Chapter 8 - The Night Adrian Forgot
Adrian watched the video five times.
Each time, the result was the same.
He entered HaleBridge headquarters at 1:12 a.m.
He left at 3:46.
He remembered none of it.
Lena studied him.
“Could the video be altered?”
“My team will check.”
“What do you remember from that night?”
“Arguing with my mother.”
“After that?”
“A bar.”
“Which one?”
Adrian frowned.
“I don't know.”
“You don't remember?”
“No.”
“What do you remember next?”
“Waking up at home.”
Lena's medical instincts surfaced.
“Headache?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Nausea?”
“Yes.”
“Memory loss?”
“Obviously.”
“Did you think you'd been drinking?”
“Yes.”
“Had you?”
“Two glasses.”
“That shouldn't erase almost four hours.”
Adrian understood.
“You think I was drugged.”
“I think someone wanted you unable to remember.”
His security team confirmed the video was authentic.
That changed everything.
Adrian had been inside HaleBridge.
Someone had used his biometric credentials.
Someone had created a paper trail connecting him to the fraud.
And then Isabella died.
“They were preparing a scapegoat,” Lena said.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't they use it?”
“Maybe Isabella's death changed the plan.”
Adrian looked toward Gabriel's room.
“Or Gabriel kept enough evidence to make it dangerous.”
Lena nodded.
They returned to the surviving files.
One document contained medication batch numbers.
Lena recognized the name of the experimental drug Luca had received.
But another drug appeared repeatedly.
A sedative.
The same family of medication found in Gabriel's blood.
She searched the clinical records.
“This was used on patients before consent meetings.”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“To make them compliant?”
“Possibly.”
“And someone gave it to me.”
“Probably.”
They needed Dr. Brenner.
Luca finally agreed to bring her to Adrian's estate.
When he arrived, Adrian hugged his brother before either man could stop himself.
Luca laughed weakly.
“You've gotten sentimental.”
“Shut up.”
Lena noticed how pale Luca looked.
Brenner entered behind him.
Adrian's warmth vanished.
“You knew.”
Brenner nodded.
“Yes.”
“You let me believe my mother died naturally.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father threatened Luca.”
Adrian stepped forward.
Luca moved between them.
“Listen first.”
Brenner placed a folder on the table.
“Isabella discovered the trial after Luca became sick.”
“From the treatment?”
“Yes.”
Brenner's voice trembled.
“We thought the drug was safe. Early results were promising. But Victor began expanding the trial beyond approved criteria.”
“Using patients who couldn't understand the documents,” Lena said.
Brenner nodded.
“Language barriers made them easier to manipulate.”
Lena's stomach turned.
“My father discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor destroyed him.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Brenner.
She continued.
“Victor destroyed you.”
Lena frowned.
“What?”
“You joined HaleBridge years later because Victor wanted to know what Gabriel had told you.”
Lena felt sick.
“My entire career there…”
“Was surveillance.”
Every promotion.
Every compliment.
Every opportunity.
A trap.
“He stole my work.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep you dependent. If you became successful outside HaleBridge, you might begin asking questions.”
Lena sat down.
Adrian stood behind her.
His hand rested lightly on her shoulder.
“What caused Gabriel's stroke?” he asked.
Brenner looked at Lena.
“A drug called Veradex.”
Lena froze.
“I've never heard of it.”
“You wouldn't. The trial was canceled.”
“Victor gave it to him?”
Brenner shook her head.
“Salvatore did.”
Adrian's expression became murderous.
Luca stepped closer.
“Adrian.”
“Where is he?”
“Nobody knows.”
Brenner spoke quickly.
“There is something else.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Your mother didn't die from cancer complications.”
He already knew.
But hearing it still hurt.
“What killed her?”
“An overdose of potassium chloride.”
Silence.
“Who administered it?”
Brenner's eyes filled with tears.
“I did.”
Adrian crossed the room before anyone could react.
Luca grabbed him.
“Adrian!”
Brenner didn't move.
“Let him.”
Lena stepped between them.
“Why?”
Brenner looked at Adrian.
“Because Isabella asked me to.”
Everyone froze.
Adrian stared.
“What?”
“She was dying.”
“You said she was stable.”
“Stable that night. Not long-term.”
Brenner's voice shook.
“The cancer had spread. She had weeks, perhaps days. But Salvatore was coming.”
“Why?”
“To force her to reveal where she'd hidden the evidence.”
Brenner wiped tears from her face.
“She knew what he would do to Gabriel. To Lena. To Luca.”
Adrian stepped back.
“So she chose death.”
“She chose silence.”
Adrian looked devastated.
Brenner continued.
“She made me promise to protect Luca.”
“And you did.”
“For seven years.”
Luca sat down.
Lena finally understood the shape of the secret.
Isabella had sacrificed herself to protect everyone carrying the truth.
But Salvatore had survived.
Victor had survived.
HaleBridge had survived.
And Gabriel had paid the price.
Adrian's phone rang.
His security chief answered first.
Then handed it over.
“It's your father.”
Adrian put the call on speaker.
Salvatore Moretti's voice filled the room.
“Hello, son.”
Adrian's face became stone.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“You poisoned Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
“You used Luca in an illegal trial.”
“I saved Luca's life.”
“You killed Mom.”
“No. Apparently Elise handled that inconvenience herself.”
Brenner flinched.
Adrian's hand tightened around the phone.
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“No.”
“Then perhaps you'll reconsider when you see where I am.”
A video message arrived.
Adrian opened it.
The image showed Gabriel's rehabilitation room.
Empty.
Then the camera turned.
Salvatore Moretti stood beside Gabriel's bed.
Behind him was Lena's mother, Rosa Ortiz.
Lena screamed.
“Mom?”
Rosa was tied to a chair.
Lena hadn't even known she had returned to Chicago from visiting family in Texas.
Salvatore smiled into the camera.
“You've been so focused on protecting Gabriel that nobody remembered Lena had another parent.”
Adrian went completely still.
Salvatore raised a gun beside Rosa's head.
“Bring me Isabella's drive before midnight.”
The screen went black.
Lena looked at the clock.
May you like
11:07 p.m.
Fifty-three minutes.
