Chapter 5 - What Sofia Copied
Adrian killed the lights.
Ernesto stared at him.
Daniel knocked again.
“Adrian, I know you’re in there.”
Of course he did.
That meant Daniel had tracked the car service or the hospital exit.
Neither helped him.
Adrian whispered to Ernesto.
“Back window.”
“No fire escape.”
“Then bathroom.”
“Why?”
“Because if I’m wrong, I apologize later.”
“And if you’re right?”
“We stay alive.”
Ernesto moved.
Adrian opened the door three inches with the chain on.
Daniel stood alone.
Hands visible.
No gun.
“You ran.”
“I walked fast.”
Daniel exhaled.
“We have a security emergency.”
“So do I.”
“Let me in.”
“No.”
Daniel looked down the hall.
Then back.
“Victor knows you survived.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“He’s your uncle.”
“I’m aware.”
“You need protection.”
“From who?”
Daniel held his gaze.
“Possibly him.”
That stopped Adrian.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I disabled your GPS.”
Adrian’s grip tightened on the door.
“Why?”
“Because I was told to.”
“By Victor.”
Daniel did not answer.
“Why?”
“I thought he wanted to scare you into canceling the board meeting.”
“You believed disabling my tracking while I drove through a storm was a scare tactic?”
“I was compromised.”
“By what?”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“My son.”
Adrian knew about Sean Price.
Convicted on drug trafficking charges two years earlier.
Daniel claimed the evidence was planted.
“Victor has documents that can add twenty years.”
“So you sold me.”
“No.”
“You disabled my security.”
“Yes.”
“That is selling me.”
Daniel took it.
Then he said:
“But I did not push your car into the river.”
Adrian said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“And Marcus knows that.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Sofia?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“I don’t know.”
“You know her.”
“Yes.”
The admission landed.
“Why lie?”
“Because if Victor hears me say her name, she dies.”
Adrian opened the door another inch.
“You’re telling me Victor monitors you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you here?”
Daniel held up a small device.
“Jammer.”
He stepped inside.
Adrian shut the door.
Ernesto emerged from the bathroom.
Daniel looked at him.
“Your mother tried to turn me.”
Ernesto’s face hardened.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
Daniel knelt so they were eye level.
“I failed her.”
Ernesto looked away.
Daniel stood and faced Adrian.
“Sofia copied more than money trails.”
“What?”
“Your father’s old medical file.”
Adrian went still.
“Why?”
“Because she found the same shell company paying your father’s private physician.”
Adrian’s mouth went dry.
Victor.
His father’s death.
The audio.
All of it tightened.
Daniel said:
“Victor is flying in because he thinks you still believe the crash was an accident.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“What does he think happened to Marcus?”
“Dead.”
“What does he think happened to Sofia?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then:
“Contained.”
Ernesto’s face went white.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Contained where?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated inside the jammer field.
An alarm, not a call.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
“What?” Adrian asked.
Daniel turned it around.
Victor’s jet had landed.
And Victor had just sent one message:
DOES THE BOY STILL HAVE MARCUS’S WATCH?
Adrian stared.
May you like
Nobody had told Victor about the watch.
CUT.
