Luca had never spoken to him that way.
“Tell me the truth.””
“You couldn't handle the truth.””
“I can handle it now.””
Adrian pointed toward the study.
“The evidence is still there.””
Everett moved.
Luca blocked him.
“You're not going anywhere.””
Everett's voice became cold.
“Move.””
“No.””
“You don't understand what you're protecting.””
Adrian said, “He's protecting himself.””
Luca looked at him.
“What is in the study?””
“Everything.””
They entered the study together.
Victoria followed.
Elena remained in the doorway.
The room smelled of leather and old paper.
Luca remembered it exactly.
His father's desk.
The fireplace.
The portrait above the mantel.
Even the clock that had stopped at 2:17.
Adrian walked directly to the bookshelf.
“Help me.””
He pulled out a thick red book.
Nothing happened.
Then he removed another.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside were dozens of files.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Contracts.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Luca picked up the first file.
His stomach turned.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police commanders.
Business partners.
People who had attended his wedding.
People who had attended his father's funeral.
Adrian watched him.
“Dad didn't just control businesses.””
Luca looked up.
“What did he control?””
“People.””
Victoria whispered, “And anyone who tried to leave disappeared.””
Luca turned to her.
“You were one of them.””
She nodded.
“He threatened my family.””
“What did he promise you?””
“To destroy everyone I loved.””
Luca's eyes hardened.
“So you chose me.””
“I chose survival.””
Adrian shook his head.
“She chose you because Dad ordered her to.””
Victoria flinched.
Luca looked at her.
“Is that true?””
“Yes.””
The answer was barely audible.
“When?””
“Eight years ago.””
“Before we met?””
“Yes.””
Luca's face tightened.
Adrian placed another file on the desk.
“This is the part you need to see.””
Luca opened it.
Inside was his own birth certificate.
Then Adrian's.
Then another document.
Luca frowned.
“What is this?””
Adrian didn't answer.
Luca read the name.
His hands went cold.
*GUARDIANSHIP TRANSFER — LUCA VALE.*
He looked up.
“This says Dad wasn't my legal father.””
Adrian's face went still.
“No.””
Luca read further.
The document listed a woman he had never heard of.
*Marianne Cross.*
He stared.
“Who is Marianne Cross?””
Victoria whispered, “Your mother.””
Luca slowly turned.
“My mother died when I was six.””
Adrian shook his head.
“She didn't.””
Luca's mouth went dry.
“What?””
“Dad told us she died.””
“Why?””
“Because she discovered what he was doing.””
Luca dropped the document.
“Where is she?””
Adrian looked toward the locked drawer of the desk.
“That's what we never found out.””
Everett's voice came from behind them.
“She is exactly where she belongs.””
Luca spun around.
His father stood in the doorway.
A gun was not in his hand.
Instead, he held something much smaller.
A silver key.
The same family crest.
Luca stared.
“The second key.””
Everett smiled.
“Yes.””
He inserted it into the desk.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a single video recorder.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Dad, don't.””
Everett pressed a button.
The screen flickered.
A woman appeared.
Late thirties.
Dark hair.
Tired eyes.
Luca stopped breathing.
He knew that face.
Not from memory.
From the photograph taped inside his childhood bedroom.
His mother.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Luca, if you're watching this, your father failed to keep you away from the truth.””
Luca stepped closer.
The woman continued.
“Your father will tell you I abandoned you.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't.””
The video cut abruptly.
The room went dark.
Then the study door slammed shut.
Everett was gone.
Adrian rushed to the handle.
Locked.
Victoria screamed.
Elena ran toward the windows.
And beneath the floor, a mechanism began to turn.
May you like
Luca looked down.
The study floor was opening.
