Chapter 10 - The Order Luca Never Gave
They moved Tessa to the hospital’s secure guest suite.
She hated every second of it.
Two guards outside.
No windows opening beyond three inches.
A camera in the hallway.
Marco confiscated her apartment keys and sent a team to inspect the building.
Luca approved all of it from his hospital bed.
Tessa stood at the foot of that bed with her hands on her hips.
“You realize this is kidnapping with better furniture.”
“It’s temporary protection.”
“You’re deciding where I sleep.”
“Because somebody photographed your home.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then stop arguing.”
“Stop giving orders.”
Luca looked at Marco.
“Was she like this while I was unconscious?”
“Worse.”
Tessa pointed toward the hallway.
“Both of you.”
Marco left cheerfully.
Luca did not.
He couldn’t.
Tessa immediately felt guilty.
“You know what I meant.”
“I do.”
His voice softened.
“I’m sorry.”
The apology disarmed her.
She looked away.
Luca continued.
“I’m used to solving problems by controlling the variables.”
“I’m not a variable.”
“I’m beginning to understand that.”
Tessa sat down.
For several seconds, they said nothing.
“Why did you become a nurse?” he asked.
“Why did you become Luca Vesceri?”
He smiled faintly.
“I was born with less choice.”
“So was I, probably.”
She thought about her mother working two jobs after her father disappeared.
Hospitals had fascinated Tessa because chaos there had rules.
If a heart stopped, there was a procedure.
If oxygen fell, there was a response.
Life outside hospitals rarely offered such clarity.
“My mother got sick when I was sixteen,” she said. “Nothing dramatic. Pneumonia. But she was admitted for eight days.”
“And?”
“One nurse made everything less frightening.”
“That simple?”
“Sometimes one person changing one week changes an entire life.”
Luca absorbed that.
“That’s what you did for me.”
Tessa looked at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I kept you alive.”
“Exactly.”
Before she could answer, Marco returned.
His face was serious now.
“Apartment is clean.”
“No one there?” Tessa asked.
“No.”
“Camera?”
“Likely taken from across the street.”
Luca frowned.
“They wanted her frightened.”
“Or away from here,” Tessa said.
Marco nodded.
“Which means something may happen here.”
Security doubled again.
At 2:20 a.m., the hospital received an executive transport request.
Luca Vesceri was to be transferred to a private rehabilitation facility before dawn.
Signed electronically.
Authenticated.
Priority authorization.
Marco brought the document into the room.
Luca looked at it once.
“I didn’t order this.”
Tessa felt her stomach drop.
The request included a transport company.
Vehicle registration.
Two medical escorts.
Everything looked legitimate.
“When do they arrive?” she asked.
“Forty minutes.”
Luca looked at Marco.
“Cancel it.”
Tessa raised her hand.
“No.”
Marco stared.
“You want them to come?”
“Yes.”
Luca understood immediately.
“A trap.”
“Someone expects the order to work.”
Marco slowly smiled.
“I’m starting to understand why you’re good at ICU work.”
“You survive by anticipating what goes wrong next.”
They prepared.
Luca remained in his room.
But the bed behind the privacy curtains was empty.
Tessa moved him temporarily into an adjacent procedure suite connected through an internal door.
Security withdrew visibly from one end of the corridor while hidden officers remained behind service doors.
At 3:01 a.m., two transport workers arrived.
Uniforms perfect.
Paperwork perfect.
Vehicle legitimate.
They approached Luca’s room.
Tessa stood inside wearing her scrubs.
One transporter smiled.
“We’re here for Mr. Vesceri.”
“Authorization?”
He showed her.
Tessa pretended to review it.
“You’re early.”
“Traffic was lighter than expected.”
“Who confirmed the receiving physician?”
He named someone.
Correct.
Tessa’s pulse accelerated.
Whoever planned this had access to everything.
“Give me a moment.”
The second transporter glanced toward the hallway.
Too often.
Tessa noticed.
The first man reached for the bed.
“Ma’am, we have a schedule.”
She stepped in front of him.
“You’re not touching the patient.”
His expression changed.
Exactly like the false physician.
Tiny.
But enough.
The second man moved.
A service door opened.
Marco’s security team emerged.
Both transporters froze.
One ran.
The other tried to push past Tessa.
Marco intercepted him.
No dramatic fight.
No gunfire.
Within seconds, both were restrained.
Tessa exhaled shakily.
Luca stepped through the internal door.
The captured transporter went pale.
He had expected a helpless patient.
Instead Luca stood in front of him.
Weak.
Pale.
But unmistakably awake.
“Who sent you?” Luca asked.
The man said nothing.
Marco searched him.
Phone.
Wallet.
Hospital map.
And a small printed card containing one sentence.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED BY L.V.
Luca stared at his initials.
Someone was turning his authority into the weapon used against him.
Marco opened the transporter’s phone.
Most data had been erased.
One message remained because it had arrived seconds before their capture.
IF SHE INTERFERES AGAIN, TAKE HER TOO.
Luca’s face became frighteningly still.
Tessa felt the words settle in the room.
She was no longer collateral damage.
Someone had issued an explicit order to take her.
Marco looked at Luca.
Luca looked at Tessa.
“I want you out of the city.”
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“No.”
“This has gone beyond your job.”
“Exactly.”
He stared at her.
She continued.
“They framed my credentials. They photographed my home. Now they tried to abduct me.”
“That is precisely why—”
“Which means I’m involved whether I leave or not.”
Marco quietly stepped away.
Tessa moved closer to Luca.
“You said somebody is using your systems against you. Your authority. Your codes. Your people.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop reacting like the version of you they expect.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What version?”
“The man who isolates himself and orders everyone away.”
Luca said nothing.
Tessa lowered her voice.
“That’s what they want.”
Understanding crossed his face.
The false clues.
The framed friends.
The succession rules.
The attempts to separate Luca from the few people he still trusted.
Every attack pushed him toward isolation.
Luca looked toward Marco.
Then toward Tessa.
“No more isolation.”
Marco nodded.
“What do we do?”
Luca glanced down at the fake order bearing his initials.
Then he smiled.
Not pleasantly.
“We give them exactly what they think they want.”
Tessa recognized the idea forming.
Tomorrow, Luca Vesceri would announce that he had lost faith in everyone around him.
He would remove Marco.
Cut off Renzo.
Condemn Adrian.
May you like
Consolidate authority.
And then they would wait to see who reached for the crown.
