Chapter 14 - The Father Luca Buried
Vittorio Costello had been dead for ten years.
Luca had spent those years respecting him.
Defending him.
Building charitable foundations in his name.
Now Rebecca opened a sealed archive box Vittorio had ordered locked until Luca’s fiftieth birthday.
Luca was forty-eight.
Rebecca broke the seal anyway.
Inside were letters.
Financial records.
And one audio cassette.
Marcus found an old player.
Vittorio’s voice filled the study.
“If Luca discovers what Dominic has been doing, he’ll destroy the family to save his conscience.”
Luca’s face went cold.
Another voice answered.
Dominic.
“Then stop him.”
Vittorio continued.
“I won’t kill my son.”
Elena gripped the chair beside her.
Dominic said, “There are other ways.”
The recording ended.
Maya had not been allowed in the room.
Luca was grateful.
For years he had believed his father represented the brutal but loyal center of their family.
Now he understood something uglier.
Vittorio had approved Luca’s initial incapacitation.
Dominic had turned temporary betrayal into twelve years of control.
Caterina discovered the plan too late.
She tried to pay Dominic to leave.
When he refused, she spent years quietly gathering evidence.
She never confessed because she feared Elena and Maya would become targets.
Luca sat alone after everyone left.
Elena returned near midnight.
“You believed in him.”
“Yes.”
“That hurts more than Dominic.”
“Yes.”
She sat beside him.
“My father taught me that family protects you.”
Luca stared toward the dark window.
“Mine taught me family protects itself.”
Elena’s hand rested beside his.
Not touching.
Close.
“Which one are you going to teach Maya?”
Luca looked at her.
Before he could answer, the study door opened.
Rebecca stood there.
Her face was white.
“What happened?”
“The court order.”
“What about it?”
“Someone leaked our strategy to Dominic.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
Only four people knew the full legal plan.
Rebecca.
Marcus.
Elena.
And Luca.
Rebecca swallowed.
“Dominic filed against every point before we submitted them.”
Luca felt the betrayal before he knew the name.
Someone inside the room was still feeding Dominic information.
May you like
And the leak had come from the person Luca trusted most.
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