Stealing Luca's Heart (26 page)

Graham took a sip of water from the bottle in front of him, letting the momentum of his words hang. He watched Ian slide up the side of the room and bend down to whisper in Sean’s ear. Sean stood and followed Ian out the side door, but not before holding a hand to stop his uncle from following.
What the fuck is Ian doing?
Graham took a deep breath. He decided to shorten his speech and wrap this up.

He placed his bottle on the podium and watched the side door open again, but this time only the governor reappeared. He stood with his hands in his pockets, looking very…smug. Where was Sean? He should have gotten the signed transfer documents from fucking Sean
before
his speech instead of fucking around with Ian. Sean had better have a damn good reason for not being here right now.

Collecting his thoughts, Graham turned his energy back to the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, today is the day that New Zealand makes history. New Zealand has the opportunity to show the world that it can walk the walk.”

He nodded to the convention officials, who were waiting his signal. They began handing out his informational packets that outlined his initiative, courtesy of Sean Tetari. So nice of Sean to provide him with all of the scientific data he’d collected.

Once they took to the aisles, he turned slowly, meeting Luca’s confused stare with laser focus while he spoke. “It is with great pleasure to formally announce that Eurostar Energy has recently acquired part of the Tetari land trust and will develop the world’s first and largest wind farm, harnessing the potent winds whipping through the steep walls of the South Islands Silver Fern Canyon! Luca Tetari, why don’t you come up here with me?”

Chapter 20

Ally couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. She felt numb, and the applause in the room was stifling. She looked down at the handout, trying to absorb what it all meant. It didn’t make sense. Why would Sean sell out the family? How could someone do that? Turning to Luca, she opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. His jaw was clenched, eyes flat, focusing toward the stage. Luca was shutting out the inquiring voices around him who were asking for more details on the exciting news and patting his back. He’d already stripped off the suit jacket and was rolling up the sleeves of his silk shirt.

Luca moved quickly in front of her and into the aisle.

He turned to her. “Find Sean and Wayne.
Now!
” His tone was ice.

Ally nodded while Luca quickly stormed toward the stage.

Shit!
She thought she remembered seeing Sean and Wayne take a seat in the front about the time she did. She grabbed her purse and trailed behind Luca. She reached the front of the room, where only Wayne remained seated. Ian was standing by the exit.

Ally hustled in front of Wayne and leaned down. “Luca wants to talk to you, now!” He nodded, rising to follow her toward the exit door. Ian held up a hand before she could push it open. He pointed toward the stage.

Confused, Ally turned and saw Luca on stage waving to the crowd, somehow managing a smile. He placed a hand on Graham’s shoulder and leaned in, whispering something.

“Just give us one moment,” Graham announced before setting his microphone down. They both walked out of sight into the wings.

“Let’s go!” Ally yelled to Ian and Wayne, pushing past them out the door.

The three of them rushed down the hallway and around the corner to the backstage entrance just in time to witness Luca slam Graham against the wall, shoving his forearm against his throat.

“Luca!” Wayne hollered when he came upon them.

Ally rushed up next to Luca. He looked around him, seemingly pissed to have an audience, and reluctantly released Graham, who straightened his suit and stared back with amusement.

“You’re the one who tried to buy the land.” Luca’s voice was controlled, but Ally saw the fire burning just below the surface, evident on every muscle on his face.

“I don’t miss opportunities,” Graham said.

Luca shook his head. “I don’t care who the hell you are, this won’t hold up. Whatever deal you think you have with Sean, it won’t stick.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Luca. You should get your facts straight before you make threats and assault people.”

Luca moved right into Graham’s face. “What do you have on him? You’re threatening Sean with something. What is it?” he demanded.

“Maybe you should ask him yourself.”

Ally wondered where Sean was. She turned to Wayne. “Where’s Sean?”

Wayne narrowed his eyes, shifting his gaze from Luca and lingering on Graham. “I’d like to know that myself. I saw him talking to you,” he said, turning to point at Ian. “Then he walked out the exit and disappeared.”

Ally focused her attention on Ian. “What did you say to him?” She knew what she had overheard on the stairs. Did Ian have something to do with all of this?

