Chapter 10 - The Man Who Needed Twelve Months.
Adrian closed the chapel doors behind him.
The pistol remained pointed toward the marble floor, which somehow made it more frightening.
He looked at Luca leaning against the front pew.
Then he noticed the documents spread across the altar.
His expression tightened.
“Claire always was thorough.”
Maya moved behind Elena.
Serena stood between Adrian and the child.
Adrian smiled at her.
“Now you discover courage.”
Serena did not answer.
Luca held the waterproof envelope against his chest.
“You cut my brakes.”
Adrian sighed.
“Technically, Galen did.”
The casual answer landed harder than denial.
Luca had spent months replaying the crash as an accident.
Rain on glass.
A dead brake pedal.
The guardrail rushing closer.
Steel folding around his body.
He had blamed himself for driving too fast.
He had thanked Adrian for keeping the company alive while he recovered.
Now his cousin stood in a chapel and spoke of attempted murder as outsourced work.
“Why not kill me outright?”
Adrian’s smile faded.
“Because you dying created problems.”
He explained that Luca’s shares would have transferred into a family trust controlled by several independent trustees.
Incapacity was cleaner.
It shifted voting authority to the designated operating executive.
Adrian.
If Luca remained alive, beloved, and visibly disabled, the board would accept the transition with sympathy instead of suspicion.
“You turned me into a corporate presentation.”
“I turned chaos into continuity.”
Maya whispered.
“He hurt you for money.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Adults hurt each other for much less.”
Luca’s voice became dangerous.
“Look at me when you talk.”
Adrian did.
For a moment they were boys again in Luca’s memory, competing for their grandfather’s approval.
Adrian had always hated losing.
Luca had never realized how much.
“You had everything.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You had everything.”
There it was.
Not money.
Not even power.
Resentment.
Their grandfather had chosen Luca’s father to lead the company.
Then Luca inherited control.
Adrian had spent his adult life being praised as capable while someone else held the final vote.
“When your father died, I ran half the business while you played visionary.”
Luca almost laughed.
“You were CFO.”
“I was the adult in every room you walked into.”
“And yet you still needed me unable to stand.”
Adrian raised the pistol slightly.
Elena stepped in front of Maya.
Serena whispered.
“Adrian, the files have already been sent.”
He looked at her.
She was bluffing.
Luca knew it.
Adrian did not.
His eyes moved to the phone in Elena’s hand.
“Give me the card.”
“No.”
Elena’s voice shook.
Adrian pointed the pistol toward the floor beside her.
“I am not asking twice.”
Maya suddenly darted behind the altar.
Everyone shouted at once.
Adrian turned instinctively.
Luca moved.
He pushed himself up from the pew with both arms.
His legs trembled violently beneath him.
For one impossible second he stood.
Then he threw his weight into Adrian.
The two men crashed against the communion rail.
The pistol slid across the marble.
Serena kicked it beneath a pew.
Adrian shoved Luca backward.
Luca hit the floor hard.
Pain flashed through his hip.
Adrian stared down at him, stunned.
“You stood.”
Luca smiled through the pain.
“That seems to be a problem for you.”
Elena grabbed the pistol and backed away.
Her hands shook so badly she could barely hold it.
Adrian raised both hands.
“You won’t use that.”
Elena looked at Maya.
“Try me.”
For a moment Luca thought they had won.
Then the chapel speakers clicked.
A Galen contractor’s voice came through Adrian’s earpiece.
“Police at the south gate.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
Daniel had reached someone.
Serena exhaled.
Adrian smiled.
It was not relief.
It was calculation.
“You think police solve this?”
He looked at Luca.
“I own the medical record.”
He explained that every official chart described Luca as cognitively unstable under stress and dependent on controlled medication.
Serena was documented as his medical proxy.
Elena was recorded as a disgruntled employee under investigation for theft.
Claire was listed as a former nurse terminated for narcotics diversion.
Maya was a traumatized child repeating adult accusations.
The story had been built long before they needed it.
Luca understood suddenly how deep the trap went.
Evidence did not matter if the people receiving it believed the evidence came from criminals and patients.
Adrian stepped toward the side door.
Elena lifted the pistol.
“Stop.”
He did.
Then headlights flashed through the stained-glass windows.
Voices echoed outside.
Maya crawled out from behind the altar holding something in both hands.
It was Serena’s phone.
She had taken it during the struggle.
Maya looked at Luca.
“The red lady was recording.”
Serena went still.
Luca stared at her.
She whispered.
“Since the study.”
The phone screen showed an active audio recording.
May you like
Adrian had just confessed to the brake sabotage, the incapacity scheme, and the forged records in his own voice.
For the first time that night, Adrian looked truly afraid.
