Chapter 14 - LET HIM ANSWER
Vivienne wore pale blue to court.
Maya noticed because it was the same color she wore whenever reporters came to the estate.
Soft.
Reassuring.
Expensive enough to suggest she had nothing to prove.
Adrian sat behind her.
Luca entered in his wheelchair.
No dramatic steps.
No trembling attempt to impress the room.
Maya walked beside him until Evelyn took her place.
Vivienne watched them.
Her attorney began with the accident.
The memory problems.
The years of care.
Then he described Maya as a woman driven by grief and financial resentment.
Maya sat with her hands folded.
She had heard worse in her own head.
Evelyn presented the independent evaluations.
The incomplete medication records.
The forged signature dated during Luca’s wrist injury.
The full security clip.
Then the audio recording.
Nate, lock the door.
Vivienne’s attorney shifted in his seat.
The judge asked Luca whether he understood the purpose of the hearing.
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“My wife wants to keep making decisions for me.
I want the right to make them myself.”
“Even if you make mistakes?”
Luca looked briefly at Maya.
“Especially then.
They should be mine.”
Vivienne leaned forward.
“He doesn’t understand how much help he needs.”
The judge raised a hand.
“Let him answer.”
It was such a small sentence.
Luca had waited twelve years to hear it.
He explained the difference between needing physical assistance and surrendering his judgment.
He acknowledged the gaps in his memory.
He described the supports he was willing to accept.
Then Evelyn introduced the bank transfer.
Adrian’s attorney stood.
“That matter is unrelated.”
The judge looked over her glasses.
“Forty-eight million dollars from the protected person’s trust is very much related.”
By noon, the existing guardianship powers were suspended pending further proceedings.
An independent fiduciary would preserve the disputed assets.
Vivienne would have no authority over Luca’s treatment or placement.
Outside the courtroom, Harris approached Adrian.
“We need to speak with you.”
Adrian smiled.
“My attorney will arrange a time.”
“Your attorney can come with us.”
Vivienne grabbed Luca’s chair.
He flinched.
Her voice dropped.
“You think she cares about you?
She came for your money.”
Luca looked at her hand.
“Take it off.”
“After everything I sacrificed—”
“What did you sacrifice, Vivienne?”
For once, she had no answer.
Harris’s partner stepped beside her.
“Mrs. Moretti.”
The officer said her name again.
This time, Vivienne looked frightened.
May you like
Not because Luca had moved.
Because she couldn’t.
