Chapter 5 - The Night Adrian Saved Her Father
Adrian sat down.
“I didn't know.”
Zara studied him.
“You saved my father?”
“Apparently.”
“Don't apparently me.”
Adrian rubbed a hand over his face.
“Eleven years ago, my father ordered me to approve a vehicle disposal.”
Zara's stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“In his language? Someone was supposed to die in it.”
“Who?”
“I wasn't given a name.”
Adrian looked at the letter.
“I refused.”
“Why?”
“I was twenty-six and had finally realized becoming Victor Cross wasn't inevitable.”
His laugh was bitter.
“I burned the order.”
“And?”
“My father sent someone else.”
Zara pressed play on the cassette recorder.
Static.
Then her father's voice filled the room.
“Zara, if you're hearing this, I need you to understand something.”
She covered her mouth.
Seven years since she had heard that voice.
Adrian moved closer but did not touch her.
Thomas continued.
“Victor Cross built his fortune with men who believed fear was more reliable than law. Graham Vale's father, Richard, was one of them. But eventually Victor became afraid of his own partners.”
The tape crackled.
“I discovered the Halstead ledger while auditing a charitable trust.”
Thomas explained that millions had been moved through foundations, freight companies and construction contracts.
He copied everything.
Victor found out.
The first attempt on Thomas's life failed because someone anonymously warned him not to enter his car.
Thomas later discovered that person was Adrian.
Zara looked at her husband.
“You never knew who you saved.”
“No.”
The recording continued.
“Adrian Cross is not innocent. But he is not his father.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Thomas,” Zara whispered.
“If Zara ever becomes part of his life, I hope he chooses differently.”
Silence.
Then:
“The original ledger does not matter anymore. The proof has been separated. Evan knows part. Another copy is somewhere Victor would never destroy because destroying it would expose him.”
The tape clicked off.
Zara wiped her cheeks.
Marcus's phone rang.
He answered.
His face hardened.
“We found Evan.”
Zara stood.
“Where?”
“Cook County Hospital.”
Someone had dumped Evan behind a gas station.
He was alive.
Barely.
Zara reached his room before anyone could stop her.
Evan looked older than thirty.
Thin.
Bruised.
A bandage covered his temple.
His eyes opened.
“Zee.”
She slapped him.
Not hard.
Then hugged him.
Evan began crying.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve several more.”
Adrian remained outside until Zara looked at him.
“Come in.”
Evan's expression changed.
“Cross.”
“Bennett.”
“You still terrifying accountants?”
“Only dishonest ones.”
Evan almost smiled.
Then his face became serious.
“They know.”
“Who?”
“Someone inside your organization.”
Adrian went still.
“How?”
“Every time I moved, they found me.”
“Name.”
“I don't know.”
Evan looked toward Zara.
“The divorce papers were bait.”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
“They wanted you separated.”
“Why?”
“Because Zara unknowingly has the final piece.”
Zara stared.
“I don't.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Where?”
“Dad gave it to you years ago.”
“I would remember.”
“He didn't tell you.”
Evan looked at her necklace.
Zara instinctively touched the small gold pendant she had worn since college.
Their father's last birthday gift.
Adrian saw it too.
Inside the pendant was a micro-storage card.
Marcus inserted it into an isolated laptop.
Files appeared.
Hundreds.
Bank transfers.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
Names.
One folder was labeled:
CROSS SUCCESSION.
Adrian opened it.
The first document was Victor's private contingency plan.
If Adrian ever attempted to dismantle the criminal side of the empire, control would transfer to Victor's most loyal lieutenant.
A man Adrian had trusted since he was nineteen.
Marcus Reed.
Nobody moved.
Adrian slowly looked up.
Marcus was standing by the door.
His expression was unreadable.
Zara whispered, “Marcus?”
Marcus reached inside his jacket.
Adrian stepped in front of Zara.
But Marcus did not draw a gun.
He removed his phone.
Placed it on the table.
Then raised both hands.
“Before you decide what that document means,” he said, “there is something Adrian needs to know.”
Adrian stared at him.
Marcus swallowed.
“Victor ordered me to kill Thomas Bennett.”
May you like
Zara stopped breathing.
“And I was the man who refused.”
