Chapter 6 - The Fire
Nia was out of the SUV before the driver could stop her.
“Ms. Carter!”
She ran.
Smoke was already pushing through the restaurant windows.
Someone across the street shouted that firefighters were coming.
Nia didn't wait.
The front door was locked.
She grabbed a metal trash can and slammed it into the glass.
Once.
Twice.
The third strike shattered the lower pane.
“Nia!”
The driver caught her arm.
“You can't go inside.”
“Adrian is in there.”
“Fire department is two minutes away.”
“Two minutes matters.”
She pulled free.
For the second time in forty-eight hours, Nia Carter ran toward an injured stranger when everyone else told her to wait.
Except Adrian wasn't a stranger anymore.
She crawled beneath the smoke.
“Adrian!”
Nothing.
Heat pressed against her face.
Then she heard coughing.
She followed it.
Adrian was near the kitchen, trying to lift a fallen wooden beam off Vanessa.
Vanessa's face was streaked with soot.
“Nia?”
Adrian looked furious.
“What are you doing here?”
“Apparently making terrible career decisions.”
“Get out!”
“Lift.”
Together they moved the beam enough for Vanessa to drag her leg free.
Sirens screamed outside.
Nia got Vanessa's arm around her shoulder.
Adrian supported the other side.
They stumbled toward the entrance.
A section of ceiling collapsed behind them.
Seconds later, firefighters pulled all three into the street.
Nia dropped onto the pavement coughing.
Adrian sat beside her.
“You could have been killed.”
She looked at him.
“So could you.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It was good enough when you were bleeding on Wabash.”
He had no response.
Vanessa was taken to Northwestern Memorial with a fractured ankle and smoke inhalation.
Before the ambulance doors closed, she grabbed Adrian's sleeve.
“Locker.”
“What?”
“Union Station. Two seventeen.”
Then she lost consciousness.
Police searched locker 217.
Inside was a flash drive, three ledgers, photographs of payroll records, and a handwritten notebook.
The evidence changed everything.
Vanessa had participated in the theft.
But she had not created it.
Richard Cole had.
Three years earlier, Richard had discovered that Vanessa was secretly diverting small amounts from employee payroll.
Instead of reporting her, he had blackmailed her.
He forced her to approve invoices for Northline Workforce Solutions.
Vanessa stole hundreds of thousands.
Richard stole millions.
Then he used Vanessa as insurance.
If the scheme was discovered, every obvious trail would lead to her.
Adrian sat in a hospital conference room while detectives explained it.
“How much?”
Margaret answered.
“Across five Cole Meridian properties? At least $8.4 million.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
His uncle had stolen from him.
Worse, he had stolen from people Adrian employed.
Nia sat across the table.
“What about the car?”
A detective opened another file.
Traffic cameras had identified the sedan.
The driver was a former Northline contractor.
His phone records showed several calls to a prepaid number.
The prepaid number had contacted Richard's assistant repeatedly.
Not proof that Richard ordered the attack.
But close enough to terrify everyone.
Richard had disappeared.
His phone was off.
His house was empty.
His private plane remained at Midway.
Adrian stood.
“Where would he go?”
Nobody knew.
Nia did.
Or thought she might.
She remembered something Richard had said during their meeting.
Nearly seven hundred thousand dollars.
He had known the exact scale of Vanessa's theft.
That meant he had been watching the investigation.
Possibly from inside the hotel.
“Does Richard have access here?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Board members have executive access.”
“To everything?”
“Most areas.”
“Security cameras?”
Margaret answered.
“Yes.”
Nia felt cold.
“He didn't disappear.”
Adrian understood.
“He's watching us.”
Security searched the hotel.
Nothing.
Then Evelyn called.
Her voice shook.
“Nia, someone has been in the housekeeping archive.”
They rushed downstairs.
The hidden copies were gone.
On the floor lay a single employee photograph.
Nia's photograph.
Across it, written in black marker, were three words.
YOU SHOULD'VE WALKED AWAY.
Adrian stared at it.
Something changed in him.
This was no longer merely corporate fraud.
Richard had threatened the woman who saved his life.
Adrian picked up the photograph.
“He won't touch you.”
Nia looked at him.
“You can't promise that.”
“Yes.”
His voice was low.
“I can.”
She stepped closer.
“No, Adrian. You can promise you'll try. Don't promise things you can't control.”
For a moment, all the anger disappeared from his face.
“You're always like this?”
“Unfortunately.”
He smiled faintly.
Then Evelyn screamed from the hallway.
They ran outside.
The elevator doors stood open.
Inside was Richard Cole.
Perfect suit.
Silver hair.
No visible weapon.
And an expression of complete calm.
“Adrian.”
Security moved toward him.
Richard raised both hands.
“I came to surrender.”
Adrian stared at the man who had helped raise him.
Richard smiled sadly.
“But before you destroy me, nephew, perhaps you should ask your attorney why Vanessa Mercer has been transferring money into Margaret Sloan's account.”
May you like
Every eye in the hallway turned toward Margaret.
And for the first time, Adrian looked uncertain about whom he could trust.
