Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Signature
Elena called back.
No connection.
Again.
Nothing.
Rebecca was already moving.
“Did the hospital trace it?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Call came through an external relay.”
Elena pushed the blanket aside.
“I’m leaving.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“No.”
“That was my father.”
“I know.”
“He’s alive.”
“I know.”
“He may be in danger.”
“You’re thirty-one weeks pregnant and under medical observation.”
She swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“And he’s been hiding for nineteen years because someone tried to kill him.”
“Elena.”
“If that was your father on the phone, would you stay in bed?”
Adrian did not answer.
“That’s what I thought.”
Dr. Patel entered ten seconds later and reacted exactly as expected.
“You are not going anywhere.”
Elena argued.
The doctor argued better.
After another examination, Dr. Patel made it clear that Elena was at serious risk if she left immediately.
“The contractions are responding to treatment,” she said. “Your baby looks stable. Do not turn that into permission to be reckless.”
Elena lay back.
“Two hours.”
“Minimum.”
“One.”
“Mrs. Cross.”
“Please.”
Dr. Patel looked at her.
Then at Adrian.
“Two.”
Elena nodded.
The instant the doctor left, she said, “Find my father.”
Daniel and Rebecca began reconstructing the call.
The voice relay was useless, but background audio provided clues.
Rebecca had recorded the call through her phone.
They heard a metallic announcement.
A bell.
Then something that sounded like a train.
“Station?” Elena asked.
Daniel replayed it.
Sofia suddenly looked up.
“No.”
“What?”
“That isn’t a train announcement.”
“What is it?”
“A ferry terminal.”
Elena stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Gabriel used to work near one.”
Rebecca leaned closer.
“Which terminal?”
Sofia hesitated.
“Red Hook.”
Daniel immediately sent two men.
Adrian stayed beside Elena.
For the first time all night, they were alone.
She looked at him.
“Tell me about Charles.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything you’ve spent fifteen years not telling me.”
He sat.
“My father built Cross Meridian from nothing.”
“That part is in every magazine.”
“He also believes rules are created by people powerful enough to enforce them.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“That sounds promising.”
“When I took over, I changed a lot.”
“How much?”
“Not enough, apparently.”
She waited.
Adrian rubbed his thumb across his wedding ring.
“When I was twenty-six, I found payments to a consultant I didn’t recognize.”
“What kind?”
“Seven million dollars over eighteen months.”
“To whom?”
“A company in Delaware.”
“And?”
“My father said it was government-relations work.”
“You believed him?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“The company disappeared before I finished investigating.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“You never told anyone?”
“I told the board.”
“What did they do?”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“My father controlled the board.”
“And you stayed?”
He looked at her.
“I spent ten years replacing them.”
That silenced her.
Adrian continued.
“I thought if I gained control, I could clean up whatever he had done.”
“You thought?”
“I found questionable things. Tax shelters. Political donations routed through intermediaries. Aggressive acquisitions.”
“Wage theft?”
“Never.”
“Until now.”
“Until now.”
Elena studied her husband.
Adrian Cross had never pretended to be soft.
He had made ruthless business decisions.
Closed divisions.
Fired executives.
Defeated competitors.
But there was a line in him.
She had seen it repeatedly.
He hated bullies.
Maybe because his father had been one.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what? That my father might have done unethical things twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
He sighed.
“Because you already hated his cigars.”
Despite everything, Elena laughed.
Adrian smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I also didn’t want you carrying my family history.”
“I married your family history.”
“No. You married me.”
“That’s not how marriage works.”
He looked at her.
She reached for him.
“You don’t get to decide which parts of yourself I can handle.”
He squeezed her hand.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I’m learning.”
Daniel entered.
“We found the location.”
Elena sat up.
“My father?”
“Possibly.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned freight building near the Red Hook waterfront.”
Adrian stood.
“Police?”
“On the way.”
Rebecca stepped in behind Daniel.
“You shouldn’t send local police.”
“Why?”
“Gabriel told me somebody in law enforcement was leaking information.”
Daniel frowned.
“Federal?”
“He didn’t know.”
Adrian made a decision.
“My security team goes first and observes. No entry.”
Elena nodded.
Adrian looked at her.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She glared at him.
He kissed her forehead.
“You can fire me later.”
“You don’t work for me.”
“Exactly. So you can’t stop me.”
He turned toward Daniel.
Elena caught his jacket.
“Adrian.”
He looked back.
“Bring him back.”
“I will.”
“Both of you.”
His expression softened.
“I will.”
Forty minutes later, Elena watched Daniel’s security feed from a tablet.
Adrian had insisted Daniel stay behind with her while another team accompanied him.
The video showed dark warehouse corridors.
Broken office doors.
Dust.
Rebecca sat near Elena’s bed.
Sofia stood by the window.
No one spoke.
Then Adrian’s voice came through.
“Movement.”
The camera turned.
A shadow crossed a doorway.
Security approached.
“Mr. Martinez?”
No answer.
Then a man stepped into view.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
A scar running from his temple toward his jaw.
Sofia made a sound beside Elena.
“Oh, God.”
Elena stared.
Even nineteen years later, she knew his eyes.
Gabriel Martinez looked directly into the camera mounted on the security officer’s chest.
“Where’s Elena?”
“She’s safe,” Adrian said.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You’re Charles Cross’s son.”
“Yes.”
“Then she isn’t safe.”
Adrian stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel looked toward the warehouse entrance.
“We don’t have time.”
“Come with us.”
“No.”
“Elena is waiting.”
Pain crossed Gabriel’s face.
“I know.”
“Then come.”
Gabriel reached into his coat.
Security stiffened.
He slowly removed a USB drive.
“This is everything.”
Adrian extended his hand.
Gabriel did not give it to him.
“Not to you.”
“Fine. Give it directly to Elena.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever has this becomes a target.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Elena is already a target.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gabriel glanced toward the entrance again.
“Because Marcus realized what she had.”
“What does Marcus know?”
“That Elena copied his records.”
“We know that.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Marcus wasn’t stealing wages for himself.”
“Who was he stealing them for?”
Gabriel finally handed Adrian the drive.
“For your father.”
A gunshot exploded somewhere outside the building.
The feed jerked.
Elena screamed Adrian’s name.
Daniel grabbed the tablet.
Security shouted.
Another gunshot.
Then darkness.
The feed cut out.
Sofia began crying.
Elena stared at the blank screen.
“Call him.”
Daniel tried.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Adrian’s name appeared on Elena’s phone.
She answered immediately.
“Adrian?”
A man spoke.
But it was not Adrian.
“Mrs. Cross?”
“Who is this?”
“Your husband has something that belongs to us.”
May you like
Elena’s blood went cold.
“And now,” the man said, “so do we.”
