Chapter 14 - THE MAN WITH THE PERFECT ALIBI
Samuel Pierce had not disappeared from the estate.
He had been released.
That distinction mattered.
Someone had opened the security gate.
Someone had disabled his tracking device.
Someone had provided a vehicle.
Someone inside Luca’s own command structure had chosen Pierce over him.
But none of that mattered during the first five seconds after Teresa fell.
Luca saw blood against her shoulder.
Not catastrophic.
But enough.
The medication case slid across the floor.
He moved toward it.
A shoe stepped on the handle.
Pierce.
Luca looked up.
The attorney stood in darkness holding a gun.
“You.”
Pierce looked tired.
“Unfortunately.”
“You controlled Bellweather.”
“Sometimes.”
“Vale.”
“Sometimes.”
“Caruso.”
“Never.”
Pierce smiled faintly.
“Dominic was always annoyingly independent.”
“Did you order the maintenance dosing?”
“Yes.”
The direct answer shocked Luca more than denial.
“Why?”
“Because you were useful.”
The words were almost identical to Caruso’s explanation.
Luca’s hands tightened.
“You stole twelve years.”
“No.”
“Your father stole the beginning.”
“Vale stole your recovery.”
“I preserved the arrangement.”
Luca stared.
“You admit it.”
“There is little value in lying now.”
“Why Maya?”
Pierce looked toward Teresa.
“Ask your mother.”
“She wanted Bellweather destroyed.”
“Eventually.”
Pierce smiled.
“She also created it.”
Teresa groaned.
Luca looked toward her.
“Stay awake.”
Pierce lifted the gun.
“Do not move.”
Luca looked back.
“My medical team is downstairs.”
“Not anymore.”
A distant explosion shook the building.
Smoke began drifting beneath the door.
Luca realized Pierce had planned more than a confrontation.
“You set the fire.”
“A small one.”
“Enough to evacuate.”
“Exactly.”
“Then why stay?”
Pierce looked at the medical case.
“Because I need what she has.”
“The formula.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Without it, Vale is no longer necessary.”
Luca stared.
“So Vale is alive.”
“For the moment.”
“Where?”
Pierce smiled.
“You ask excellent questions very late.”
Luca’s heart monitor sounded again.
Irregular.
His chest tightened.
Pierce noticed.
“You have perhaps thirty hours before withdrawal becomes dangerous.”
“So you knew.”
“I know your medicine better than you do.”
Luca felt disgust.
“You built your life around my weakness.”
“No.”
Pierce crouched slightly.
“I built your weakness around my life.”
The sentence revealed everything.
Not motive.
Mindset.
Samuel Pierce did not consider Luca a person he had betrayed.
He considered him an asset whose condition had been managed.
Luca heard movement in the hallway.
Harris.
Pierce heard it too.
He lifted the gun.
“Tell him to stay out.”
“No.”
Pierce aimed at Teresa.
Luca’s voice turned cold.
“Harris.”
The movement stopped.
“Stay.”
Pierce smiled.
“See?”
“Still useful.”
Luca looked toward the medication case.
“What do you want?”
“Bellweather documents.”
“They are at the estate.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Teresa has the original authority keys.”
Teresa laughed weakly from the floor.
“You still think I kept them.”
Pierce’s face changed.
“Where are they?”
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“Transferred.”
“To whom?”
Teresa looked at Luca.
Pierce followed her eyes.
“No.”
Teresa smiled despite the pain.
“To Maya.”
Luca stared.
“What?”
Pierce became pale.
“You couldn’t.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“The moment her paternity test entered Bellweather’s verification network.”
Luca’s breathing stopped.
The DNA test.
Someone had accessed it.
Teresa continued.
“Bellweather recognized a direct descendant.”
“The old contingency activated.”
“Control keys transferred automatically.”
Pierce’s composure cracked.
“You’re lying.”
“Check.”
Pierce pulled out his phone.
No signal.
He swore.
Teresa looked at Luca.
“That is why Vale brought her to you.”
“He needed the system to identify her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To unlock the succession layer.”
Pierce stared.
“Then why can’t I access it?”
Teresa looked almost amused.
“Because Enzo changed the final provision before he died.”
“What provision?”
“Once a direct descendant activates succession, no proxy trustee can control Bellweather without consent from the living principal.”
Luca understood.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Pierce looked at him.
The gun shifted.
Everything became clear.
Pierce needed Luca alive.
At least long enough to sign.
That was why the poison never killed him.
Why maintenance dosing preserved him.
Why recovery was prevented but life protected.
Luca Costello had not been kept alive out of mercy.
He had been kept as a key.
“You need my consent.”
Pierce lowered the gun slightly.
“Yes.”
“Then shooting my mother was stupid.”
“She’ll live.”
Teresa laughed weakly.
“Always arrogant.”
Smoke thickened.
Luca’s chest fluttered.
Aiden shouted from outside.
“Luca!”
Pierce raised the gun again.
“Tell him to back away.”
Luca looked at the door.
“Harris.”
“Yes.”
“When I say now, come through.”
Pierce’s eyes narrowed.
“That would be unwise.”
Luca looked at him.
“Probably.”
Then Luca drove the wheelchair forward.
Pierce stepped back.
The movement was unexpected.
Luca struck Pierce’s knees with the reinforced footplate.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Teresa rolled away.
“Now!”
The door exploded inward.
Harris tackled Pierce.
A guard kicked the weapon away.
Aiden rushed to Luca.
“Heart rate one sixty.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are not.”
“Mother.”
“Medic!”
They moved Teresa.
Pierce struggled beneath Harris.
“You have no idea what you just did.”
Luca looked down at him.
“For the first time in twelve years, I believe I do.”
Pierce laughed.
“You think I’m the top.”
Luca’s expression did not change.
“I think everyone says that right before naming someone else.”
“Vale has Maya’s biometric key.”
“Maya is safe.”
Pierce smiled.
“Is she?”
Luca’s blood went cold.
He called the estate.
No answer from Maya’s guard.
Again.
Nothing.
Harris called command.
Static.
Then a frightened voice.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“East wing breach.”
Luca felt the room tilt.
“Maya?”
A pause.
“She’s here.”
Luca exhaled.
“But Tommy is missing.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“What happened?”
“Tommy left a note.”
Luca almost laughed from disbelief.
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
The guard read.
I WENT TO GET THE PROOF.
Luca stared.
Pierce began laughing on the floor.
“You should pay more attention to that boy.”
“Why?”
Pierce looked up.
“Because Tommy Reyes isn’t who Elena thinks he is.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Pierce smiled.
“Ask her who his mother was.”
Elena looked confused.
“His mother died.”
“Yes.”
May you like
Pierce’s eyes moved to Luca.
“And she worked for Marcus Vale.”
