Chapter 4 - Plan B
I returned upstairs knowing my husband intended to kill me before morning.
The strangest part was how normal everything looked.
A volunteer pushed a cart of fresh towels.
A nurse laughed beside the elevators.
Somewhere, a newborn began crying.
Lives were beginning while Adrian Sterling quietly arranged for mine to end.
I entered the ICU waiting area.
He was already there.
“Where were you?”
“Bathroom.”
“For twenty minutes?”
“My stomach hurts.”
Adrian stood.
He touched my cheek.
“You're pale.”
The transmitter beneath my blouse seemed enormous.
Could he hear my heartbeat?
“Come home tonight,” he said.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“I can't leave Dad.”
“Hale said he's stable.”
“Stable isn't awake.”
“You haven't slept in two days.”
“I'll sleep here.”
His hand moved to the back of my neck.
Not forcefully.
Almost lovingly.
“No.”
One word.
The old command.
Usually I surrendered after that word.
This time I looked at him.
“Why is it so important that I go home?”
Something flickered behind his eyes.
Then disappeared.
“Because you're my wife.”
“And?”
“And I care what happens to you.”
I nearly laughed.
Instead, I leaned against him.
“I'm sorry.”
His body relaxed.
“I know you're scared.”
“I am.”
“Let me take care of you.”
That sentence had once made me feel safe.
Now it sounded like a threat.
“I'll go home later,” I whispered.
He kissed my hair.
“Good.”
Behind him, Eleanor watched.
Her face remained expressionless.
At seven forty, Dr. Hale removed my father's breathing tube.
Victor struggled at first.
The sound of him trying to breathe on his own nearly broke me.
But he did it.
Slowly.
Raggedly.
Alive.
Adrian was not permitted inside during the procedure.
Neither was Celine.
Hospital administration had reassigned her pending review.
She protested loudly enough that I heard her from the corridor.
“You can't remove me based on a clerical discrepancy.”
The nursing supervisor answered, “Then you should have no problem while we verify it.”
Celine looked toward Adrian.
That was her mistake.
Agent Reyes, disguised as a visitor down the hall, saw it too.
At eight fifteen, Dr. Hale allowed me into the room alone.
My father looked smaller without the ventilator.
Older.
His lips were cracked.
His eyes remained closed.
I took his hand.
“Dad?”
His eyelids moved.
Then opened.
Barely.
But they opened.
I started crying before I could stop myself.
“Hey.”
His eyes found me.
The right corner of his mouth moved.
No sound came out.
“Don't try to talk.”
His fingers tightened weakly.
I leaned closer.
“Dad, Adrian is trying to hurt you.”
Victor blinked once.
“I found a forged will.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Arthur signed it.”
Pain crossed his face.
Not surprise.
Pain.
“You knew?”
One blink.
“Did you know Adrian was stealing?”
One blink.
“Did Adrian cause your stroke?”
Victor's brow tightened.
He tried to speak.
Only air came out.
I brought a letter board Dr. Hale had left.
“Can you point?”
His right hand barely moved.
Too weak.
“Blink once for yes, twice for no.”
One blink.
I took a breath.
“Did you become sick naturally?”
Two blinks.
My stomach turned.
“Did someone give you something?”
One blink.
“Celine?”
He hesitated.
One blink.
“Adrian?”
His eyes filled with rage.
One blink.
“Arthur?”
Victor stared at me.
Then closed his eyes.
A tear slipped from beneath one lid.
One blink.
All three.
My own uncle.
I bent over my father's hand.
“I'll stop them.”
His fingers tightened.
Then his eyes opened again.
He moved his lips.
This time I heard a fragment.
“Desk.”
“What?”
“Office.”
“Your office?”
Blink.
“What am I looking for?”
His mouth moved.
“Red.”
“Red what?”
He struggled.
“Book.”
Red book.
Before I could ask more, the door opened.
Adrian.
His face froze when he saw Victor's open eyes.
For one perfect second, my husband forgot to act.
Fear.
Pure fear.
Then it vanished.
“Oh my God.”
He crossed the room.
“Victor.”
My father's eyes followed him.
Hatred was unmistakable.
Adrian stopped beside the bed.
“This is incredible.”
Victor's heart monitor accelerated.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Adrian reached for his arm.
