Chapter 11 - THE MAN WHO TOOK THE MONEY
I didn’t meet Adrian alone.
He arrived at my attorney’s office after dark and found Ruiz waiting beside the conference table.
His own lawyer came ten minutes later.
Adrian looked smaller without an audience.
I hated that I noticed.
“You said Dad,” I told him.
He swallowed.
“Mom found out he was removing her from the foundation.”
“Keep going.”
“She asked me to arrange a meeting with Daniel Price.”
“The mechanic.”
Adrian nodded.
“What kind of meeting?”
“She said Dad was driving himself too much. That the car needed work.”
Ruiz watched him.
“When did you realize that wasn’t what she meant?”
He stared at the table.
“After the crash.”
“You want me to believe that?” I asked.
“No.”
That answer stopped me.
He rubbed both hands against his trousers.
“I knew something was wrong before. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want the answer.”
“Then you took the money.”
His eyes lifted.
“Yes.”
There was no forgiveness inside the honesty.
Only less room to hide.
The payment to Price had been labeled emergency maintenance.
Adrian had approved it.
Later, when Lena began asking questions about the foundation, Evelyn told him Lena was trying to destroy the family.
“She said you’d choose Lena over us.”
“I would have.”
“I know that now.”
“No. You knew it then.”
His eyes filled.
I felt nothing useful about it.
Ruiz asked about records.
Adrian reached into his briefcase.
His lawyer stopped him, spoke quietly, then nodded.
There were copies of messages.
Account approvals.
A handwritten schedule from Evelyn’s assistant.
And an audio file Adrian had saved after their father’s funeral.
My mother’s voice was clear.
“What happened cannot be undone. If you drag this into daylight, you go down with me.”
Adrian’s voice followed.
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“You agreed to be useful.”
The recording ended.
Ruiz took notes without making promises.
Adrian looked at me.
“Can I see Sophie?”
“No.”
He nodded as if he had expected it.
Then he said, “There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
“Graham still works for her.”
“We know.”
“No. You know he drives her.”
He leaned forward.
“He keeps things. Insurance. Copies of instructions.”
“Where?”
“A garage near the old freight yard.”
Ruiz stood.
Adrian caught her attention.
“If Mom knows I’m here, she’ll tell him to clear it out.”
At that moment, Marcus’s phone rang.
He listened.
His jaw tightened.
May you like
Then he looked at Ruiz.
“There’s a fire at the freight yard.”
