Chapter 6 - Someone Inside the Circle
Tessa stayed.
She told herself it was because staffing needed time to find an appropriate replacement.
Then because Luca remained medically fragile.
Then because police investigators wanted a statement.
Every explanation was partially true.
None explained why, two hours after her shift ended, she was still sitting beside his bed drinking terrible coffee.
Luca watched her over the rim of the cup.
“You need to stop doing that.”
His ventilator had been removed and replaced with supplemental oxygen.
His voice remained rough.
“Doing what?”
“Looking like you won.”
“You stayed.”
“That isn’t winning.”
“It is from here.”
Marco, standing near the window, laughed.
Luca turned his head.
“Leave.”
Marco stopped laughing.
Tessa hid a smile.
Luca noticed.
“So you can smile.”
“I smile regularly.”
“Evidence suggests otherwise.”
“You’ve been conscious for three hours.”
“Enough time.”
His voice weakened.
Tessa immediately stood.
“No more talking.”
Luca leaned back.
For a man recovering from major surgery, he managed irritation impressively.
Marco’s phone buzzed.
His expression changed.
“Adrian called.”
Luca went still.
“Where?”
“Blocked number. He wants to speak only to you.”
“No.”
Everyone turned toward Tessa.
Luca frowned.
“I wasn’t asking.”
“You’re barely stable.”
“He may know who did this.”
“He may also be calling to confirm you’re awake.”
Luca studied her.
Marco said, “She has a point.”
Luca’s look silenced him.
Tessa crossed her arms.
“If Adrian is innocent, he’ll understand precautions.”
“And if he isn’t?”
“Then you shouldn’t tell him anything.”
After a moment, Luca nodded.
Marco placed the call on speaker but said only, “He’s alive.”
Adrian’s voice exploded from the phone.
“Thank God.”
Tessa watched Luca.
His expression changed.
Not suspicion.
Recognition of someone deeply familiar.
Adrian continued rapidly.
“Marco, listen to me. I didn’t do this. Somebody put my watch in that photograph because they knew Luca would recognize it.”
Marco looked toward Luca.
“Where are you?”
“Not somewhere I’m telling you over a compromised line.”
“Then tell me something useful.”
There was a pause.
“The black SUV wasn’t mine.”
“We know.”
“No, you don’t understand. It came from our fleet.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
Adrian continued.
“Vehicle seventeen. Internal executive pool.”
Marco swore.
“Who signed it out?”
“That’s the problem.”
Another pause.
“Luca did.”
Everyone looked toward the bed.
Luca shook his head.
Adrian heard Marco’s silence.
“He didn’t, did he?”
“No.”
“Then somebody is using his authorization codes.”
Tessa leaned toward the phone.
“How many people can access those?”
Silence.
“Who is that?”
“Tessa Morgan.”
Another silence.
Then Adrian’s voice became softer.
“The nurse?”
“You know me?”
“Everybody knows about you now.”
Tessa did not find that reassuring.
Adrian continued.
“Luca’s private authorization can be duplicated only from his executive token.”
Marco looked at Luca.
“Where is it?”
Luca’s hand moved instinctively toward his chest.
Nothing there.
Tessa remembered his belongings inventory.
“Your personal effects are in hospital security.”
Marco shook his head.
“Not the token. It wasn’t on him after the crash.”
Luca closed his eyes.
He remembered.
“The car,” he whispered.
“What?” Marco asked.
“My coat.”
The vehicle had been damaged in the collision and transferred to a private secured garage controlled by Luca’s organization.
Someone had gotten to it.
Marco asked Adrian to remain hidden.
“Trust nobody.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“I learned that part.”
After the call ended, Luca stared at the ceiling.
Tessa knew the look.
Guilt.
“You think this happened because you trusted someone.”
He glanced at her.
“It happened because somebody close enough to know my systems decided I shouldn’t be here anymore.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“You don’t understand my world.”
“No. But I understand betrayal.”
Something in her tone made him watch her.
Tessa immediately regretted saying it.
Luca didn’t push.
For that, she was grateful.
Marco returned with the list of seven men who wore Luca’s silver inner-circle ring.
Marco Bellini.
Renzo Vesceri.
Adrian Costa.
Victor Salerno.
Elias Moretti.
Gabriel Russo.
Daniel Ferri.
Each controlled a different part of Luca’s organization.
Security.
Finance.
Logistics.
Legal affairs.
Property operations.
Communications.
Internal administration.
“Seven people,” Tessa said.
“Six,” Marco replied.
She looked at him.
“You’re excluding yourself?”
“Yes.”
“That’s convenient.”
Marco almost protested.
Luca lifted a hand.
“She’s right.”
Marco stared at his friend.
Luca continued.
“Nobody excluded.”
“Including you?” Tessa asked.
Luca actually considered it.
“Yes.”
Tessa liked the answer.
They began reconstructing access.
Victor had been in Miami.
Elias attended a charity dinner until midnight.
Gabriel claimed he was home.
Daniel had been at headquarters.
Renzo had been in a private club.
Marco had traveled with Luca until the crash.
Adrian’s whereabouts were unclear.
Every alibi depended on records.
And records could be manipulated.
Tessa looked at the seven names.
“Who benefits if Luca dies?”
All three men looked at her.
“What?”
“That’s the question investigators ask first.”
Marco answered slowly.
“Potentially everyone on that list.”
“Then we need something better.”
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“Renzo.”
Tessa looked at him.
“Because he’d replace you?”
“Because he opposed the deal.”
“What deal?”
Marco and Luca exchanged a glance.
Tessa sighed.
“If you start doing secret-mafia-eye-contact, I’m leaving.”
Luca looked almost offended.
Marco laughed again.
Luca finally said, “I planned to separate several legitimate companies from the rest of the organization.”
“Meaning?”
“Make them independent.”
“Why?”
Luca looked toward the hospital window.
“Because I was tired.”
Tessa hadn’t expected that.
He continued quietly.
“Tired of every business decision being treated like territory. Tired of men measuring loyalty by fear. Tired of inheriting wars started before I was old enough to understand them.”
Marco stared at him.
“You never said that.”
“I didn’t need permission.”
“No. But maybe your friends deserved to know.”
Luca turned back to Tessa.
“Renzo thought decentralizing would weaken us.”
“Would it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do it?”
“Because strength and freedom aren’t always the same thing.”
Tessa felt something inside her shift.
She had judged Luca from rumors.
Perhaps everyone had.
A sound interrupted them.
The elevator.
Marco checked the security feed.
A delivery worker stood outside carrying flowers.
“No visitors,” Marco said.
The guard turned the delivery away.
Then Tessa noticed the flowers.
White lilies.
Beside them was an envelope.
“No.”
Marco looked at her.
“What?”
“Bring the card.”
A guard retrieved it carefully.
Inside were four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT.
No signature.
Tessa read it twice.
The flowers weren’t for Luca.
They were addressed to her.
Luca’s face changed.
Not fear.
Something colder.
“Marco.”
“I know.”
“No,” Luca said. “You don’t.”
He looked directly at Tessa.
“They’ve stopped trying to remove only me.”
May you like
And suddenly staying beside Luca was no longer merely a professional decision.
Someone had just made it personal.
