Chapter 10 - THE CALL THAT NEVER REACHED ADRIAN
For the first time since meeting Adrian, I watched him lose his composure.
He stood in the temporary apartment's small kitchen, staring at the call record.
Forty-three seconds.
That was how long Benjamin's final call had lasted.
Forty-three seconds during which he believed he was reaching the one man powerful enough to protect him.
And the call never reached Adrian.
Gabriel contacted the telecommunications provider and preserved the available routing records.
The historical system logs indicated that the call had been forwarded to a security handset assigned to Daniel Price.
Victor's closest associate.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Then he said quietly:
“I should have known.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
He didn't answer immediately.
“Because Benjamin came to me with a serious allegation, and I sent him back into the same system he was trying to investigate.”
His voice grew rough.
“I trusted Victor because we'd grown up together.”
I swallowed.
“And Benjamin paid for that trust.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
It was the first time he had said it without defending himself.
Then he looked at me.
“I can't undo what happened. But I won't pretend my choices had nothing to do with it.”
For years, I had imagined confronting the man I believed destroyed my husband.
I imagined shouting.
Demanding answers.
Watching him beg for forgiveness.
But the reality was harder.
Adrian had not ordered Benjamin's disappearance.
He had still failed to protect him.
Both things could be true.
“I'm not ready to forgive you,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“And I don't want Mia growing up inside your world.”
That sentence hurt him.
I saw it.
But he didn't argue.
“Neither do I.”
Then he said something that surprised me.
“I'm taking steps to separate my legitimate businesses from the criminal operations Victor helped manage. My attorneys are reviewing what can be disclosed, what must be reported, and what responsibility I need to accept.”
I stared at him.
“You're going to walk away from everything?”
“Not everything.”
He looked toward the room where Mia was drawing.
“But I'm beginning to understand that holding on to all of it may cost more than letting it go.”
I didn't answer.
Promises were easy.
I had lived with the consequences of powerful men's promises for six years.
I needed actions.
That evening, I sat beside Mia while she colored a picture of Captain Peanut flying an airplane.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Did Daddy love me?”
My throat tightened.
“More than anything.”
“But he never met me.”
I pulled her into my arms.
“He knew you were coming. And he left you Captain Peanut because he wanted you to have something from him.”
She looked down at the elephant.
“Did he know my name?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
Then I remembered the medical note.
Someone had shown Benjamin a photograph of Mia after she was born.
He had seen her.
Even if he never held her.
I started crying.
Mia climbed into my lap.
“It's okay, Mommy.”
That made me cry harder.
Because she was six.
She should have been allowed to be six.
Not the person comforting her exhausted mother.
Later that night, Rachel called.
Independent investigators had located a former nurse from the Pennsylvania facility.
Her name was Laura Mitchell.
She remembered Benjamin clearly.
“He was always asking for his family,” Rachel said.
I closed my eyes.
“Did she know what happened to him?”
“She knows something about the night he arrived at the first facility.”
My pulse jumped.
According to Laura, Benjamin had been brought in after a vehicle collision.
He was injured but conscious.
He repeatedly insisted that the crash had not been an accident.
He claimed another vehicle deliberately forced his car off the road.
“Did he identify anyone?” I whispered.
Rachel paused.
“Yes.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“He named Victor Kane.”
May you like
Then Rachel continued.
“And he said Daniel Price was driving the other vehicle.”
