Chapter 6 - The File Beneath the Family Tomb

The Moretti mausoleum stood north of the city behind iron gates and old trees.

Rain followed them.

Of course it did.

Emma was beginning to think Moretti secrets required weather.

Luca noticed.

“You’re smiling.”

“No.”

“You are.”

“I was thinking your family has terrible timing.”

“That is generous.”

Marco opened the crypt.

Cold stone.

Marble names.

Dead Morettis arranged neatly.

Salvatore’s plaque was there.

SALVATORE MORETTI.

BELOVED UNCLE.

LOYAL GUARDIAN.

Luca stared at it.

“Optimistic.”

Marco almost laughed.

Behind the plaque was a metal box.

Gabriel’s key opened it.

Inside were three files.

YACHT.

TRUST.

MERCER.

Luca chose YACHT.

The explosion had been blamed on a fuel-line failure.

The original report said otherwise.

Explosive residue.

Remote trigger.

Device placed below Luca’s private cabin.

Emma’s stomach tightened.

“Who had access?”

Marco turned the page.

Five people.

Luca.

The captain.

Two engineers.

And Matteo Vieri.

Luca frowned.

“Vieri was Salvatore’s driver.”

Marco kept reading.

Vieri confessed three weeks after the explosion.

Not to police.

To Father Gabriel.

Payment ordered by Salvatore Moretti.

Amount: two million.

Luca closed his eyes.

Belini whispered, “So he did try to kill you.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“No.”

Everyone looked at him.

He pointed to the device diagram.

“The bomb was placed under Luca’s cabin.”

“Yes,” Marco said.

“But Luca was not in the cabin.”

Luca remembered.

He had gone to the upper deck after an argument.

With Salvatore.

Gabriel’s voice became quiet.

“Salvatore knew where Luca was.”

Emma understood.

“The bomb was not meant to kill him.”

Marco looked at the blast pattern.

“It was meant to injure him.”

Silence.

Luca’s face became empty.

The explosion.

The spinal injury.

The trust.

The injections.

One plan.

Not opportunity.

Design.

Belini sat down on the stone bench.

“My God.”

Luca opened the TRUST file.

The steward clause had been amended two weeks before the explosion.

Signed by Salvatore.

Witnessed by Gabriel.

Medical contingency language added by Dr. Mercer.

Luca looked at Gabriel.

“You signed this before the yacht.”

Gabriel looked sick.

“I thought it was estate planning.”

“You didn’t read it?”

“I trusted Salvatore.”

Luca laughed once.

No humor.

“That disease appears hereditary.”

Emma looked at the last file.

MERCER.

Inside were payment schedules.

Seven years.

Weekly.

Every injection.

Every fabricated scan.

Every neurological exam.

Every time Luca had been told recovery was impossible.

Paid through a foundation controlled by Salvatore.

Then Emma saw a final envelope.

Dated two months ago.

She opened it.

Belini’s name.

Not payment.

A threat.

Photographs of Belini’s younger brother, Adrian, entering rehab.

Medical records.

Private debts.

A note.

CONTINUE COOPERATION OR HE LOSES EVERYTHING.

Belini went white.

Luca looked at her.

“He blackmailed you.”

“For months.”

“You still could have told me.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because every person who tried to tell you something disappeared.”

Luca stared.

She continued.

“Mercer told me the house was listening. Gabriel visited after every injection. Salvatore was dead and still signing orders. I did not know who was yours.”

Emma understood.

“So she waited until she could replace the syringe.”

Belini nodded.

“I wanted one thing first.”

Luca’s voice remained hard.

“Proof.”

“Yes.”

He looked away.

Anger and understanding did not cancel each other.

Marco’s phone buzzed.

“Jet never left.”

Luca looked at him.

“Why?”

“It was a decoy.”

Of course.

“Salvatore?”

“Still in Manhattan.”

Emma frowned.

“Where?”

Marco’s face changed.

“Grand Aurelia.”

They all looked at each other.

The hotel.

The private floor.

The room where the towels fell.

Belini whispered, “He went back for something.”

Luca looked at the MERCER file.

Then at Emma.

“The medical cart.”

She understood.

“The black device.”

Marco nodded.

“It wasn’t controlling cameras.”

“No.”

Luca’s expression hardened.

“It was recording nerve response.”

Ruiz had said sensation was returning.

Salvatore needed to know how much.

Emma felt cold.

“He was testing Luca.”

Belini whispered, “And when the towels exposed it…”

Marco finished.

“He knew the injections were failing.”

Luca turned toward the exit.

“Then he knows the chair is temporary.”

Gabriel looked at him.

“Luca.”

Luca stopped.

Gabriel’s eyes dropped toward his legs.

“If sensation is returning, you may recover.”

Luca stared at the marble floor.

Then at the false grave of the man who stole seven years.

“No.”

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His voice was quiet.

“I am going to recover.”