Chapter 3 - The Second Attempt
I didn't scream.
I didn't call security.
I showed the message to Adrian.
His face changed instantly.
“Phone.”
I handed it to him.
His hands were still weak, so I held the screen while he studied the photograph.
“Reflection,” he whispered.
I enlarged the image.
In the polished metal edge of the monitor was a distorted reflection.
A white sleeve.
Medical clothing.
Someone inside the room had taken the photograph.
Adrian looked toward the doorway.
“Nurse.”
We called Dr. Mercer privately.
She reviewed the staffing records.
Seven nurses had entered during the previous twelve hours.
One name didn't belong.
Lauren Pierce.
No employee existed by that name.
Security footage showed a woman in scrubs entering the private floor at 1:48 a.m.
At 2:16, she disappeared down a service staircase.
Three minutes after the threatening message, Adrian's IV bag had been replaced.
Dr. Mercer removed it immediately.
Laboratory analysis found a sedative concentration high enough to suppress his breathing.
Someone had tried to put him back into unconsciousness.
Or kill him.
The hospital floor was locked down.
Richard demanded police involvement.
Sebastian demanded Adrian be transferred.
Eleanor trusted neither suggestion.
For the first time, I understood what wealth could become when enough people wanted a piece of it.
A fortress.
A prison.
And Adrian was lying helpless at its center.
By afternoon, he could speak in short sentences.
He told me what happened before the crash.
He had discovered Blackthorn six weeks earlier.
Sebastian had helped move money.
Richard had authorized the network.
But Adrian suspected another person was manipulating both.
“Who?” I asked.
“I never found out.”
“What about Sebastian?”
“He confessed.”
That surprised me.
“Before the accident?”
Adrian nodded.
Sebastian had discovered Richard was using evidence of an old financial crime committed by Sebastian's father to blackmail him.
Sebastian helped create shell companies.
Then he secretly went to Adrian.
The photograph at 11:47 hadn't captured sabotage.
Sebastian had been checking Adrian's car after receiving an anonymous warning.
“Then why did you tell me not to trust him?”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“Because I heard him while I was unconscious.”
“What?”
“Three nights ago.”
His voice weakened.
“He stood beside me.”
I waited.
“He said, ‘I'm sorry. I can't stop it anymore.’”
I felt cold.
That evening I confronted Sebastian.
He didn't deny it.
“I thought Adrian was going to die.”
“That's not what you said.”
“I said I couldn't stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“The trust vote.”
He looked exhausted for the first time.
“Richard has six directors. Eleanor has three. Adrian controlled the deciding block. Once Adrian crossed the incapacity deadline, Richard would gain temporary control.”
“But the marriage changed that.”
“Yes.”
“Which is why someone tried to kill Adrian after we married.”
Sebastian looked at me.
“Exactly.”
“Who knew about the wedding?”
“Very few people.”
“Name them.”
“Me. Richard. Eleanor. Dr. Mercer. The family attorney.”
“Who is the attorney?”
Sebastian hesitated.
“Martin Bennett.”
The room tilted.
Bennett.
My surname.
“My father?”
“No.”
Sebastian looked confused.
“You don't know?”
“Know what?”
“Martin Bennett is your father's older brother.”
I stared at him.
“My father didn't have a brother.”
“He did.”
I stepped backward.
“My father died six years ago.”
“I know.”
“You're lying.”
Sebastian unlocked his phone.
He showed me an old photograph.
My father stood beside a younger Martin Bennett.
Beside them stood Richard Vale.
All three men were smiling.
The photograph was twenty-five years old.
That night, I called the only person who might know the truth.
My mother.
She went silent when I said Martin's name.
Then she started crying.
“Mom?”
“Claire, get away from those people.”
“You knew him?”
“Your father made me promise never to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“He didn't die owing money because his business failed.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What happened?”
“He found something.”
“What?”
“Evidence.”
My heart stopped.
“About Vale Global?”
“Yes.”
A noise sounded on her end.
Glass breaking.
“Mom?”
She gasped.
Then whispered:
May you like
“Someone's here.”
The call went dead.
