Chapter 12 - The Driver's Confession.
Thomas did not run.
That made the accusation worse.
Luca stared at the man who had driven him to school, funerals, board meetings, and every important day of his adult life.
"Tell me she is wrong."
Thomas lowered his head.
"I cannot."
Emily stepped between them before Luca could move closer.
"Let him speak."
Thomas explained that Victoria had ordered him to change Gabriel's route on the night of the crash.
She told him a protest had blocked the usual road.
He believed her.
Hours later, Gabriel was dead.
"You knew afterward," Luca said.
"I suspected."
"And you stayed silent for eight years."
"I stayed because your father made me promise to keep you alive."
"My father was already dead."
"His instructions were not."
Thomas removed a folded note from his wallet, worn soft at the edges.
Antonio's handwriting told Thomas to remain close to Luca if Gabriel died unexpectedly.
Luca read it twice.
His anger did not disappear.
"You should have told me."
"Yes."
"You let me call her family."
"Yes."
"You let her raise me."
Thomas's voice cracked.
"And I have hated myself for it every day."
Luca walked away before the room saw how deeply the confession hurt him.
That evening, the Cafalli Foundation gala began inside a restored Beaux-Arts hotel overlooking Central Park.
Crystal lights glowed above hundreds of guests.
News cameras crowded the entrance.
Victoria arrived smiling in silver.
Luca arrived ten minutes later with Emily on his arm.
The crowd erupted.
Reporters shouted accusations about kidnapping and theft.
Emily kept walking.
"Do not look at them," Luca said quietly.
"I spent seven months being invisible in your home."
She lifted her chin.
"I can survive being visible for one night."
Inside, Victoria approached them with perfect public concern.
"Emily, you poor confused girl."
Emily smiled coldly.
"You should save that voice for the cameras."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
"Where is the baby?"
"Safe from you."
Music continued around them while federal agents disguised as staff monitored the room.
The fake infant carrier was moved upstairs exactly on schedule.
Marcus Vale saw it.
Cross watched Marcus send a message.
Victoria checked her phone thirty seconds later.
The link was established.
Luca stepped onto the stage and began a speech about family legacy.
Halfway through, the lights suddenly went out.
Guests screamed.
Emergency lamps turned red.
Cross shouted into his radio.
"The cameras are down."
Emily felt someone grab her wrist in the darkness.
She assumed it was Luca.
Then a man's voice whispered beside her ear.
"Mrs. Cafalli wants to see you upstairs."
A scorpion tattoo flashed beneath the red emergency light.
Before Emily could scream, a cloth covered her mouth.
May you like
When the main lights returned, Luca looked beside him.
Emily was gone.
