Chapter 7 - The Woman in the Security Feed
Elias Cain was alive.
That fact should have answered questions.
Instead, it multiplied them.
Adrien stood in the study gripping the phone.
“You died.”
The voice answered.
“No. I disappeared.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I let Marcus believe you buried me.”
Adrien's face became something Clare had never seen before.
Not anger.
Betrayal.
“Four years.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
“Adrien—”
“You don't get to say my name like nothing happened.”
Silence.
Then Elias said quietly, “Melanie has forty-three minutes before they move her.”
Adrien’s pain vanished behind discipline.
“Where?”
“Parking structure beneath Broad Street Station. Level three. Two men.”
“How do you know?”
“Because one of them works for me.”
Clare stared.
Adrien said, “You have someone inside?”
“I've had people inside Marcus’s network since before your car exploded.”
“Then you knew.”
“Not early enough.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
For one second.
Then reopened them.
“What do they expect?”
“The ledger.”
“We have it.”
“Bring it.”
Clare stepped forward.
“Why should we trust you?”
Elias went quiet.
“Clare?”
“Yes.”
“You were fifteen when Richard showed you the greenhouse room. You broke a terracotta pot and made him promise not to tell Victoria because you thought she'd ground you.”
Clare’s skin prickled.
Only her father knew that.
“And?”
“He told me the next day because he thought it was hilarious.”
Clare looked at Adrien.
Elias continued.
“Your father saved my life once. I owe him more than I can repay.”
“Then help Melanie.”
“I am.”
At 11:47 p.m., they arrived near Broad Street Station.
Adrien’s security remained two blocks away.
Daniel had alerted a trusted police contact without specifying the location.
Clare carried the ledger in a canvas bag.
Adrien sat in the wheelchair.
“Why are we still pretending?” Clare whispered.
“Because they may be watching.”
Level three appeared empty.
Melanie's car sat near a concrete pillar.
One man stood beside it.
Another held Melanie near the passenger door.
No weapons were visible.
That somehow made the scene more frightening.
The first man raised his hand.
“Stop.”
Adrien did.
Clare stepped forward.
“I have the ledger.”
“Place it on the ground.”
“Release her first.”
“Not how this works.”
Clare heard Adrien behind her.
“Actually, it is.”
The man smiled.
“You don't have much leverage from that chair.”
Adrien’s face remained expressionless.
Clare almost pitied the man.
Almost.
She placed the bag down.
He picked it up.
Checked the ledger.
Then nodded.
The second man released Melanie.
She ran toward Clare.
At the same moment the first man reached for something inside his jacket.
Adrien stood.
The man froze.
Every assumption inside his face collapsed.
“What the—”
Adrien crossed the distance in seconds and disarmed him.
The second man fled toward the stairwell.
He made it three steps before another figure emerged from the shadows.
Tall.
Lean.
Dark hair.
He blocked the exit.
The escaping man stopped.
The stranger smiled.
“Bad night?”
Adrien stared.
The stranger turned.
For the first time in four years, Adrien Cain looked into his brother's face.
Elias.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
A scar ran along his jaw.
But undeniably Elias.
Nobody spoke.
Melanie clung to Clare.
Elias approached slowly.
Adrien’s hands curled into fists.
Elias stopped six feet away.
“I can explain.”
Adrien struck him.
One punch.
Elias stumbled backward.
Then straightened.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserved four years of those.”
“I know.”
Adrien stepped forward.
Clare touched his arm.
He stopped.
Not because she had enough strength.
Because he chose to.
Elias looked at her.
“Thank you.”
“Don't.”
“Fair.”
Police sirens sounded above.
Elias glanced toward the captured men.
“We have maybe three minutes.”
Adrien stared.
“You’re not disappearing again.”
“No.”
“You come with us.”
“Not yet.”
“Elias.”
“You want Marcus?”
Adrien went silent.
Elias pulled a flash drive from his coat.
