CHAPTER 89: BEG FOR HER MERCY

Diego rushed downstairs, his heart pounding, the moment the servant breathlessly informed him about Luca. He was utterly shocked by the scene in the hall: Luca was standing menacingly, hurling the gun at his own mother, Marcella.

"Luca, what are you doing?" Diego demanded, immediately sprinting towards his mother. He instinctively pulled her behind him, shielding her with his own body.

Luca’s eyes were cold and focused. "Sending your mother to hell," he stated. "But I can spare her life if you tell me the truth: Who forged Sara’s signatures, or who made her sign those papers?"

The commotion drew Adam back into the hall. His eyes grew wide with terror, seeing the horrifying tableau: Luca was now pointing the gun directly at Diego.

"You can put me into prison, but you won’t find the truth," Diego replied defiantly, his voice steady despite the gun aimed at his chest.

Luca merely smirked, taking a step toward him. Marcella let out a terrified, desperate shout for help when another voice sliced through the tension.

"Listen to Luca, or this place is going to become a graveyard."

It was Remo, who had just entered the hall.

"Luca, what the hell is wrong with you? Lower that gun!" Adam shouted as he hurried over to him. Just then, a gunshot rang, hitting the vase, resting on the table next to the big sofa. It caused Adam to get rigid on his place while Marcella’s scream echoed in the hall.

Remo smiled seeing how Luca lost the temper.

"Lower your voice, Adam Falcone. You made my wife cry. You should also pay for your sins. But I’ll handle you later. First, I need to handle your dear son, who is protecting Frida, who ruined your company," Luca stated.

Adam furrowed his brows together, the mention of Frida’s name catching his attention, but he still didn’t dare to speak a word.

Luca closed the remaining distance to Diego, his eyes burning with cold rage. He shoved the gun barrel hard against Diego’s chest. "You thought I would let you go easily?" he muttered, his teeth gritted.

"Luca, please don’t do anything to my son! I beg you!" Marcella pleaded frantically, tears springing to her eyes. "We don’t know anything about forging! You’ve gotten a very wrong idea. If you are upset about Sara, then—then I will apologize to her! I will go on my knees, but don’t do anything to my son!" She then looked desperately at her husband, Adam.

Luca ignored her pleas, his gaze locked on Diego. "For that, your son has to tell me the truth. What kind of twisted plan did Frida make? Why did the Falcone Industries come to such a sudden fall that she had to beg people around her to save it? Tell your son to open his mouth and tell me the truth, or I’ll kill him," Luca spat out. "I only have to pull this trigger and..."

"Luca, are you serious? How can you think of doing something so heinous?" Adam finally spoke again, his voice cracking with disbelief.

"Instead of lecturing me, tell your son to open his mouth," Luca pronounced sharply. "He and Frida were the real culprits who trapped Sara. If you had to abandon someone today, then it was them, not Sara. Yet, what did you do as a father? You told your daughter to take the responsibility for these fraudsters?"

Adam was now completely bewildered and distraught. He turned his confused gaze on Diego. "Diego, tell me what’s going on?" He couldn’t imagine his stepchildren would be involved in such a crime.

Frida, who had just entered the house, stopped dead near a pillar, horrified by the scene unfolding before her. ’What is going on here?’ she thought, her eyes immediately finding the gun pressed to her brother’s chest.

Instead of reacting immediately, she quickly hid behind the pillar and pulled out her phone, dialing the number for the police. However, before the call could connect, Remo moved with swift, silent speed, snatching the phone from her hand and hanging it up.

"Frida is here, Luca. She’s calling the police," Remo announced loudly.

Then, grabbing the back of her head, he viciously forced her forward and shoved her onto the cold marble floor.

"Frida!" Marcella cried out, her fear for Diego instantly shifting as she rushed over to her daughter.

Remo watched the frantic mother-daughter interaction with a sneer. "Your in-laws are a headache," he remarked to Luca.

"Are you still going to stay quiet?" Luca asked Diego, his brow arched in challenge, the gun still digging into Diego’s chest.

"Tell him the truth! What did you do to Sara? Tell him!" Adam shouted at Diego, his confusion now turning into desperate panic. He then spun toward his stepdaughter. "Frida, did you forge her signature?"

