Chapter 5 - THE LOCKED ROOM
Adrian pushed his wheelchair toward the elevator as fast as he could.
“Grace!”
Another scream.
Then silence.
The elevator doors opened.
He rolled into the second-floor hallway.
A chair lay overturned.
Grace’s cleaning cart had been knocked against the wall.
“Grace!”
A weak voice came from the guest wing.
“Here!”
Adrian followed it.
The linen room door was locked.
He slammed his palm against it.
“Move away.”
“What?”
“MOVE!”
Adrian grabbed a heavy bronze sculpture from a side table and smashed it against the lock.
Once.
Twice.
The wood cracked.
On the third strike, the door opened.
Grace stumbled out.
Her face was pale.
“What happened?”
“Someone shoved me inside.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t see.”
She held up her phone.
“But I found something first.”
Adrian’s pulse quickened.
Grace had gone looking for clean sheets in an unused guest bedroom.
Behind a stack of old storage boxes, she found a black leather briefcase.
Inside were documents.
Bank statements.
Insurance papers.
And photographs of Adrian’s wrecked car.
Adrian spread everything across his desk.
One document made his stomach turn.
A life insurance policy.
Fifty million dollars.
Beneficiary: Vanessa Reed.
Signed six weeks before the crash.
“I never signed this.”
Grace looked at him.
“You sure?”
“I know my signature.”
Another folder contained repair records for his car.
Brake maintenance.
Three days before the crash.
Adrian read the mechanic’s note twice.
“Brake line replaced.”
Grace frowned.
“If it was replaced, why did it fail?”
“Exactly.”
The front door opened downstairs.
Voices.
Marcus and Vanessa.
Grace whispered, “What do we do?”
Adrian closed the briefcase.
“Put it back.”
“What?”
“If they realize we know, we lose the advantage.”
“You were drugged for months.”
“I’m aware.”
“They might have tried to kill you.”
“I’m aware of that too.”
Grace stared at him.
For the first time, she saw the man business magazines had described before the accident.
Cold.
Focused.
Dangerous.
Adrian wheeled toward the elevator.
“From this moment on, we pretend nothing has changed.”
“And your rehab?”
“We do it in secret.”
“What about Dr. Park?”
“No calls from this house.”
Grace nodded.
Adrian stopped.
“Grace.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you helping me?”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“Because I know what it looks like when people decide someone is too weak to fight back.”
There was something in her voice.
Something personal.
But before Adrian could ask, Vanessa appeared at the end of the hallway.
She smiled.
“There you are.”
Her eyes moved from Adrian...
To Grace...
To the broken linen-room lock.
May you like
The smile disappeared.
“What happened here?”