I stepped between them.
“Don't.”
He looked at me.
I forced a smile.
“He's overwhelmed.”
Dr. Hale entered behind Adrian.
“She's right. Visitors out.”
Adrian obeyed.
But as he passed me, he whispered, “We should go home now.”
Plan B.
Tonight.
I needed him talking.
So I nodded.
“Okay.”
At nine, we left together.
I felt Eleanor's hand catch mine before the elevator doors closed.
She squeezed once.
“Come back,” she whispered.
Adrian looked at her.
“What did she say?”
“That she hopes Dad improves.”
He smiled.
“So do I.”
We rode down in silence.
The FBI had arranged for surveillance.
I knew that.
Still, stepping into Adrian's car felt like climbing inside a coffin.
He drove.
“You didn't bring your SUV.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“You said I shouldn't drive tired.”
His eyes moved toward me.
“That's right.”
We headed west.
Halfway to Oak Brook, Adrian took an unexpected exit.
My pulse jumped.
“Where are we going?”
“Home.”
“This isn't the usual route.”
“Construction.”
There was no construction.
I looked through the side mirror.
A dark sedan followed two cars behind.
Reyes.
Maybe.
Adrian turned onto a quieter road.
Then another.
“Adrian.”
“Yes?”
“I know about Dad's will.”
His hands remained steady on the wheel.
“What about it?”
I had not planned to say that.
Fear had spoken.
“My father always told me everything.”
“Apparently not.”
“Did he change it?”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“You've never been good with uncertainty.”
The transmitter was recording.
I pushed.
“Would you inherit anything?”
“Why would I?”
“If I died first.”
He looked at me.
The car continued smoothly.
“What a strange question.”
“Is it?”
“You're tired.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you are.”
“And if I wasn't?”
He turned onto a dark residential street.
“If you weren't tired, perhaps you'd remember how many times your father disappointed you.”
The old manipulation.
“You've always hated him.”
“I protected you from him.”
“No. You isolated me from him.”
His jaw tightened.
“You're becoming emotional.”
“I found the AirTag.”
Silence.
I knew immediately I had gone too far.
Adrian's face emptied.
He pulled the car to the curb.
We sat beneath a dead streetlamp.
“Where is your purse?” he asked.
“With me.”
“Did you remove the tracker?”
“No.”
“Then how did you find it?”
I said nothing.
He turned fully toward me.
“Who have you spoken to?”
My heart pounded.
“Why did you track me?”
“For your safety.”
“From what?”
“You.”
The answer was so effortless that I almost admired it.
“You make impulsive decisions when you're distressed.”
“Like avoiding a car with cut brake lines?”
His eyes changed.
There was no going back now.
Adrian reached toward the center console.
I opened the door.
He grabbed my wrist.
“Sit down.”
I screamed.
The passenger door flew wider.
Headlights exploded behind us.
Two vehicles boxed Adrian in.
Men shouted.
“FBI! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!”
Adrian released me instantly.
His expression became calm.
Almost amused.
He raised his hands.
Agent Reyes opened my door.
“Get out.”
I stumbled onto the road.
Another agent pulled Adrian from the driver's side.
But Adrian did not resist.
He simply looked at me over the roof.
“You have no idea what you've done.”
Reyes pushed him against the car.
Adrian smiled at me.
“No idea.”
They searched him.
No weapon.
No poison.
Nothing proving Plan B.
Reyes's face darkened.
“We don't have enough to hold him for attempted murder based solely on that conversation.”
“You heard him.”
“We heard ‘Plan B.’ We need context.”
“What about my brakes?”
“Forensics takes time.”
“What about the forged will?”
“Fraud case, yes. Conspiracy, potentially. Murder charge, not yet.”
Adrian knew it.
That was why he smiled.
His attorney arrived within two hours.
By midnight, Adrian had not been arrested.
He was formally questioned.
His devices were subject to warrants.
But he walked out.
Before leaving the station, he passed me in the hallway.
Two agents stood beside me.
He could not touch me.
So he whispered:
“Ask your father why he kept the red ledger.”
I stared at him.
He smiled.
Then he walked away.
The red book.
Adrian knew about it.
May you like
Which meant whatever Victor had hidden in his office was important enough that both of them believed it could destroy someone.
The only question was who.
