Chapter 7 - THE MAN BEHIND THE CRASH
Adrian did not sleep.
At 5:00 a.m., he called his old security chief, Daniel Ross.
Daniel had worked for the Cole family for fifteen years before Marcus fired him after the accident.
Official reason: budget cuts.
Adrian now understood why.
They met in an underground parking garage.
Daniel climbed into Adrian’s van.
His eyes widened when Adrian stood briefly with help from the seat.
“You can walk?”
“Not yet.”
Daniel looked furious.
“What did they do to you?”
“That’s what I need you to find out.”
Adrian handed him the brake repair documents.
Daniel read them.
“This mechanic disappeared.”
“What?”
“Two weeks after your crash.”
“Disappeared how?”
“Quit his job. Closed his accounts. Nobody’s seen him.”
Adrian felt a chill.
“Find him.”
“I already tried after the crash.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You investigated?”
“Because your brakes didn’t fail naturally.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The hospital.”
Adrian remembered fragments.
Pain.
Medication.
Vanessa telling nurses he needed rest.
Daniel continued.
“Marcus stopped me outside your room. Said you were unstable.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Of course he did.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“There’s more.”
He showed Adrian security footage from the Cole Enterprises garage.
Timestamp: three nights before the accident.
A man approached Adrian’s car.
The face was hidden.
But seconds later, another person entered the frame.
Vanessa.
Adrian stopped breathing.
She handed the man an envelope.
Grace whispered, “Oh my God.”
Adrian watched the footage again.
Vanessa.
The woman who slept beside him in the hospital.
Who fed him soup when his hands shook.
Who told him surviving was enough.
She had been near his car three nights before his brakes failed.
Daniel said, “I never knew who the man was.”
Adrian zoomed in.
The man turned for half a second.
There was a scar behind his right ear.
Adrian knew that scar.
He had seen it hundreds of times growing up.
“No.”
Grace looked at him.
“What?”
Adrian stared at the frozen image.
“That’s Marcus’s driver.”
Daniel went quiet.
Adrian slowly sat back.
His brother.
His fiancée.
Together.
Grace touched his arm.
“Adrian.”
He pulled away.
Not because he was angry at her.
Because if anyone touched him right then, he thought he might break.
Daniel asked quietly, “What do you want me to do?”
Adrian looked at the screen.
“Find the driver.”
“And if he runs?”
“Make him understand running is no longer an option.”
Three days later, Daniel called.
“We found him.”
Adrian sat forward.
“Where?”
“Queens.”
“Bring him to me.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Adrian... there’s a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The driver says Marcus didn’t order the crash.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Then who did?”
May you like
Daniel took a breath.
“He says the order came from your father.”
