Chapter 18
Lucien
"Lucien! No... it wasn't me..."
Elora knelt less than three feet from my mother, her dress soaked halfway through with blood. Her face was deathly pale, staring at me in terror. And on her car—a smear of blood.
My head roared. My sanity shattered completely.
"Don't touch her!"
I lunged forward, shoving Elora aside hard. My hands shook as I tried to cover the wound on Natalie's head, but I didn't dare touch it. All I could do was stroke her face as it grew colder and colder.
"Mother... Mother, can you hear me?"
Nothing. Natalie's face was ashen, her breathing so faint I could barely feel it.
Footsteps pounded into the garage from every direction.
"Seal every exit! No one leaves!" Enzo roared. A guard had his gun trained on Elora, finger already on the trigger. "Sir, should we—"
"Back off! All of you, back off!" I bellowed.
Harrison arrived just in time with the medical team. The nurses quickly stopped the bleeding and carefully lifted Natalie onto a stretcher, loading her into the ambulance.
I was about to climb in when Elora grabbed my pant leg. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her voice shaking. "Lucien, please believe me... she was already lying there when I got there..."
"Don't touch me!" I shook her off.
Guards slammed her to the ground. I forced myself to look away, not daring to meet her eyes again, and got into the ambulance.
I stood in the cold hospital corridor, not even daring to approach the emergency room door, terrified of hearing any bad news.
"Boss." Rocco walked over, his expression grim.
I turned slowly. "Tell me. I can take it."
"She's alive. Fractured skull, minor bleeding in the brain." Rocco swallowed. "Harrison says she's out of immediate danger, but... she's in a deep coma. When she'll wake up, if she'll wake up... that's up to God."
I closed my eyes and slumped against the wall.
Alive. But the mother who always smiled while straightening my tie might never open her eyes again—a living corpse.
"Where is she?"
"Confined in the east wing detention room. Enzo's watching her personally."
"Bring Serena."
"Yes, sir."
Five minutes later, the lounge door opened. Serena stumbled in, supported by two maids. She trembled like a leaf in autumn wind, her face a mess of tears. The moment she saw me, her legs gave out, and she collapsed beside a chair.
"Lucien..." She clutched her chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "This is all my fault... if I'd gotten there sooner... Natalie wouldn't have..."
I helped her into the chair. "What did you see? Tell me everything. Don't leave out a single word."
"I... I was resting in my room." Serena choked out. "Then I wanted to go downstairs to get something from Anthony. When I passed the side staircase, I saw... saw Elora carrying a suitcase, sneaking toward the garage."
My eye twitched violently. "A suitcase?"
"Like luggage..." Serena looked up, eyes full of fear. "I thought it was strange. Then Natalie saw her too and asked why she was secretly packing to leave the estate. Elora got defensive, and they started arguing."
My hands clenched into fists.
"Keep going!"
"Elora suddenly went crazy, screaming at Natalie about not trusting her last time, then pulled open the car door and started the engine...
" Serena covered her mouth, tears streaming down.
"When the car shot forward, Natalie couldn't get out of the way.
She was knocked down, slammed into the ground!
Then... then Elora... got out... I was...
so scared I froze for a long time before I could move... "
Absurd!
My jaw clenched until it cracked.
I knew Elora felt wronged, but even if she wanted to leave, how could she deliberately run down someone who'd shown her kindness?
"Bring me the security team!" I roared at Rocco. "Now!"
The head of surveillance and patrol, Nessus, was kicked into the lounge by Rocco. He fell to his knees, shaking violently.
"Where were the garage guards? My mother and Elora were in the garage—are you blind or deaf?" I grabbed his collar and hauled him halfway off the ground.
"Boss... mercy!" Nessus went white, desperately explaining. "Someone said there were suspicious figures outside the side gate and told our security team to check the perimeter immediately. We'd just finished the search... and when we got back, it had already happened!"
"Who? Who ordered you to search?"
"I-I don't know..."
"Useless!" I threw him to the ground and turned to Rocco. "The surveillance? Pull the garage footage!"
One look at the recording would tear this seamless lie to shreds.
Rocco didn't answer immediately. His jaw muscles worked, but his eyes held a deep, heavy helplessness.
"Speak!"
"Boss. I already checked. During that time window... the entire row of cameras above Section B had their feeds cut. And..." He closed his eyes. "And it was done professionally. The timing was exactly ten minutes before Natalie was hurt."
My breath caught. This was a carefully designed, flawless killing blow, and every arrow pointed irrefutably at Elora's heart.
Who was this really aimed at? Natalie? Or me...
I closed my eyes, forcing the words through my teeth. "Back to the estate. To the detention room."
