Chapter 4 - IMPACT
Adrian grabbed Elena’s arm.
“Move!”
They jumped behind a concrete planter as the SUV jumped the curb.
The cardboard box exploded beneath the tires.
Shoes.
Envelopes.
Elena’s framed photograph shattered across the sidewalk.
The SUV clipped a parking sign and tore back onto the street.
Adrian landed hard.
Pain ripped through his hip so violently his vision went white.
“Elena?”
“I’m here.”
She pushed herself up.
Then saw Adrian.
“Oh my God.”
He was gripping his right leg.
“I’m fine.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I said—”
“You can barely breathe.”
She crouched beside him.
Adrian tried to stand.
His leg collapsed immediately.
Elena caught his shoulder.
“Don’t.”
A hotel security guard ran outside.
“What happened?”
“Call the police,” Elena said.
The guard stared after the disappearing SUV.
Then his radio crackled.
He looked uncomfortable.
“What?”
Elena read his expression.
“You’re not calling.”
“Management said this is private property. We should handle it internally.”
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Who’s management?”
The guard didn’t answer.
Adrian pulled out his phone.
“I’ll call them myself.”
This time, a police report existed.
So did security footage.
Unfortunately, the camera facing the employee entrance had stopped recording eleven minutes before the SUV appeared.
Marcus arrived twenty minutes later.
He took one look at Adrian and swore.
“You need a hospital.”
“I need the license plate.”
“Partial.”
“Run it.”
“I’m an attorney, not Batman.”
“Call someone who is.”
Elena stood nearby holding the broken photograph.
Adrian noticed.
“Your mother?”
“My grandmother.”
“Can it be replaced?”
“No.”
He understood immediately.
Not everything could.
At the hospital, doctors found no new fracture.
Just inflammation.
Adrian sat on the exam bed while Marcus paced.
“The board session is at nine tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I have a chair.”
Marcus looked at him.
Something in Adrian’s tone had changed.
No embarrassment.
No defiance.
Just fact.
His wheelchair was a tool.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Elena sat across the room.
A detective named Lena Park had already taken her statement.
Park returned carrying a tablet.
“We traced the SUV.”
Adrian looked up.
“Owner?”
“Rental.”
“Rented by who?”
“Shell company.”
Marcus muttered, “Of course.”
Park tapped the screen.
“The company was formed eighteen months ago.”
“Name?”
“Northline Consulting.”
Adrian froze.
Marcus saw it.
“You know it?”
Adrian slowly nodded.
Northline Consulting had received almost two million dollars from a subsidiary Grant supervised.
Claire had told Adrian it was a cybersecurity vendor.
Detective Park continued.
“We also checked the hotel’s archived parking logs from the night of your accident.”
Adrian’s heart pounded.
“There’s an entry showing Grant Ellis’s card accessing the garage.”
“That matches Elena.”
Park nodded.
“But there’s something else.”
She turned the tablet toward Adrian.
Another access record.
Same night.
Same garage.
Seven minutes after Grant.
May you like
Adrian stared at the name.
Claire Beaumont.
