Chapter 5 - The Friend Who Knew Too Much
Adrien looked at Marcus.
For fifteen years, Marcus had been the person beside him when almost everyone else changed.
He had attended Adrien’s father’s funeral.
Helped Adrien stabilize Blackwood Global.
Stayed through hostile takeovers.
Threats.
Lawsuits.
Failures.
Victories.
Marcus had keys to Adrien’s homes.
Access to his planes.
Authority over security.
He knew everything.
Or so Adrien had believed.
“Explain.”
Marcus looked at Samuel.
“You’re enjoying this.”
Samuel shrugged.
“Truth has its moments.”
Adrien stepped closer.
“Marcus.”
Marcus exhaled.
“I was there the night Charles died.”
Adrien felt the room tilt.
“You told me you were in Boston.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because your father ordered me to.”
“Start talking.”
Marcus looked at Maya.
“David Bennett was there too.”
Maya froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Marcus described that night.
Charles had called David to Blackwood’s private offices.
Samuel’s theft had finally been documented.
Charles planned to contact federal authorities the next morning.
David agreed to testify.
Eleanor was supposed to bring copies of the financial records.
Marcus had been assigned to keep everyone secure.
But before Eleanor arrived, Charles collapsed.
“He couldn’t breathe,” Marcus said. “His pulse went crazy.”
Adrien swallowed.
“And you did what?”
“I called emergency services.”
“But?”
“Your father stopped me.”
“What?”
“He said the documents had to disappear first.”
Adrien stared.
“Why?”
“Because if Samuel found them, he’d know David was cooperating.”
Maya whispered, “So my father left?”
“Yes.”
“With the files?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Charles died before the ambulance arrived.”
Adrien’s eyes hardened.
“And you let everyone call it a heart attack.”
“I was twenty-four and terrified.”
“You were security.”
“I was a kid in a suit.”
“You lied to me for twenty years.”
“Yes.”
The honesty made Adrien angrier.
“Did you steal my wallet?”
“No.”
“Did you plant the key?”
“No.”
“Do you know who did?”
“No.”
Samuel laughed softly.
Marcus turned.
“You think this is funny?”
“I think you’ve spent twenty years pretending loyalty erased cowardice.”
Marcus took one step toward him.
Adrien stopped him.
“Enough.”
Maya asked, “Where did my father take the files?”
Marcus looked at her.
“I thought he destroyed them.”
“The archive proves he didn’t.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor finally spoke.
“David created Box Forty-Seven.”
Maya looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I helped him.”
“Then why was there a key in my apron?”
“I didn’t put it there.”
“Who knew about the box?”
Eleanor counted.
“David. Charles. Thomas. Me. Marcus.”
Samuel added, “And eventually me.”
Adrien considered everyone in the room.
Someone among them was still lying.
Then Maya’s phone rang.
Her mother.
She answered.
“Mom?”
Only breathing.
Then a man’s voice.
“Maya Bennett?”
Her face drained.
“Who is this?”
“We have your mother.”
Adrien moved immediately.
“Speaker.”
Maya did.
The man continued.
“Bring Box Forty-Seven.”
“Where?”
“You’ll receive instructions.”
Maya’s mother cried in the background.
“Maya, don’t—”
The line cut.
Maya grabbed her coat.
Adrien stopped her.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Not negotiable.”
“She’s my mother.”
“And whoever took her is connected to me.”
Marcus was already calling security.
They returned to the archive facility.
The box was gone.
The manager lay unconscious near the office.
Security footage had been erased.
On the floor, a single burgundy thread remained.
Same shade as Maya’s Bellmont uniform.
Someone wanted them to believe she had been involved.
At 1:12 a.m., another message arrived.
Pier 47.
Come alone.
Maya showed Adrien.
He shook his head.
“You’re not going alone.”
“They said—”
“I know what they said.”
“My mother could die.”
“And so could you.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
The words stopped them both.
Maya stared at him.
Adrien didn’t look away.
“I care,” he repeated.
Something passed between them.
Too dangerous to name.
Too real to ignore.
Marcus broke the silence.
“We’ll stage it.”
Maya went to Pier 47 carrying a decoy archive case.
Adrien and security watched from hidden positions.
Fog rolled across the Hudson.
A warehouse door opened.
Maya entered.
Her mother sat tied to a chair.
A masked man stood behind her.
“Box.”
Maya placed the case down.
“Let her go.”
He opened it.
Empty.
His head snapped up.
Adrien emerged.
“Looking for something?”
The man ran.
Security chased him.
Maya rushed to her mother.
Adrien followed the masked figure through a service corridor.
The man hit a fire door.
Marcus appeared from the opposite side.
The man was trapped.
Adrien grabbed him.
Pulled off the mask.
Everyone froze.
Evan.
The waiter from Bellmont.
Maya stared.
“You?”
Evan laughed nervously.
“I’m not who you want.”
“Who hired you?” Adrien demanded.
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
“Who told you to take Maya’s mother?”
“Messages. Cash. Instructions.”
“Did you steal my wallet?”
“No.”
“Phone?”
“No.”
“Plant the key?”
Evan shook his head.
Adrien believed him.
Marcus found Evan’s phone.
Encrypted messages.
One final instruction.
IF CAUGHT, TELL BLACKWOOD TO CHECK THE LAST FILE.
Adrien frowned.
“What last file?”
Then Maya’s mother spoke.
“The one David gave me.”
Everyone turned.
She was crying.
“Maya’s father gave me something before he died.”
Maya knelt beside her.
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
“Where?”
“I hid it.”
“Mom, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because David made me promise.”
“Where is it?”
Her mother looked at Adrien.
“In the place where Maya first met him.”
Adrien understood.
Bellmont.
They drove back immediately.
The restaurant was closed.
Maya unlocked a service entrance.
“Where would he hide something here?”
Her mother had texted one further clue.
Beneath kindness.
Maya walked toward the table.
The table where Adrien had sat.
The table where she paid $47.
She crouched.
Underneath, taped to the wood, was a tiny flash drive.
Adrien stared.
“Someone put that there recently.”
“Yes.”
Maya pulled it free.
They inserted it into Marcus’s secure laptop.
One video.
David Bennett appeared.
Older.
Sick.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Maya, if you ever see this, I’m sorry.”
She covered her mouth.
“I spent years trying to keep you away from what Charles and I created. But the truth is, Blackwood Global was never Charles’s company alone.”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
David continued.
“The original patents were mine. Charles provided capital. We were equal partners.”
Maya stared at Adrien.
David reached for a document.
“If the original agreement still stands, fifty percent of the founding intellectual property belongs to my heirs.”
Marcus whispered, “Jesus.”
Maya stepped backward.
“That can’t be real.”
The video continued.
“But money was not why I preserved this.”
David looked terrified.
“I preserved it because the person who ordered Charles’s death is still inside Blackwood Global.”
Adrien stopped breathing.
“Not Samuel Crane.”
Everyone froze.
David leaned toward the camera.
“It was someone Charles trusted more than Samuel.”
The video glitched.
Then returned.
David said one name.
But the audio vanished.
Marcus tried again.
Nothing.
Adrien watched David’s lips.
One syllable.
Then another.
Maya whispered, “Can you read it?”
Adrien slowly looked toward Marcus.
Before he could answer, every light inside Bellmont went out.
A voice came from the darkness behind them.
“Don’t bother fixing the audio.”
May you like
A gun clicked.
“I’ll tell you the name myself.”