“Yes,” Graham said, folding his arms. “I’d like to know that myself.”

Ian brought a hand up and rubbed the top of his head. He seemed unsure of what he wanted to say. “Luca, your brother has left the convention center, but not before asking me to tell you and your family that he was sorry.”

“What? He’s gone?” Luca took a step toward Ian. “Then where the hell is he?”

Ian shook his head. “I don’t know.”

The five of them turned when the back door flew open. “There you are!” said a perky petite blonde girl. Her badge read Convention Sales Director. “Mr. McMann, we need you back on stage so we can stay on schedule.” Her expression changed to concern as she glanced from face-to-face. “Is everything all right?”

Luca turned back to Graham. “We’re not finished.”

“Oh, but I think you are, my friend,” Graham said, turning to follow the girl back into the hall. Just before closing the door, he turned to look at Wayne. “When you find Sean, remind him that he still has something for me.”

“What?” Ian turned to Wayne.

Wayne just shook his head, clearly not sure what that meant.

“Someone tell me
right now
what’s going on.” Luca had begun pacing, eyeing Ian and Wayne like prey.

Ian took one harder look at Wayne and then focused back to Luca. “I took Sean aside a little bit ago and told him to stay away from Graham.” He walked over and gently placed his hand on Luca’s shoulder. “I’ve had business dealings with that man, and I’ll regret them to my grave. That man is capable of anything, and I do mean anything. Luca, I told Sean that there was a good chance that Graham had something to do with Cal’s shooting. Now, I can’t prove it, but let’s say that I’m fairly certain of it.”

“I overheard you,” she interrupted. “On the stairs. I was there by accident, but I overheard you with him.” Ally was sure she saw the color leave Ian’s face.

“You were on the stairs?”

She nodded. It was clear he was wondering how long she’d been there.

Ian took a deep breath. “Ally, I’m so sorry you had to hear it that way. I had my suspicions because the accident with your dad didn’t make any sense. The whole thing smelled like Graham. I had my people do some checking, and I was able to find out that Sean and Graham had been spending quite a bit of time together in Europe. When I confronted Graham today, I was able to put the pieces together.”

“I don’t understand. Why Dad?”

“I don’t know, Ally. I wish I did. I do know that Graham is a snake. There’s a reason for every move he makes.”

“Did he admit it?” Luca demanded, crossing his arms. “Trying to kill Cal?”

“Essentially. Luca, you should have seen Sean’s face when I told him that Graham would threaten or could kill. It hadn’t dawned on him that he had made a deal with the devil. I think the fact that the shot could have been meant for George shook him up.”

The impact of that information on Luca was immediate. He looked to her with fear sweeping across his face before a chilling coldness replaced it just as fast.

“You should call your dad,” she suggested. “You need to tell him what’s happening.”

“Actually,” Ian began. “Let me. You should figure out where Sean is.”

“I’m going with you.” She wanted to make sure Sean was still breathing once Luca did find him.

“I’d like to go with you too, if that’s all right?” Wayne said, looking up from his cell phone.

Luca’s expression relaxed slightly. “Fine. Ian, have my dad call me if they hear anything. We’re leaving here.” He took Ally’s hand in his and headed for the exit doors.

Once outside the convention center, Luca turned to Ally. “Looks like your eavesdropping intel was right.”

Wayne looked up from his cell phone, shook his head indicating that he hadn’t heard from Sean, and took a seat on a nearby bench.

Ally knew firsthand that their relationship was tentative, but family betrayal, especially this family, was unspeakable. “Does Sean really hate you enough to do something like this?” How was the rest of the family going to react?

“I always knew we had issues.” Luca shoved his hands into his pants. “I always felt that, at the end of the day, we knew we were family, Tetari brothers. We’d never do anything to really hurt the others.” Luca glared straight ahead. “Joke’s on me.”

“You know, Luca,” Wayne said looking up, “maybe Sean was just trying to take a piece of the pie for himself. Maybe he felt it was owed him. Maybe he was sick of having the family tell him what he could and couldn’t do with his life.”

Ally and Luca turned their heads, both looking to see if they’d just heard him correctly.

“Yeah? Remember we’re talking about Sean here, not you!” Luca said, pointing at Wayne.

