Chapter 14 - Luca's Choice

Luca answered on the seventh call.

"Before you threaten me, listen."

"Where are you?"

"Going to my mother."

"Alone?"

"She'll run if she sees your men."

"She may already be using your access."

"I know."

His voice cracked on the last word.

For the first time since we were children, Luca sounded young.

"She used my office because she knew you'd blame me. She has known my codes for years."

"Stop the car."

"No."

"Luca."

"Adrien, if my mother helped kill Bianca, I need to hear it from her."

The line went dead.

Marco traced the car.

"Moretti Holdings tower."

We found Luca on the forty-second floor standing outside his mother's private office.

The door was open.

Celeste sat behind her desk as if she had been waiting for him.

Graham Bennett stood by the window.

Alive. Calm. Silver hawk on his lapel.

Two armed men blocked the hall.

Marco's team took them down before either fired.

I entered behind Luca.

Celeste looked at me with tired disappointment.

"You always were dramatic, Adrien."

Luca stared at her. "Tell me you didn't do it."

She folded her hands.

"Do what?"

"Bianca. The babies. All of it."

Bennett spoke first. "Luca, this is more complicated than -"

"Shut up."

Celeste's eyes hardened.

"Your cousin has allowed grief to make him reckless. Moretti Holdings is bleeding. Regulators are circling. Rivals are testing us. The trust was designed for exactly this situation."

"So you terrorized infants?" I asked.

"They were never in danger."

"Tell that to the babies who screamed until they couldn't breathe."

She looked away for half a second.

That was the first crack.

Luca stepped closer. "Did you kill Bianca?"

Celeste closed her eyes.

Bennett moved toward the door.

Marco blocked him.

"Sit down."

Then Celeste said, "I did not order her death."

Not no.

Luca understood too.

"What did you order?"

"I told Graham to stop her investigation."

Bennett's face tightened.

"Celeste -"

"You promised no one would be hurt."

I looked at him.

He finally lost his calm.

"Bianca had copies. She threatened to go to federal authorities. Your father started Northstar years ago to move unreported funds. I inherited the cleanup."

"And the truck?"

Silence.

"The truck, Graham."

His eyes went flat.

"The driver was paid to frighten her. Force her car off the road. He misjudged the intersection."

Something inside me went quiet.

Not rage.

Worse.

Clarity.

Luca grabbed Bennett by the throat.

Marco pulled him off.

Celeste stood. "This does not need to destroy the family."

I stared at her.

"You keep using that word."

My phone vibrated.

An alarm from the house.

Fire.

Real this time.

Marco checked the feed.

Then looked at me.

"It's Red Hook," he said.

Not the house.

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The warehouse.

And inside it, the original records Bianca had died trying to protect were burning.