Chapter 10 - Luca Finally Admitted Why He Chose Tonight
The Lakeshore terminal was nearly empty.
Wind came off the lake hard enough to cut through my coat.
Luca stood beneath a row of old industrial lights.
The black briefcase sat beside him.
Vincent Caruso stood ten feet away with two men.
So Luca had brought a buyer.
Not surprising.
What surprised Damien was Luca’s expression.
Not triumphant.
Wounded.
Damien walked forward.
“You picked tonight.”
Luca smiled without humor.
“You were going to announce the transition tomorrow.”
Damien stopped.
I looked at him.
Another thing he had not told me.
He glanced at me.
Later.
Fair.
Luca continued.
“You were going to stand in front of every captain and tell them the old structure was finished.”
“Yes.”
“And give me a security company like a retirement watch.”
“I thought it was a future.”
“It was exile.”
There.
Identity again.
Damien said:
“You could have told me.”
Luca laughed.
“Would you have changed your mind?”
“No.”
“At least you’re honest now.”
Then his eyes moved to me.
“And she would have agreed with you.”
I answered:
“You never asked.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
He had spent years assuming everyone else’s decisions about him were final while making secret decisions for them.
Same poison.
Different man.
Caruso interrupted.
“Enough family therapy.”
He wanted the briefcase.
Luca lifted it.
“Token first.”
Damien showed empty hands.
“I didn’t bring it.”
Luca’s face changed.
“Then you wasted your last chance.”
“No.”
Damien pointed toward the case.
“You did.”
He told Luca about the changed finance custodian.
About dual authentication.
About the backup entries already preserved.
Luca’s confidence collapsed slowly.
Caruso turned toward him.
“You said the case was clean.”
“It is.”
“No.”
Damien answered.
“It is evidence.”
Caruso’s expression hardened.
Not ally.
Not friend.
Buyer who suddenly realized he was purchasing liability.
Luca looked between them.
Then at me.
“You did this.”
Interesting.
Not Damien.
Me.
Because blaming the wife preserved his old idea of Damien as someone manipulated rather than someone changing.
I stepped closer.
“No, Luca.”
A pause.
“Damien did the one thing you never believed he could.”
“What?”
May you like
“He stopped needing you.”
That broke him more completely than any threat could have.