“I’m not a Tetari, Luca. I wouldn’t dream of thinking I deserved anything.”

“We can’t stand out on this street corner arguing. Where would Sean go?” Ally cried. “Do you guys have an apartment in the city? Would he fly home? Is there a bar he’d go hide in?”

Luca shrugged. “We’ll have to check all of those possibilities.” He waved a cab down as his cell rang.

“Yeah. Dad!” He stood listening. “What! All of it? What! Fuck! Who? Of course. Grac—” His eyes flicked over to Wayne. “I got this, Dad, don’t worry. I know. I will. Bye.”

“Luca, what’s going on?” Ally knew whatever happened wasn’t good.

He took her hand and opened the cab door. “Let’s go.” He all but shoved her in, climbing in after her and closing the door before Wayne could get in. “Not in this lifetime. You’re finished, Wayne.” Then Luca turned to the driver and barked at him to go.

Ally whipped her head around to peer out the back window. Wayne was still standing on the side of the road, smiling.

The cab pulled out into the late morning traffic. “Gulf Harbour,” Luca instructed the driver. He flopped back in the seat, rubbing his face with his hands.

“What’s going on, Luca? What just happened with Wayne?”

“This is a nightmare that keeps getting worse. That was my dad. After he got off the phone with Ian, he and Phillip went into Sean’s office and searched his computer and his files.”

“What did they find?”

“That’s just it. They found nothing. He’d cleaned his hard drive, and his office looked like he was never there except for one file that was left. I don’t know why he left it, really. Maybe to just twist the knife deeper. Like he didn’t give a shit anymore.”

“Luca, what?”

He shook his head. “On his computer, the one document outlines the transfer of control of Silver Fern Canyon to Eurostar Energy. It was sent by the same law firm that contacted us about a buyer.”

“Who would need to authorize that?” She was stunned. Then the conversation she’d had at the barn dance came back to her.

“There are signature lines for Graham McMann and Sean Tetari and Wayne Hill.”

“But I don’t understand. Wayne isn’t a Tetari. How can he do that?”

“We threw him an olive branch. Dad let Wayne have a managing interest in the Canyon along with Sean since they were working so well together. Dad really did it for Ginny and the girls. None of us could ever have imagined those two would sell it off.”

“So it’s over. Graham actually owns it?”

“We don’t think so, not yet. Phil called the law firm, pretending to be Sean, and they said they hadn’t received the signed copies yet. There’s a chance, albeit slim, that Sean is having second thoughts and hasn’t signed them yet. There was also an e-mail to Sean from my cousin Gracie.”

“Gracie?”

“She said she was having trouble reaching his cell, but of course he could stay with her for a few days.”

“I heard you almost say her name back there.”

“I know, shit! That means that Wayne knows too, and really, so will Graham. We need to get out to Gracie’s as fast as possible and talk to Sean.”

“So why Gulf Harbour?”

“My dad organized a helicopter to meet me there since Sean took ours. Our pilot filed a flight plan to Great Barrier, so I don’t know how Sean assumes he’s going in under the radar. I can also leave you at your sister’s place. No reason to pull you into this mess.”

She realized that they’d already traveled the length of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula and were at the top of Gulf Harbour Drive. Under normal circumstances, she would have admired their vantage point before they made their descent down the hillside into the city center. The Huraki Gulf was a short distance away, along with the Rangitoto volcano and Waiheki Island.

When the cab reached the city center clearing, a few people had gathered across the street at Wentworth College to admire the waiting helicopter. The city center consisted of one boutique hotel, a couple of restaurants, and a few small shops. When Ally had stayed with Tara, she noticed that helicopters occasionally flew in and out. It was a big deal in this sleepy community. Usually, people assumed famous people were flying in to either jump on their yacht or play golf.

When the taxi came to a stop, Luca turned to Ally. “Just have the driver take you to Tara’s, and I’ll come back here as soon as I can. I’m sorry to leave you, but…” He stopped when she opened her door and got out. He watched her walk around the front of the cab and start talking with the pilot.

“I’m going with you,” she said firmly when Luca came up next to her. “If Sean is partially responsible for what happened to my dad, then he’ll have to answer to me too.”