Chapter 8 - THE DOCTOR WHO LIED
Samuel Bell looked twenty years older than Luca remembered.
His hands trembled.
His skin had the gray pallor of a man whose body was slowly surrendering.
But his eyes remained sharp.
When Luca entered in his wheelchair, Bell began crying before a single question was asked.
“I wondered if you would ever learn.”
Luca positioned himself beside the bed.
“Tell me everything.”
Bell closed his eyes.
Arthur approached him thirteen years earlier.
Luca had begun consolidating family businesses and preparing to remove several older executives who were siphoning money.
Arthur was among them.
He stood to lose influence, access, and millions.
But killing Luca would have created chaos.
A dead leader produced investigations.
A disabled leader produced sympathy.
Arthur wanted Luca alive.
Dependent.
Manageable.
Bell had access to an experimental compound being studied for severe nerve disorders.
In controlled doses, it temporarily interrupted certain neurological signals.
Arthur paid him to manipulate the dosage.
“I thought it would last months.”
Bell’s voice cracked.
“Not years.”
“Why didn’t you stop it?”
“Because Arthur had evidence of what I’d done.”
Bell admitted that the initial poison had been delivered gradually through supplements Luca took after workouts.
When Luca collapsed, Bell diagnosed a vascular event.
The scans were deliberately misinterpreted.
Later, Mercer assumed responsibility for maintaining the deception.
Luca’s fingers tightened around the armrest.
“What did Arthur know about Elena?”
Bell looked startled.
“Everything.”
Luca went still.
Arthur had followed Luca throughout that summer because he feared Luca was preparing to leave parts of the family business.
When Arthur discovered Elena, he considered her a vulnerability.
When he discovered she was pregnant, she became something worse.
An heir.
A child gave Luca a reason to restructure the empire permanently.
“So he separated us.”
Bell nodded.
“But Elena wasn’t supposed to work for you.”
“What?”
Bell swallowed.
“Arthur found her before she applied.”
Luca felt the room narrow.
“Explain.”
“He arranged the job opening.”
Elena had not entered the estate by chance.
Someone had made sure she saw the advertisement.
Someone had ensured her application reached the top.
Someone had placed Maya close enough to Luca to be discovered.
“Why?”
Bell looked toward the doorway.
“Because Arthur needs the girl now.”
“For what?”
Bell’s breathing became shallow.
“He’s dying.”
Luca leaned closer.
“And he needs a blood relative.”
Luca’s expression changed.
Bell whispered the final words.
May you like
“Not for money.”
“For survival.”