"No, I didn’t," Frida lied instantly, though her voice trembled as she felt the cold, sharp tip of Remo’s gun pressed against the back of her head.

"Now, speak, lady," Remo threatened, his voice a low snarl.

Frida’s eyes glistened with tears, but she held her tongue, unable to confess the crime under duress.

Luca chuckled, a chilling sound devoid of humor. "What kind of sister are you? While your brother is trying to protect you, you dare to lie."

At that moment, the tension snapped. Marcella, seeing both her children threatened, and unable to bear the deadly silence any longer, broke. "Yes, it was Frida," she finally confessed, the words tearing from her throat.

"Mom!" Frida looked up at her mother in utter disbelief and betrayal.

"Tell Luca the truth!" Marcella commanded her daughter, her voice now sharp with a desperate resolve to save Diego. "Diego is innocent. He did nothing, so don’t harm him!" She stood up, defiantly wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, her focus entirely on Luca.

"Frida, now stand up and tell the truth!" she instructed her daughter again.

Frida slowly rose from the floor, and with Remo’s gun still aimed nearby, she confessed. "I never forged her signature. But I used to spike her drinks whenever she and Asher would meet," she revealed, the words tumbling out. "Julia helped me accessing the information of the company, mostly the crucial projects in the line. I wanted to make sure Sara would be thrown out of the CEO position because Dad would always praise her. My brother was only facing the humiliation in that company, so I planned all of this.

The revelation broke Adam’s heart. He recalled the countless times Sara had pleaded her innocence. She had kept telling him she wasn’t the one who did it, that she was being framed, but he had paid no heed to her words, choosing instead to believe the evidence against her and his own judgment of her character.

"Now, what will you do, Mr. Falcone?" Luca questioned Adam with accusation, finally lowering the gun from Diego’s chest. "Just for some petty jealousy, Frida ruined the Falcone name, and who bore all the backlash and unnecessary hate?"

Adam, reeling from the confession and the realization of his own failings, could only focus on his daughter. "Where’s Sara?" he asked desperately.

Luca’s expression was cold, his words slicing through the tense silence. "At a better place. You won’t be seeing her ever again. This crooked family of yours became the reason for Sara’s miseries, but you never once saw it," Luca said.

It was the reminder of the harsh truth of Adam’s failure to protect and believe his own daughter.

Luca turned his intense, cold gaze back to Adam.

"You made sure Sara doesn’t enter this house the day I picked her up. Shouldn’t you do the same to Frida?" Luca challenged him. "And tell the world how she ruined the public value of Falcone Industries?"

His voice dropped now. "By tomorrow morning, you should reveal the crime of your family and tell the world that Sara was innocent. Beg for her mercy if you can, because I will not let any of you live in peace," Luca pronounced, his threat absolute.

Frida gritted her teeth, glaring venomously at Luca. "I’ll tell the police how you hurl the guns at people, taking the law into your own hands!" she spat out, refusing to submit silently.

Luca merely offered a dark, humorless smirk, unmoved by her threat.

"You should think how you’ll save yourself. You’ve only one night to live in this house. Plan well," Luca said with amusement. He knew she would again make a wrong move and would fall into the trap he already had set for her.

"Let’s go, Remo," Luca said and walked out of their sight with his friend.

Outside, they stopped in front of their respective cars.

"Wanna know something interesting?" Remo asked.

"Hmm?"

"Sara has invited me for dinner at your house," Remo replied. "So, I’ll be off now buying a gift for her," he added.

"What? Why did she call you for dinner?" Luca inquired in confusion.

"Well, I don’t know. She said she wanted her husband’s friends to come for dinner tonight. I couldn’t refuse her. But I think Sara is going to say something about this business we do," Remo stated with a grin. "You’re going to get scolded by her."

Before Luca could ask him more, Remo slid into his sports car and drove off after waving at him.

"How did Sara even contact him?" Luca murmured and settled into the car. As he turned on the engine, he put the gun into the side cabinet. He checked the phone and saw a message from Sara.

"Bring these items on your way home," the message said.