Chương 10
“Luca wanted the person behind the solution.”
That was the first human thing I had heard from him.
It made him more dangerous, not less.
Graham entered the password.
The lock clicked.
Nobody breathed.
The cage door opened slowly.
Inside were boxes.
Paper files.
Old hard drives.
And a single envelope placed directly in the center.
Luca stepped forward.
The handwriting on it stopped him.
I saw his face before I saw the name.
“What?”
He reached out.
His fingers touched the envelope.
Then he whispered.
“My father wrote this.”
Mara looked at the seal.
“When was it dated?”
Luca turned it over.
The date was six years old.
The day before his father died.
He opened it.
The first line was visible from where I stood.
LUCA,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEN I FAILED TO PROTECT YOU.
He stopped.
His hand began to shake.
And for the first time since he woke up inside that coffin, my husband looked truly afraid.
He did not open the letter immediately.
For several seconds, Luca simply stood there holding the envelope as if the paper itself had weight beyond anything physical.
The rest of us waited.
Nobody wanted to be the person who interrupted whatever conversation existed between a dead father and a living son.
Finally, Luca unfolded the page.
His eyes moved across the first lines.
Then he stopped.
I watched the muscles in his face tighten.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“What?” I whispered.
He did not answer.
Mara stepped closer.
“Mr. Sterling?”
Luca folded the letter slightly.
“My father knew.”
“Knew what?”
He looked at the files inside the cage.
Then at Graham.
Then at Adrian.
“He knew someone was trying to take the company.”
Graham closed his eyes.
“You already knew that.”
“Not like this.”
Luca handed the letter to Mara.
She read silently.
Her expression changed after only a few seconds.
“What does it say?” I asked.
Mara looked up.
“It says his father believed the person responsible was someone close to him.”
The garage became quiet again.
Luca looked at Graham.
“You knew.”
Graham did not deny it.
“I suspected.”
“You suspected.”
“I had no proof.”
“You had a letter.”
“Your father never finished the investigation.”
Luca took a step back.
“My entire life, everyone told me my father was careful.”
“He was.”
“No.”
Luca’s voice became sharper.
“He was afraid.”
Nobody answered.
Because it was true.
I looked at the letter in Mara’s hand.
“What else?”
Mara continued reading.
“He mentions a second set of records.”
“Where?”
She scanned the page.
“He says, ‘The first place they will search is the obvious place. Do not trust the obvious place.’”
Adrian frowned.
“That sounds like him.”
Luca looked at him.
“You knew my father well.”
“Everyone in engineering knew him.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Adrian looked away.
Another silence.
One that told me there were still missing pieces.
I stepped closer.
“Adrian.”
He looked at me.
“How much did you know?”
His jaw tightened.
“I knew enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
“Then try again.”
He looked tired.
“I knew your father was building a case.”
“Against who?”
“Against everyone who benefited from keeping the company vulnerable.”
“That includes you.”
“Yes.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate.
I studied him.
“You expected that question.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I would have asked it too.”
That was the problem with Adrian.
He did not defend himself like someone innocent.
He explained himself like someone who had already accepted suspicion.
Luca turned back to the letter.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Graham answered quietly.
“Because he thought you would confront them.”
“I would have.”
“Yes.”
“And that was a problem?”
Graham looked at him.
“Your father had a talent for seeing enemies everywhere.”
Luca’s expression changed.
“You mean he was paranoid.”
“I mean he had survived enough betrayals to become suspicious.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
Graham looked down.
“But sometimes it becomes difficult to know when caution turns into fear.”
The words stayed there.
I could see Luca fighting two emotions at once.
Anger at his uncle.
And grief for a father he was suddenly meeting again through hidden evidence.
Mara folded the letter carefully.
“We need to secure this location.”
A loud metallic sound interrupted her.
Everyone turned.
One of the storage cages near the entrance had moved.
Not opened.
Moved.
A shadow crossed behind the rows of metal doors.
The agents reacted immediately.
Weapons came out.
“Show your hands.”
No response.
Mara motioned for everyone to step back.
Luca grabbed my arm.
This time I did not pull away.
The person behind the cage stepped forward.
It was Celeste.
She looked pale.
And terrified.
Mara lowered her weapon slightly.
“What are you doing here?”
Celeste looked at Luca.
“I followed you.”
“That was not smart.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“But staying behind wasn’t safe either.”
Mara frowned.
“How did you get past security?”
Celeste looked at the ground.
Nobody answered.
Then Luca noticed.
“Your badge.”
She looked down.
Her Sterling employee badge was still clipped to her jacket.
“You used executive access.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Celeste swallowed.
“Because the system still recognizes me.”
Mara’s expression hardened.
“Which means?”
Celeste looked toward the storage cages.
“Someone inside the company still has administrative control.”
Adrian spoke quietly.
“That’s impossible.”
Celeste looked at him.
“No.”
The word was simple.
Certain.
“That is the entire problem.”
Luca turned toward her.
“You knew about the access.”
“I knew there were emergency permissions.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
She looked exhausted.
“I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought your mother was involved.”
Wendy’s name changed the atmosphere instantly.
Luca’s face hardened.
“You thought my mother was involved.”
“Yes.”
“But you still worked for her.”
“I worked for the company.”
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
Celeste looked at him.
“But when you spend enough years inside a family business, people stop knowing where loyalty ends and survival begins.”
Nobody answered.
May you like
Because everyone in that garage understood the sentence.
Mara approached her.
