Chapter 3 - The Signature
Luca did not confront Dominic.
That surprised everyone who knew him.
The old Luca would have summoned his uncle immediately.
He would have put the document on the table and watched Dominic explain himself.
Twelve years in a wheelchair had taught Luca patience.
Maya had taught him something harder.
Observation.
He ordered his investigator, Marcus Hale, to trace every person who had touched his medical records during the first six months after his collapse.
The list contained twenty-seven names.
Nurses.
Neurologists.
Administrators.
Insurance representatives.
And one man who had no medical reason to be there.
Dominic.
The amendment signed by Dominic authorized the transfer of Luca’s records to a private neurological clinic outside Chicago.
That clinic had closed nine years earlier.
Its owner, Dr. Samuel Grayson, had vanished from public medicine soon afterward.
Marcus found him in Arizona.
“He lives alone,” Marcus said through Luca’s secure phone.
“Does Dominic know we found him?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way.”
Luca turned his chair toward the rehabilitation equipment recently installed inside the private gym.
Dr. Rachel Kim stood beside the parallel bars.
She was the first physician Luca had hired who had never spoken to Dominic.
She did not promise miracles.
That was why Luca trusted her.
“We start small,” she said.
“How small?”
“You attempt to move one toe.”
Luca stared at her.
“That is insulting.”
“So is twelve years of being lied to.”
Maya laughed from the doorway.
Luca turned.
Elena stood behind her carrying folded towels.
Maya pointed toward his feet.
“Do it.”
“Maya.”
“One toe.”
Luca sighed.
Then he closed his eyes.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Sweat formed along his forehead from an effort no one else could see.
Still nothing.
Maya stopped smiling.
Luca tried a third time.
His left shoe trembled.
Everyone froze.
The movement was tiny.
Almost invisible.
But Rachel saw it.
Elena saw it.
Maya definitely saw it.
“I told you!”
She ran forward before Elena could stop her.
“Your leg is waking up!”
Luca looked down.
For twelve years, his body had been described to him as a permanent ruin.
That tiny movement felt like rebellion.
Then Marcus called again.
His voice had changed.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Grayson is gone.”
Luca’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Gone where?”
“Nobody knows.”
Marcus paused.
“But his house was searched before we arrived.”
Luca looked toward Elena and Maya.
May you like
Someone else knew he was investigating.
And that meant the danger was no longer twelve years in the past.
