Chapter 5 - The Accident That Was Never an Accident
I had spent eleven months believing a reckless driver destroyed my brother's future.
Now someone was claiming the crash had been planned.
Adrian arrived at our apartment twenty minutes later.
No entourage inside.
No dramatic entrance.
Just him, wearing a dark coat, with worry written across his face.
"Are you both okay?"
Ethan looked at him.
Then at me.
"Mara, why is Adrian Moretti in our apartment?"
I closed my eyes.
"It's complicated."
Adrian stepped forward.
"I'm here because your sister helped someone important to me."
Ethan frowned.
"Who?"
"Bella."
My brother stared at him.
Then his expression softened.
"You're her brother?"
Adrian nodded.
Ethan swallowed.
"She was really nice."
For a moment, Adrian couldn't speak.
Then he placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder.
"Thank you for remembering her."
We sat around our tiny kitchen table.
Adrian explained that investigators were examining the memory card.
I showed him the photograph.
His expression hardened.
"Who took this?"
"I don't know."
Ethan leaned closer.
"Wait."
He pointed toward the hospital bed.
"That's not the picture from my accident."
I stared.
"What?"
"Look at the bracelet."
I examined the image.
The date on Ethan's hospital wristband was three days after the crash.
My stomach tightened.
"What happened three days later?"
Ethan looked uncomfortable.
"I had that weird seizure."
I remembered.
Doctors had said it was a reaction to medication.
Adrian looked sharply at him.
"What medication?"
Ethan shrugged.
"I don't know. They gave me something before physical therapy. Then everything got blurry."
Adrian slowly leaned back.
"Which hospital?"
"St. Catherine's Rehabilitation Center."
His expression changed instantly.
I noticed.
"What?"
Adrian remained silent.
"Adrian, what is it?"
He looked at me.
"That facility was purchased by a Sterling family investment company eighteen months ago."
Victoria Sterling.
The woman Adrian's family expected him to marry.
The woman connected to Bella's disappearance.
I felt sick.
"Why would they target Ethan?"
Adrian looked toward my brother.
"Because Bella was investigating that facility."
Ethan frowned.
"She asked me questions once."
"What questions?" Adrian demanded.
"About the night of my accident."
My heart pounded.
"What did you tell her?"
"That I remembered a silver SUV following me before the crash."
I stared at him.
"You never told me that."
"I thought I imagined it."
Adrian's phone vibrated.
He read the message.
Then his entire expression changed.
"Marcus recovered files from the memory card."
"What files?"
"Patient records. Financial transfers. Internal emails."
"And?"
He looked directly at Ethan.
"Your brother's name appears in a document labeled Witness Management."
My mouth went dry.
Adrian continued.
"According to this file, Ethan wasn't the intended victim of the crash."
I gripped the table.
"Then who was?"
Adrian hesitated.
Then he answered.
"Bella."
May you like
And suddenly, I understood something horrifying.
My brother had nearly died because he was in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.
