Chapter 10 - The Wrong Hostage Room
Giulietta slapped Luca lightly across the cheek.
“Stay with me.”
“I’m awake.”
“You said Dad took you.”
Luca coughed and leaned against the car.
“Not Dad himself.”
“Then say what you mean.”
He reached inside his torn jacket and pulled out a flash drive taped beneath the lining.
“They asked me if I knew about Vincent’s contingency.”
Giulietta stared at the drive.
“What contingency?”
Luca looked toward Matteo.
“He knows.”
Matteo’s face had gone gray.
Giulietta pointed at him.
“Bring him closer.”
The guards moved Matteo within ten feet.
Luca held up the drive.
“I found a hidden server at headquarters three weeks ago. It was sealed under Dad’s administrator account. I thought it was old bookkeeping.”
“And?”
“It activated when the Hale wedding documents were uploaded.”
Giulietta’s fingers closed around the drive.
“Activated how?”
“Sent messages. Opened archives. Started logging everyone who accessed Article Seven.”
Matteo said quietly, “Vincent built a dead-man system.”
Giulietta looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Luca shook his head.
“He knew more than that.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
Luca continued.
“The men who took me weren’t asking where the archive was. They were asking what Dad said about M.”
Enzo crouched beside the sedan and pulled a laptop from a security bag.
He inserted the drive.
Encrypted folders appeared.
One unlocked automatically.
VINCENT - IF TRIGGERED.
Giulietta clicked.
Video filled the screen.
Her father appeared at his old desk.
Not the sick man from his final months.
Sharp eyes. Dark suit. Scar at his left temple.
Alive in a way memory had already softened.
Giulietta stopped breathing.
Vincent looked directly into the camera.
“If Giulietta is watching this, Matteo finally moved.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
Luca whispered, “Keep playing.”
Vincent continued.
“Do not arrest him until you know who moves with him. Article Seven was never the threat by itself. The threat was who knew enough to exploit it.”
Giulietta stared at Matteo.
His shoulders seemed heavier.
Vincent leaned closer to the camera.
“And if Matteo moved, then he already knows one more thing.”
A pause.
May you like
“My death was not natural.”
