Chapter 8 - The Choice
Adrian wanted Nia moved immediately.
She refused.
He wanted security outside her apartment.
She accepted that only after Evelyn threatened to move into Nia's living room herself.
He wanted her to stop working.
That argument lasted seventeen minutes.
“No.”
“Nia.”
“No.”
“A man accused of attempted murder is photographing you.”
“Allegedly.”
“This is not the moment to become legally precise.”
“You're the one with an attorney following you everywhere.”
Margaret, standing nearby, raised one finger.
“I support Nia on principle.”
Adrian glared at her.
Margaret lowered the finger.
“But perhaps not tactically.”
Nia finally agreed to stay temporarily in a secured apartment owned by the company.
Richard remained missing.
Then the federal investigation uncovered his real objective.
The theft had never merely been about money.
Richard owned significant debt.
He had borrowed against private investments and lost tens of millions in a failed real-estate project.
He needed control of Cole Meridian.
The stolen money had funded a network of shell companies buying minority shares from early investors.
His plan was to force Adrian out through a manufactured scandal, then take control during the collapse.
The payroll theft was one part.
The accident was supposed to be another.
But Nia had ruined the timing.
“If you hadn't stopped,” Margaret told her, “Adrian might have remained unconscious long enough for Richard to trigger the board vote before anyone knew what happened.”
Nia felt sick.
She had thought she'd merely helped a stranger.
Instead she'd interrupted a corporate coup.
Richard's final move came on Thursday.
Cole Meridian's board gathered in Chicago for an emergency vote to remove Richard permanently.
Nia was downstairs meeting with employees when the fire alarm sounded.
Everyone began evacuating.
Her phone rang.
Evelyn.
“Nia?”
Something was wrong with her voice.
“Where are you?”
“Parking garage.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Then Richard spoke.
“Hello, Ms. Carter.”
Nia stopped breathing.
“If you call police, Evelyn gets hurt.”
“What do you want?”
“Adrian.”
“No.”
Richard laughed.
“You really are predictable.”
Nia walked away from the evacuating crowd.
“Let Evelyn go.”
“Bring Adrian to level B4.”
The line disconnected.
Nia immediately called Adrian.
He answered on the first ring.
“No.”
She hadn't spoken yet.
“What?”
“Whatever you're about to suggest, no.”
“Richard has Evelyn.”
Silence.
Then Adrian's voice changed.
“Where?”
“B4.”
“Stay upstairs.”
“Adrian—”
“Please.”
It was the first time she'd heard him say that word with fear.
“Stay upstairs.”
He went down alone.
Except Nia followed at a distance.
On B4, Richard stood beside Evelyn near a black SUV.
He held a gun.
Adrian walked toward him with his hands visible.
“This ends tonight.”
Richard smiled.
“You destroyed our family for a maid.”
Evelyn looked offended despite the gun.
“Housekeeper.”
Richard blinked.
Evelyn continued.
“If you're going to kidnap somebody, learn her job title.”
Adrian almost laughed.
Richard didn't.
“Quiet.”
Nia moved behind a concrete pillar.
She saw the emergency alarm box.
Saw a fire extinguisher.
Saw the security gate control.
Then Richard raised the weapon toward Adrian.
“You could have had everything.”
Adrian looked at him.
“I already did.”
Richard's expression twisted.
“No. You had an empire.”
“I had people who trusted me.”
“You sound like your father.”
“Thank you.”
Richard's finger tightened.
Nia slammed the fire alarm.
The garage exploded with sound.
Richard turned instinctively.
Evelyn dropped.
Adrian lunged.
The gun fired.
Nia screamed.
Security rushed through the stairwell.
Richard hit the ground.
The weapon skidded beneath a car.
Adrian remained standing.
For one horrifying second, Nia couldn't understand how.
Then she saw blood.
Not Adrian's.
Richard had been hit in the shoulder when the weapon discharged during the struggle.
Police secured him.
Evelyn was unharmed.
Nia ran toward Adrian.
He caught her.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“I specifically told you not to.”
“Yes.”
“Do you ever listen?”
“Rarely.”
He held her face between his hands.
The garage, police, alarms—everything disappeared.
“You scared me.”
Nia's eyes filled.
“You scared me first.”
He kissed her.
Not dramatically.
Not like a movie.
It was brief, trembling, and completely inappropriate for an active crime scene.
Evelyn cleared her throat.
“You two know there are approximately twenty police officers watching this?”
Nia stepped backward.
Adrian looked around.
There were actually twenty-three.
One officer smiled.
Nia covered her face.
Adrian laughed for the first time in months.
Richard Cole went back to jail that night.
This time, there would be no bail.
And somewhere between flashing police lights and Evelyn complaining about being kidnapped before dinner, Nia realized something terrifying.
May you like
Saving Adrian's life had been easy.
Figuring out what he had become to her was going to be much harder.
