The heavy mahogany doors of the Moretti estate swung open, cutting through the chilling silence of the winter evening

Twelve hours later, inside Federal Detention Center Manhattan, the fluorescent lights hummed with a sterile, relentless glare.

Vanessa Ward sat at the metal interrogation table, her designer yellow dress replaced by a coarse orange jumpsuit. Her makeup was gone, revealing sallow skin, dark circles under her eyes, and deep hollows in her cheeks. Her right wrist was wrapped tightly in an elastic medical splint.

Special Agent Chen entered the room, dropping a thick Manila folder onto the steel surface. Luca followed, dressed in a sharply tailored charcoal suit, his expression impenetrable.

Vanessa looked up, her lips trembling with venom and terror. “Luca... please. Tell them to take these off.” She held up her handcuffed wrists. “I told them everything! I gave them Julian’s offshore accounts! I gave them Vance’s private records!”

Luca pulled back the metal chair opposite her and sat down. He didn't speak. He simply watched her squirm.

“You’re facing federal charges of attempted murder in the second degree, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, grand larceny, and corporate espionage,” Agent Chen stated coldly, opening the folder. “Julian Moretti has already been booked. He isn't offering you any protection, Vanessa. In fact, his attorneys just filed a motion claiming you were the sole mastermind behind Eleanor’s poisoning.”

Vanessa gasped, slamming her cuffed hands against the table. “That coward! That lying snake! He planned every single detail! He promised me forty percent of the logistics company! He told me Luca was sterile, that Eleanor was a monster who stole his inheritance!”

“And what about my father, Vanessa?” Luca’s voice was barely louder than a whisper, but it silenced the room like an executioner’s blade.

Vanessa froze. Her eyes darted wildly toward the corner of the room. “What... what are you talking about?”

Luca leaned forward, placing both hands on the table. “Five years ago, my father died in a private aircraft crash outside of Milan. The official report cited hydraulic failure. But Dr. Vance’s seized files contained a payment of four million euros from an account tied to Julian... and your father’s engineering consulting firm.”

Vanessa’s face lost every vestige of defiance. She sank back into the chair, clutching her broken wrist to her chest.

“I didn't know about that until after it happened,” she wept, her voice breaking into pathetic whimpers. “I swear, Luca! My father was in debt to Julian! Julian told my father to alter the maintenance records for the Gulfstream! If my father hadn't done it, Julian would have killed my little brother!”

“You let my father die,” Luca said, his eyes burning with absolute, unforgiving justice. “You smiled at his memorial service. You walked into my life two years later, pretended to love me, and attempted to slaughter my mother in the very house he built.”

“Luca, I loved you!” Vanessa screamed, reaching across the table, her tears splashing onto the metal. “I really did! In the beginning, it was just business, but then I fell in love with you! Please! Don't let them send me to prison! I’ll testify against Julian! I’ll tell the judge everything!”

Luca stood up, buttoning his jacket with slow, steady fingers.

“The State Attorney has already agreed not to pursue the death penalty in exchange for your testimony against Julian,” Luca said coldly. “That is the only mercy you will ever receive from the Moretti name.”

He turned toward the door.

“Luca! Don't leave me here!” Vanessa shrieked, her voice echoing off the concrete walls. “Luca! Look at me! Luca!”