“This gets you halfway.”
“Halfway to what?”
“Proof.”
He handed it to Clare instead of Adrien.
“Why me?”
“Because Richard trusted you to be the one person in both families without an agenda.”
Clare almost laughed.
“I've been married three days.”
“Exactly.”
Adrien scowled.
Elias smiled faintly.
“Nice wedding, by the way.”
Adrien took a step toward him.
“Wrong time?”
“Very.”
Elias sobered.
“The drive is encrypted. Password is the strip from the ledger.”
“What’s on it?” Clare asked.
“Security footage.”
“Of what?”
“The night Richard died.”
Clare went still.
Elias looked directly at her.
“His accident wasn't an accident.”
Her breath caught.
“Who?”
“I don't know who forced his car off the road.”
“But?”
“I know who deleted the original traffic footage.”
Adrien answered before Elias could.
“Marcus.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Clare.
“Victoria.”
The sirens grew louder.
Melanie whispered, “Mom?”
Elias nodded.
Clare felt as if the concrete floor moved beneath her.
“Why?”
“That answer is on the drive.”
Police entered the lower level.
Elias backed toward another stairwell.
Adrien grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Elias looked down at Adrien’s hand.
Then at his brother.
“I'm not running from you.”
“Looks familiar.”
Pain flashed across Elias's face.
“Twenty-four hours.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus has people watching everyone connected to me.”
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“That has advantages.”
Adrien released him.
“Twenty-four.”
Elias nodded.
Then looked at Clare.
“Don't watch the footage alone.”
She understood before asking.
“Is it bad?”
Elias’s expression answered.
He disappeared into the stairwell.
At the penthouse, Clare inserted the drive.
The password worked.
One video file.
Timestamped the night Richard died.
Adrien stood beside her.
Melanie sat nearby.
Clare pressed play.
A traffic camera showed Richard’s car crossing an intersection.
Another car followed.
Black SUV.
Then the image switched.
A gas station camera several blocks later.
Richard pulled over.
Victoria’s Mercedes stopped behind him.
Clare covered her mouth.
Victoria exited.
She walked to Richard’s driver's window.
They argued.
No audio.
Richard stepped out.
Victoria handed him something.
An envelope.
Then pointed toward the road.
Richard got back into his car.
Victoria returned to hers.
The footage ended.
Clare stared.
“That doesn't prove she killed him.”
“No,” Adrien said.
A second file appeared.
Audio.
Clare clicked.
Victoria’s voice filled the room.
“You have no idea what Marcus will do if you expose him.”
Richard answered.
“Then help me stop him.”
“I can't.”
“You mean you won't.”
“He'll destroy everything.”
Richard paused.
“Victoria, he's already destroyed everything.”
The recording crackled.
Then Richard said the sentence that made Adrien grip the desk.
“Adrien survived. Elias knows the shipment route. It’s over.”
Victoria whispered.
“No. It isn't.”
Richard replied.
“If anything happens to me, Clare gets the records.”
Victoria's answer was almost inaudible.
“That’s what I'm afraid of.”
The file ended.
Melanie began crying.
Clare stared at the blank screen.
Her stepmother had known.
Maybe not caused Richard's death.
But known.
Protected Marcus.
And spent three years controlling Clare afterward.
Adrien placed a hand gently over Clare's.
She did not pull away.
“What now?” Melanie whispered.
Clare looked at Richard’s final ledger.
Then at Adrien.
“Now we find out why Victoria was more afraid of me than she was of Marcus Cain.”
Adrien's phone buzzed.
A notification from penthouse security.
Someone had accessed archived elevator footage.
The night before their wedding.
Clare opened it.
The woman entering Adrien’s private floor wore a hood.
But when she turned toward the camera, Clare recognized her immediately.
Victoria.
May you like
And the timestamp showed she had entered Adrien Cain’s penthouse less than twelve hours before forcing Clare into his wedding.
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