Chapter 10 - THE MAN CLOSEST TO HIM
Victor was waiting in the mansion's private study.
He stood beside the fireplace with a glass of whiskey in his hand. The room was quiet, the curtains drawn, and the family photographs had been removed from the shelves.
“You came,” Victor said.
“You asked.”
Victor smiled faintly. “I thought you'd bring an army.”
“I don't need one.”
“You always did mistake confidence for strength.”
Lucas walked toward the desk.
“Where is Celia?”
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere you won't find her.”
Lucas looked at him.
“You stole my son.”
“I saved him.”
“You erased his identity. You made me bury him while he was alive.”
Victor's face hardened.
“Your father built this family to survive. You wanted to turn it into a chain of restaurants and office buildings.”
“I wanted to stop burying people.”
“And that made you weak.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“Did you tamper with my inhaler?”
Victor set down his glass.
“Yes.”
The answer was so casual that Lucas felt something inside him go cold.
“Why?”
“Because the old Lucas would never have surrendered the empire. You were becoming sentimental. You were distracted by a housekeeper's child, by memories, by the fantasy that you could become an ordinary man.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“I tried to remove a problem.”
“And Isabella?”
Victor's eyes flickered.
“She was never supposed to be in the car.”
Lucas's hands curled.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Your wife found out about the warehouse operation. She was going to take Daniel and leave. Celia arranged to move the boy. The crash was supposed to end the problem.”
“You killed her.”
Victor looked away.
“She chose the wrong side.”
Lucas moved so quickly that Victor barely had time to step back. But before Lucas could reach him, the study doors opened.
Daniel entered with two investigators.
“It's over, Victor.”
Victor's hand moved toward the drawer.
“Don't,” Daniel warned.
For a moment, the room seemed to stop.
Then Victor laughed.
“You think a few police officers can dismantle the Moretti family?”
“No,” Lucas said. “But they can arrest you.”
Victor looked at him with something close to pity.
“You still don't understand. I was the one who kept this family together. I was the one who protected you.”
“You were the one who destroyed it.”
Victor lunged toward the drawer.
The investigators moved at once. One seized his arm while the other forced him against the desk. A small pistol fell from his jacket and skidded across the floor.
Victor struggled, but the officers restrained him and read him his rights.
As they led him away, he turned toward Lucas.
“You'll never be safe. There are others.”
Lucas did not answer.
He watched the man who had stood beside him for fifteen years disappear through the doorway.
Only when the door closed did he realize his hands were shaking.
Daniel approached.
“It's done.”
May you like
Lucas looked toward the family photograph on the desk.
“No,” he said quietly. “Now I have to bring my son home.”
