Chapter 15 - THE SECOND LIE
Bell would not look at Luca.
Arthur moved slowly around the room.
“You believed Bell because he confessed.”
Luca said nothing.
“You believed Mercer because he broke.”
Arthur smiled.
“You still believe truth comes from frightened men.”
“What do you want?”
“A medical procedure.”
“My kidney.”
Arthur did not deny it.
Luca laughed once.
“You spent twelve years poisoning me so you could eventually ask me for help?”
“I spent twelve years keeping you from destroying the family.”
“The kidney is simply unfortunate timing.”
Behind Arthur, Daniel Hale watched quietly.
His hands were tied.
But his eyes moved toward Luca’s left.
A signal.
Someone was approaching.
Luca continued talking.
“You could have asked.”
“And you would have refused.”
“Yes.”
Arthur smiled.
“Exactly.”
Then Bell finally spoke.
“Arthur.”
Arthur turned.
Bell’s hands were trembling.
“This wasn’t the agreement.”
Luca watched carefully.
“What agreement?”
Bell looked at him.
“The confession.”
Arthur’s expression sharpened.
Bell had truly decided to confess.
But Arthur discovered it before Luca arrived at the nursing facility.
He forced Bell to deliver only part of the truth.
The plan was to make Luca believe Arthur desperately needed Maya.
That fear would push Luca to investigate.
To expose the hidden vault.
To locate the compatibility records.
And eventually to place Luca himself within Arthur’s reach.
“Why?”
Luca asked.
Bell’s eyes filled with shame.
“Because he threatened my daughter.”
Arthur rolled his eyes.
“Everyone becomes moral when consequences arrive.”
A sound came from outside.
Arthur’s guards reached for their radios.
Vincent’s voice suddenly came through Luca’s hidden transmitter.
“Now.”
Police entered from three directions.
Everything happened quickly.
Daniel dropped sideways.
Bell moved toward cover.
Arthur tried to escape through a rear corridor.
Luca remained where he was.
Then one of Arthur’s men struck the back of Luca’s wheelchair.
The chair tipped.
Luca fell hard onto the floor.
His baseball rolled across the concrete.
Arthur stopped.
For one strange second, uncle and nephew stared at each other.
Arthur smiled.
“Look at you.”
“Still on the floor.”
Luca placed both palms beneath himself.
His legs trembled.
Pain shot through his hips.
He remembered Maya’s voice.
Dead things don’t try.
Luca gripped a metal railing.
He pulled.
His knees moved beneath him.
Arthur’s smile disappeared.
Luca rose.
Not gracefully.
Not steadily.
May you like
But he rose.
For the first time in twelve years, Luca Costello stood in front of the man who had made him believe he never would.
