Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Julian stared at the gun.
“Where’s Bianca?”
Adrian Cole smiled.
“Always straight to the woman.”
“Answer me.”
“She’s handling another problem.”
“Who are you?”
“I told you.”
“That means nothing.”
“It meant something to your father.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I was Charles Hale’s business partner before you were old enough to shave.”
Julian searched his memory.
He knew the board history.
Executives.
Investors.
Founders.
No Adrian Cole.
“You’re lying.”
“I was never on paper.”
“Convenient.”
Adrian laughed.
“That sounds exactly like your father.”
Rachel tugged Julian’s sleeve.
“We need to leave.”
Adrian pointed the gun toward her.
“She stays quiet.”
Julian stepped between them.
“Don’t point that at her.”
“Still playing hero.”
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
Julian removed it slowly.
Adrian held out his hand.
Julian tossed it.
Adrian caught it.
“Now let us go.”
“You think that’s how this works?”
“You have what you wanted.”
Adrian examined the drive.
“What I wanted disappeared eighteen years ago.”
Julian narrowed his eyes.
“What?”
“Your father stole something from me.”
“My father?”
“A ledger.”
Rachel whispered:
“The blue book.”
Adrian looked at her.
Julian turned.
“You know about it?”
Rachel looked terrified.
“Your father gave it to my husband.”
Julian stared.
Rachel’s husband, Thomas, had died twelve years earlier.
A construction accident.
At least that was what Julian had been told.
“Why would Dad give Thomas anything?”
“Because Thomas worked security for him.”
Adrian laughed.
“Everybody had secrets back then.”
Julian felt rage rising.
“Enough games.”
Adrian’s smile vanished.
“Your father discovered that Victor Laurent and I were moving money through Hale Industries.”
“Bianca’s father.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
“And my father confronted you.”
“He threatened to turn us in.”
“So you killed him.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Victor panicked.”
“You were involved.”
“I cleaned up.”
Julian wanted to cross the distance and tear him apart.
Instead, he remained still.
“What’s Bianca’s role?”
Adrian tilted his head.
“You think she’s some innocent daughter seeking answers?”
“I know she isn’t innocent.”
“You know almost nothing.”
The greenhouse door suddenly slammed open.
A woman entered.
Bianca.
She carried a pistol.
Her hair was pulled back.
Her face looked completely different without the soft expression Julian had known for three years.
“Did he bring it?” she asked.
Adrian held up the drive.
“Yes.”
Bianca looked at Julian.
“You should’ve listened to me.”
“You kidnapped Rachel.”
“I needed insurance.”
“You tried to kill my mother.”
“I scared her.”
“She was drowning.”
“She’s tougher than she looks.”
Julian took a step.
Bianca raised the pistol.
“Stop.”
“You wanted to marry me.”
“I needed access.”
“To what?”
Bianca glanced at Adrian.
“The Hale family trust.”
Julian laughed once.
“You can’t access that by marrying me.”
“I know.”
Her answer made him uneasy.
“Then what?”
“You can.”
Julian frowned.
“And once you were married, I could convince you.”
“Convince me?”
“If necessary.”
Adrian smirked.
“He means drug you.”
Bianca snapped:
“Shut up.”
Julian stared at her.
“You were going to drug me?”
“Only if you made things difficult.”
Rachel whispered:
“You’re sick.”
Bianca swung the gun toward her.
“I said quiet.”
Julian moved again.
Bianca pointed it back.
“Don’t test me.”
Then a noise came from outside.
A branch snapping.
Adrian turned toward the door.
“What was that?”
Bianca looked at Julian.
“You brought someone.”
“No.”
Adrian moved toward the entrance.
Suddenly the greenhouse windows exploded inward.
Police shouted.
“Drop the weapons!”
Bianca spun.
Julian grabbed Rachel and pulled her down.
A shot cracked.
Then another.
Glass shattered.
Adrian ran toward the rear exit.
Bianca fired toward the police.
Julian lunged at her.
They crashed against a table.
The gun skidded away.
Bianca clawed at his face.
“You idiot!”
He pinned her wrist.
“You’re done.”
She smiled.
“No.”
Then she drove her knee into his ribs.
Julian fell sideways.
Bianca scrambled toward the gun.
Before she reached it, Martha stepped through the doorway holding a fireplace poker.
She swung.
The poker knocked the weapon away.
Bianca stared at her.
“You?”
Martha smiled thinly.
“Still helpless?”
Officers rushed in.
Bianca was forced to the ground.
Rachel started laughing and crying at the same time.
Julian looked at his mother.
“You followed me?”
“I called the detective.”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“So could you.”
Outside, officers searched the woods.
Adrian Cole had escaped.
Bianca was handcuffed.
As police dragged her past Julian, she leaned close.
“You think you won?”
Julian said nothing.
Bianca smiled.
“Ask your mother where the ledger is.”
Martha’s face changed.
Bianca noticed.
And laughed.
“Oh, Julian.”
May you like
She whispered:
“She’s still lying to you.”
