Chapter 12 - WHY LUCAS
Isabella finally agreed to talk.
Not because she was sorry.
Because Richard had been arrested.
She entered the interview room in jail clothing, hair tied back, no makeup, no diamonds.
For the first time since Maya had seen her, she looked ordinary.
Arthur sat across from her.
Serena sat beside him.
Maya watched through the glass with David.
Isabella looked at Arthur.
“How is Lucas?”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t get to ask that.”
She nodded.
Fair.
“Richard says you chose Lucas.”
Isabella looked away.
“Of course he does.”
“What does that mean?”
Silence.
Arthur leaned closer.
“Why my son?”
Isabella laughed bitterly.
“Because Richard lied to me too.”
Arthur stared.
“He told me the trust released if Lucas died.”
“I know.”
“He told me Emily’s share had been removed.”
Arthur frowned.
“It wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“So you locked my son behind a wall because you thought his death would make you rich?”
Isabella’s eyes hardened.
“I didn’t plan to kill him.”
Arthur stood so fast the chair scraped.
“You sealed him behind an air vent!”
“I was buying time!”
“For what?”
“To get the original trust!”
Arthur’s voice rose.
“He could have died.”
“I checked on him.”
“You gave him water sometimes!”
Isabella’s face cracked.
For one second, shame showed.
Then she looked down.
“I know.”
Arthur sat again.
Maya watched carefully.
This wasn’t redemption.
It was something more uncomfortable.
A person finally seeing the size of what she had done.
Arthur asked, “Why not take Emily?”
Isabella looked toward the glass.
“Because Emily was never part of the plan.”
“Richard says otherwise.”
“Richard wanted both children gone.”
Arthur went still.
Isabella continued.
“He told me Emily was a loose end.”
“And you?”
“I told him no.”
Arthur laughed harshly.
“You want credit for only kidnapping one child?”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“No. I’m telling you where the line was for me.”
Arthur stared.
“You lost the right to have a line.”
She accepted that.
Then said:
“Richard was going to move Lucas that night.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you put him in the vent?”
“To hide him from Richard.”
Arthur blinked.
Maya leaned toward the glass.
That changed the shape of the story.
Isabella continued.
“I had Lucas in the cellar. Peter found out. He threatened to call you.”
“So?”
“Richard told me if Lucas was found, he’d kill him and make it look like Peter did it.”
Arthur’s face hardened.
“You expect me to believe you protected my son?”
“No.”
Isabella looked straight at him.
“I’m telling you I was the reason he was in danger and then became afraid of what Richard would do.”
Arthur said nothing.
“I moved Lucas into the old service vent because Richard didn’t know it existed.”
Maya remembered the scene.
Isabella had screamed for her to put Lucas back.
Not let him go.
Because Richard might still have been in the house.
Maybe part of Isabella’s panic had been fear.
That did not erase what she had done.
But human beings were rarely only one thing.
Arthur asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Isabella laughed through tears.
“Because then I’d go to prison.”
“You’re going anyway.”
“I know.”
She wiped her face.
Then looked at him.
“There’s something else.”
Arthur’s expression hardened.
“What?”
“Richard had someone inside your security team.”
Arthur went still.
“Who?”
“I never knew his real name.”
“What did you call him?”
“Gray.”
Maya felt a chill.
One of the hospital threat messages had been written from a maintenance ledge.
Someone had known exactly where Lucas was.
Arthur asked, “What does he look like?”
Isabella described him.
Tall.
Shaved head.
Scar along the right eyebrow.
Arthur knew him instantly.
His head of security.
Martin Greer.
May you like
The man who had been standing outside Lucas’s hospital room.
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