Chapter 8 - The Last Injection

The medical archive corridor remained empty.

Intentionally.

Mercer entered first.

Salvatore followed.

Two guards behind them.

Marco watched from the control room.

“Thirty meters.”

Luca sat beside him.

Emma stood behind Luca.

Belini watched another screen.

Gabriel prayed quietly.

Nobody asked him to stop.

Mercer reached the archive.

Door unlocked.

He smiled.

That told Marco enough.

“Still has credentials.”

Luca’s voice stayed flat.

“Remove them after.”

Mercer opened the inner cabinet.

Baseline scans.

Original nerve tests.

Pre-explosion treatment logs.

Everything Salvatore needed destroyed.

He placed them into a burn bag.

Emma stared.

“So that is it.”

“No,” Luca said.

Mercer opened the hard case.

Syringe.

Prepared.

Belini’s face changed.

“What is he doing?”

Ruiz leaned toward the screen.

“That dose is not for records.”

Luca already knew.

Mercer expected him.

Salvatore looked directly into the camera.

Then smiled.

“He knows we’re watching,” Emma said.

The corridor speaker activated.

Salvatore’s voice filled the control room.

“Luca.”

Luca pressed the microphone.

“Uncle.”

Emma felt the word land.

Salvatore smiled wider.

“You look well.”

“You look alive.”

“Technicality.”

“Fraud.”

“Also technical.”

Belini whispered, “He really is a Moretti.”

Luca ignored her.

Salvatore held up the syringe.

“Come downstairs.”

“No.”

“Then the records burn.”

“Burn them.”

Salvatore’s smile weakened.

Emma looked at Luca.

He meant it.

The evidence mattered.

But not enough to obey.

Salvatore tried again.

“Your father built everything in those files.”

“My father built enough without them.”

“You’ll lose the trusts.”

“Good.”

Marco looked at him.

Luca continued.

“I don’t need assets that require me to remain disabled.”

Salvatore’s face hardened.

Finally.

The mask slipping.

“You ungrateful little—”

Luca cut the microphone.

Emma blinked.

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“He has a syringe.”

“Yes.”

“He has your records.”

“Yes.”

“And you hung up on him.”

“He dislikes that.”

Marco almost smiled.

Then Salvatore did exactly what Luca expected.

He left the archive.

Mercer followed.

They headed toward the private elevator.

Toward Luca.

Marco’s men waited on two floors.

Not visible.

Not moving.

Salvatore entered the control level.

Doors opened.

He expected guards.

Instead, Luca waited alone in the center of the corridor.

In his wheelchair.

Emma’s heart stopped.

“What is he doing?”

Marco answered quietly.

“Ending it his way.”

Salvatore approached.

Mercer beside him.

Syringe ready.

“You should have stayed downstairs,” Salvatore said.

Luca looked at the needle.

“Seven years of that.”

Mercer swallowed.

Salvatore remained calm.

“You survived.”

“That is your defense?”

“I prevented a civil war.”

“You created a patient.”

“You created an empire because I gave you time.”

Luca’s eyes hardened.

“No.”

He placed both hands on the wheelchair arms.

“You gave yourself control.”

Then he pushed.

Emma stopped breathing.

Luca stood.

Not easily.

Not steadily.

But fully.

Salvatore’s face emptied.

Mercer stepped backward.

Belini whispered from the monitoring room, “Oh my God.”

Luca held the wall with one hand.

His legs shook.

He did not sit.

“You lost,” he said.

Salvatore stared at him.

“No.”

For the first time, fear.

Real fear.

Mercer moved with the syringe.

Marco’s men appeared before he took two steps.

No gunfire.

No struggle worth remembering.

The syringe fell.

Marco caught Mercer.

Two guards restrained Salvatore.

Luca remained standing.

Emma reached him.

“Sit down.”

“No.”

“You’ve made your point.”

“Not yet.”

He looked at Salvatore.

Then took one step.

Left foot.

Unsteady.

Real.

Salvatore’s face changed.

A second step.

Right foot dragged slightly.

Still real.

Emma stayed beside him without touching until he reached the wheelchair.

Then Luca sat.

Breathing hard.

Salvatore stared.

Luca looked at him.

“You kept the wrong man alive.”

Marco removed the syringe from the floor.

Ruiz examined it.

Her expression darkened.

“This is not the usual blocker.”

Emma looked at her.

“What is it?”

Ruiz answered carefully.

“A dose strong enough to cause permanent damage.”

Belini went white.

Luca looked at Mercer.

“So tonight was the last injection.”

Mercer closed his eyes.

Salvatore said nothing.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

He did not need to.

The last attempt had failed.