Chapter 11 - THE FAMILY TABLE
Salvatore demanded that Luca enter the greenhouse alone.
Marisol refused.
Luca contacted him through the video system.
“You want the companies.”
“I want what I have managed for twelve years.”
“You managed them because you stole my body.”
“I preserved your throne.”
“You built your own chair beneath it.”
Salvatore laughed.
He said Luca had always been Vittorio’s favorite.
No matter how loyal Salvatore was, he remained the younger brother who inherited nothing.
When Luca announced plans to legalize the empire, Salvatore saw everything he had sacrificed disappearing.
The poison gave him time.
Then time became control.
“Why keep me alive?” Luca asked.
“A dead king creates war.”
“A broken king creates obedience.”
Bianca closed her eyes.
She had supported the early plan because she believed it would last several weeks.
Salvatore extended it without telling her.
When she discovered the injections continued, he threatened to expose her involvement.
“You could have told me,” Luca said.
Bianca looked at him through the camera.
“I was afraid you would hate me.”
“So you allowed me to lose twelve years.”
“Yes.”
The answer contained no excuse.
Only shame.
Salvatore demanded Luca sign documents transferring every company and property.
In return, he would release Bianca and Grace.
Luca agreed to meet him in the formal dining room.
The same room where Vittorio once held family councils.
Marisol placed a transmitter beneath Luca’s chair.
Gabriel concealed a weapon inside the frame.
Elena remained in the command vehicle with Maya and Tommy.
Before Luca left, Maya wrapped a red dance ribbon around his wrist.
“For luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck.”
“Then use it for remembering.”
“Remembering what?”
“That you promised to come back.”
Luca entered the mansion through the front doors.
Salvatore waited at the long dining table.
Bianca and Grace sat at opposite ends under guard.
Documents lay before Luca’s empty place.
Salvatore smiled.
“You always did need to be carried into the room.”
Luca wheeled forward.
“And you always needed me seated before you felt tall.”
Salvatore’s smile vanished.
Luca signed the first page.
Then the second.
The third contained a hidden transfer authorizing immediate movement of forty million dollars.
Luca stopped.
“You’re running.”
“I’m retiring.”
“To a country without extradition.”
Salvatore raised his glass.
“Your father taught me to plan ahead.”
Luca looked at the red ribbon around his wrist.
Then he pulled it loose and dropped it.
That was Marisol’s signal.
The dining-room windows shattered inward.
Agents entered.
Gunfire erupted.
May you like
Salvatore seized Bianca and pressed a weapon against her head.
Then he dragged her through the hidden door behind Vittorio’s portrait.