The detention room was deathly quiet. Elora was curled in the corner, a massive bruise on her forehead.
Hearing the door open, she jerked her head up. The moment she saw me, her eyes blazed with a last spark of desperate hope. She scrambled up from the floor on her hands and knees, stumbling toward me.
"Lucien! Lucien, you finally came..." She trembled, reaching for my sleeve but stopping mid-air. "How's Natalie? Is she awake?"
I stood by the door, looking down at her blood-stained clothes and pale face. My chest felt packed with broken glass, every breath bringing agony.
"She's in a deep coma. The doctor said... she may never wake up."
Elora's lips lost their last trace of color. She covered her mouth as tears poured down. "How could this happen... how... I was just getting the car, why..."
I watched her sway, the horrible scene and that unsolvable surveillance report tearing through my mind. I stepped forward, gripping her shoulders hard, backing her into the corner.
"Yeah, I'd like to know why too." I lowered my voice. "Can you tell me why you were secretly packing to leave the estate?"
She froze, tears hanging on her lashes, panic and despair flashing in her eyes.
"I..." She swallowed, her voice barely a whisper. "I wanted to leave. I felt like I couldn't breathe here... I wanted to stay with Maya for a few days..."
"Leave?"
Rage flooded through me.
She wanted to run. While I was tearing apart relationships with the family council for her sake, she'd been quietly preparing to abandon me completely!
"Elora, you're something else." I slammed my fist into the wall beside her head with a deafening crash. "The garage surveillance was professionally cut, the guards were pulled away, your bumper has fresh blood on it, and you—you just happened to have your bags packed and ready to disappear!"
"I didn't! I didn't know any of this!" She shook her head frantically, crying hysterically. "When I got to the parking spot, Natalie was already lying there! Lucien, why won't you believe me just once? It's Serena... she's lying! That was Natalie—who was so good to me. How could I hurt her?"
"I want to believe you!" I pressed closer. "But what can you give me to believe? Last time you lied to me about Julian. This time, you were planning to leave without even giving me a chance to explain! If this hadn't happened today, were you just going to vanish and run into someone else's arms?"
My rage and jealousy spiraled out of control. I was terrified—terrified she'd never loved me, terrified she'd discard me like trash.
"I didn't lie to you... I didn't..." Her voice grew weaker.
She stopped struggling.
She just stared at me, those eyes that had been full of hope slowly dying under my mad accusations, finally becoming cold, dead, hollow.
"Whatever."
She said it lightly, then pulled her hands free from my grip and shrank back into the corner, burying her face in her knees.
That desperate, complete withdrawal felt like a dull knife through my heart.
"Say something!" I shouted at her like a madman. "Elora! Look at me!"
But she never lifted her head again. No tears, no explanation.
Seeing her like a soulless shell, a sharp, bone-deep panic and regret surged up my throat. God... what was I doing? I was driving her into a dead end!
I instinctively reached out to hold her, to tell her I'd get to the truth, but seeing her withdrawn, lifeless form, my hand froze mid-air.
I clenched my jaw and stumbled back two steps, fleeing from the detention room and slamming the iron door shut behind me.
I made it to the study where Marco was already waiting with five or six of the family's top council members, radiating murderous intent.
"Lucien!" Marco's face twisted, his cane pounding. "I heard everything! Where is that witch? Hand over that Vance bitch!"
"Shut up, Marco. We haven't gotten to the bottom of this!"
"Haven't gotten to the bottom? The evidence is right there!" Marco's spit nearly hit my face. "I told you she was poison! Anyone who harms family blood pays with their life! Execute her! Follow Genovese rules!"
"Execute her!" Several other elders joined the outcry.
My chest heaved violently. I drew my gun and pressed the barrel directly to Marco's forehead.
The hallway fell silent.
"Say one more filthy word about her, and I'll blow your head off." I ground out. "She's my wife. Even if she dies, it won't be by your hand."
Marco's face went iron gray, his teeth grinding audibly. "Lucien, you're going to stand against the entire council for a suspect?"
"Get out of my estate." I tightened my grip on the gun, enunciating each word. "Until she's cleared, anyone who comes within ten feet of that detention room—I guarantee there'll be extra bodies here today."
Under my naked killing intent, the elders finally backed down with uneasy glances. Marco spat out "You'll regret this" and stormed off with the others.
The corridor went quiet. I leaned against the wall, the gun nearly slipping from my shaking hand. I closed my eyes, forcing that maddening heartache back down.
"Rocco."
"Boss."
"Watch the detention room. Without my written order, not even a fly gets in." I took a deep breath. "Also, go over every security detail from that time again. Even if we have to turn Manhattan inside out, I'm finding the real traitor!"