Chapter 14 - The One Thing Adam Could Not HideAdam's first instinct was to call Nora.
His second was to drive to Ann Arbor.
His third was to find whoever had taken the photograph and make them regret possessing a camera.
He did none of those things.
He handed the phone to Rebecca.
That decision may have saved everything.
Within minutes, federal agents contacted local police.
Caleb called Haven House security.
Rebecca instructed Adam not to warn Nora until officers were positioned nearby.
Adam hated every second.
“You're asking me to let her walk around without knowing she's being watched.”
“For approximately four minutes.”
“That's four minutes too long.”
“Adam.”
He stopped.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“If you panic her before we secure the location, she may leave through an exit we aren't covering.”
Adam sat down.
Four minutes later, Rebecca nodded.
“Call her.”
Nora answered immediately.
“Adam?”
“Where are you?”
“In my office.”
“Lock the door.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
He told her.
Everything.
No minimizing.
No calm version.
No “don't worry.”
When he finished, Nora whispered, “Someone followed me?”
“Yes.”
“Hope?”
“With Emily at home. Two officers are already there.”
Nora breathed.
Adam could hear fear beneath it.
“I’m coming.”
Rebecca shook her head.
Adam watched her.
Then told Nora, “Police are bringing you here.”
Another silence.
The old Adam would have ordered her.
The new Adam asked:
“Is that okay?”
Nora closed her eyes on the other end.
“Yes.”
Twenty-five minutes later she entered Rebecca's office.
Adam stood.
Nora crossed the room and hugged him.
Hard.
His arms closed around her.
“You told me immediately.”
He almost laughed at the strange compliment.
“Yes.”
“No heroic nonsense.”
“Rebecca physically prevented approximately six terrible ideas.”
Rebecca spoke from her desk.
“Seven.”
Nora laughed shakily.
That evening they moved temporarily into Caleb's Chicago penthouse because it had private security.
Caleb handed Adam a key.
“Guest room's down the hall.”
Adam looked offended.
“Nora and I are engaged.”
Caleb stared.
“My building. My morality.”
Nora burst out laughing.
“You're enjoying this.”
“Immensely.”
Hope crawled toward Caleb.
He lifted her.
Adam pointed.
“Stop stealing my daughter.”
“She comes voluntarily.”
“You bribed her with crackers.”
“Networking.”
For ten minutes, fear loosened its grip.
Then Sophie Voss arrived.
She was twenty-seven.
Dark hair.
Gray coat.
Her father's eyes.
Adam recognized them immediately from photographs.
She did not shake his hand.
“You kept his drive for six years.”
“I didn't know I had it.”
“That sentence seems to solve many problems for you.”
Nora watched Adam.
He didn't defend himself.
Sophie noticed too.
“My father believed Richard Hale was laundering money through medical-property deals,” she said.
Caleb asked, “Where does Lang fit?”
“My father called him the architect.”
Adam frowned.
“Why wasn't Lang in the files by name?”
“He was careful.”
“Then why contact me?”
Sophie looked directly at Adam.
“Because my father trusted you.”
Adam almost laughed.
“He shouldn't have.”
“No.”
Her answer surprised him.
“He trusted the person he thought you might become.”
Sophie removed another envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Adam recognized Daniel's handwriting.
He read silently.
Adam—
Richard thinks ambition is the easiest leash to put around a man.
He's probably right.
But I've watched you when you think no one important is looking.
You're not him yet.
Don't become him.
Adam stopped.
Six years earlier, Daniel had seen the fork in the road.
Adam had chosen badly.
Maybe not criminally.
But badly.
Sophie continued.
“My father disappeared two days after writing that.”
Nora asked gently, “Why wait six years?”
“Because I was nineteen and terrified.”
Nobody interrupted.
“Then Richard Hale went to prison. Adam testified. I started wondering whether my father had been right.”
She looked at Adam.
“Maybe you finally became someone who would open the box.”
Adam folded the letter.
“What do you want?”
“Justice.”
“For your father?”
“For everyone.”
Sophie looked at Nora.
“Meridian wasn't only stealing money.”
Nora's stomach tightened.
“What else?”
“They were buying buildings around hospitals before expansion plans became public.”
Caleb understood.
“Inside information.”
“Yes.”
“From whom?”
Sophie looked at all three.
“Hospital executives. City officials. Consultants.”
Adam's expression hardened.
“Victor Lang.”
“Yes.”
Sophie opened her phone.
“My father recorded his last meeting.”
She pressed play.
Victor Lang's voice came through clearly.
“You have a daughter, Daniel.”
Adam's blood went cold.
Daniel answered.
“Leave Sophie out of this.”
Lang laughed.
“Then stop asking questions.”
The recording ended.
Nora whispered, “Oh my God.”
Sophie looked at Adam.
“That was forty-eight hours before my father disappeared.”
Adam's phone rang.
Everyone jumped.
It was the security desk downstairs.
Caleb answered.
“What?”
His expression changed.
“No. Don't let him up.”
Adam stood.
“Who?”
Caleb looked toward Sophie.
Then Nora.
“Victor Lang.”
Hope began crying.
May you like
And from the lobby thirty floors below, Victor Lang sent up one message.
Tell Adam Mercer I only want to discuss the wedding.
Related Stories
