Chapter 5 - The Locked Room.
The first thing Luca did after the lights returned was count people.
Maya stood beside Elena.
Elena was shaken but unharmed.
Luca was still in his chair.
Serena and Marcus were missing.
The second thing he did was lock the mansion.
He overrode the household security system from the library terminal and sealed the exterior gates.
The system accepted his biometric authorization, then displayed a warning that made his stomach tighten.
PRIMARY ADMINISTRATOR: ADRIAN MORETTI.
Luca stared at the line.
He had never transferred primary security control to Adrian.
Someone had done it while Luca was hospitalized.
“Can they leave?”
Elena’s voice was small.
“Not through a normal exit.”
Luca pulled up the camera grid.
Most feeds had returned.
The blue sitting room camera showed an empty fireplace and an overturned tray.
The service hall showed Marcus moving rapidly toward the east stairwell.
Serena was not with him.
Luca tracked Marcus until he entered the underground garage.
A black sedan waited there with its engine running.
The garage door opened despite Luca’s lockdown.
“Adrian.”
Luca whispered the name before he could stop himself.
Only someone with equal or higher security authority could override him.
Marcus drove out.
The gate opened for seven seconds and closed again.
Serena remained inside the mansion.
That frightened Luca more.
“She wants something.”
Maya touched his sleeve.
“The key.”
Luca looked at her.
Maya pointed at his jacket.
“The red lady wants my mom’s key.”
Elena stared at the child.
“How do you know?”
“I heard her talking to the doctor yesterday.”
Maya repeated what she had heard from behind the pantry door.
Serena had asked Marcus whether Claire had left anything behind.
Marcus had said the only missing item was an archive key.
Luca took the brass key from his pocket.
Room 314 suddenly mattered more than ever.
He called Daniel again.
“Send someone to the Moretti Medical Foundation.”
Daniel asked what they were looking for.
“Archive room 314.”
“Do you have access?”
“I have the key.”
Daniel went quiet.
Then he told Luca something that made the room feel smaller.
“The third floor of that building was emptied six months ago.”
“Why?”
“Adrian said the records were digitized.”
Luca looked at the key.
“Were they?”
“I’ll find out.”
Luca ended the call and turned toward Elena.
“Where would Serena go inside the house if she wanted something hidden?”
Elena hesitated.
“Your father’s study.”
Luca’s late father had kept a private office behind the west gallery.
After his death, Luca rarely entered it.
After the accident, Serena had claimed the room was being renovated because of a water leak.
Luca had accepted that too.
The list of things he had accepted was becoming unbearable.
They moved through the mansion together.
Luca led in the wheelchair.
Elena walked beside Maya.
Every hallway now looked staged to him.
The polished floors, priceless paintings, quiet staff, and controlled warmth no longer signaled safety.
They looked like camouflage.
At the west gallery, a temporary wall panel concealed the study door.
Elena found the latch behind a tapestry.
The door was locked with a digital keypad.
Luca entered his father’s old code.
Denied.
He entered Serena’s birthday.
Denied.
Maya looked at the keypad.
“Try the day you fell.”
Luca’s hand stopped.
The crash had happened on September 14.
He entered 0914.
The lock clicked open.
Elena whispered a prayer.
Inside, the study was not under renovation.
It had been converted into an administrative command center.
Two monitors displayed company financial dashboards.
A locked medicine refrigerator stood beneath the bookshelves.
Stacks of medical records covered his father’s desk.
Luca rolled closer.
His name appeared on nearly every folder.
“Take pictures of everything.”
Elena began using her phone.
Maya wandered toward a side table.
Luca opened the first folder.
It contained rehabilitation notes bearing Dr. Kessler’s signature.
The notes stated that Luca showed improving motor response and should begin intensive therapy immediately.
Across the top someone had stamped CANCELLED BY MEDICAL PROXY.
Luca felt sick.
The cancellation form carried his signature.
It was not his signature.
The second folder contained pharmacy invoices.
Nivalexor did not appear on any of them.
Instead there were invoices for a research compound identified only as NVX-17.
Luca searched the name on the internal company database.
Access restricted.
The manufacturer was a Moretti Biotech subsidiary.
His own company had produced whatever Serena was injecting into him.
Maya spoke from behind the desk.
“Mr. Luca?”
He turned.
She was holding a framed photograph.
The picture showed Luca’s father at the opening of the foundation research center.
Standing beside him was Claire Bennett.
She looked younger, but unmistakable.
On her other side stood Marcus Vale.
Behind them, half hidden by a banner, was Adrian Moretti.
Luca took the photograph.
The four people connected to his present nightmare had been connected long before his accident.
Elena opened the medicine refrigerator.
Rows of unlabeled glass vials lined the shelves.
She backed away.
“Sir.”
Luca rolled closer.
A handwritten chart was taped inside the door.
It listed dates, dosages, pulse readings, sedation depth, and motor suppression scores.
The patient initials were L.M.
Luca read eleven months of his life reduced to numbers.
At the bottom of the newest page, one line had been written in red ink.
Increase dose if voluntary movement returns.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
May you like
Serena stood in the doorway.
She was holding a second syringe.
