Chapter 4 - A Job Offer With a Hidden Truth
“What happened to your father?”
Claire asked the question quietly.
Adrien did not answer.
The silence was more frightening than denial.
Daniel had already begun calling security, ordering the building across the street checked and tracing the anonymous number.
But Claire barely heard him.
Her attention remained on Adrien.
“You knew this might involve your father.”
“I suspected.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Adrien paced toward the windows.
“My father died in a car accident.”
“That’s what happened?”
“That’s the official report.”
Claire felt cold.
“And unofficially?”
Adrien looked at her.
“I never believed it was an accident.”
Daniel stopped speaking into his phone.
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“Because two weeks before he died, he told me he had discovered someone stealing from the company.”
Everything in the room changed.
Claire sat slowly.
“Graystone.”
“I don’t know.”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“We were arguing constantly then. He didn’t trust me enough.”
Adrien’s voice carried old bitterness.
“He said he would handle it himself.”
“What happened?”
“His car went through a barrier on a mountain road.”
Claire looked toward Daniel.
Daniel’s expression confirmed the story.
“Police found no evidence of sabotage,” Adrien continued. “The weather was bad. They ruled it accidental.”
“But you never believed that.”
“No.”
“Did Rebecca work there then?”
“Yes.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at the records spread across the table.
For years, Adrien had been surrounded by people connected to his father’s final days.
People he may have suspected.
People he could not accuse.
“How did you keep functioning?”
Adrien gave a tired smile.
“People like me aren’t given much choice.”
Claire shook her head.
“That’s not true.”
“What?”
“You keep saying ‘people like me’ as though money makes you a different species.”
Adrien almost laughed.
“It certainly changes things.”
“Yes. But grief is still grief.”
He looked at her.
Claire continued.
“My father died two years ago.”
Adrien’s expression softened.
“You mentioned him.”
“He got sick. By the end, bills were everywhere.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I hated feeling helpless.”
Adrien remained quiet.
“So I understand why you kept looking for answers.”
She pointed toward the anonymous message.
“But whoever sent this knows exactly where to hurt you.”
Adrien nodded.
“That makes them dangerous.”
The next morning, Blackwood Tower became a quiet battlefield.
Adrien did not confront Rebecca.
He did not confront Victor.
Instead, he behaved normally.
Claire admired that ability.
At ten, Adrien sat through an executive meeting discussing quarterly projections as though he had not spent the previous night examining possible evidence connected to his father’s death.
Rebecca Sloan sat six seats away.
She was elegant, composed, and brilliant.
Claire watched her carefully.
Rebecca looked exactly like someone Adrien might once have loved.
Confident.
Polished.
Unshaken.
After the meeting, Rebecca approached Claire.
“So you’re the new discovery.”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
“Discovery?”
“Adrien doesn’t hire impulsively.”
“He hired me after forgetting his wallet.”
Rebecca smiled.
“I heard that story.”
“I’m sure everyone has.”
“He hates being embarrassed.”
“He survived.”
Rebecca studied her.
“Be careful around him.”
Claire’s expression remained neutral.
“Why?”
“Adrien makes people feel important.”
“That hasn’t been my experience.”
Rebecca laughed softly.
“You’re funny.”
Then her tone changed.
“But eventually, everything becomes part of Blackwood Holdings.”
“People aren’t companies.”
“To Adrien, sometimes they are.”
Claire disliked how easily the words landed.
Rebecca walked away.
That afternoon, Claire discovered something.
A vendor authorization from six years earlier.
Graystone Services.
Approved by three people.
Victor Lang.
Rebecca Sloan.
And a third signature.
Thomas Blackwood.
Adrien’s father.
Claire stared.
That made no sense.
If Thomas Blackwood had approved Graystone himself, perhaps the company was legitimate.
Unless—
She opened an archived email chain.
Most messages had been deleted.
One remained.
From Thomas Blackwood to an unknown private account.
Subject:
If anything happens to me.
Claire’s pulse accelerated.
The message had no body.
Only an attachment.
Encrypted.
She immediately called Adrien.
He arrived twenty minutes later with Daniel.
Adrien looked at the subject line.
His face changed.
“That’s his account.”
“You recognize it?”
“He used it for confidential matters.”
Daniel attempted to open the attachment.
Password required.
They tried known company codes.
Birthdays.
Property addresses.
Nothing.
Claire looked at Adrien.
“What mattered most to him?”
“Control.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“Your mother?”
Adrien shook his head.
“She died when I was young.”
“You?”
Adrien laughed without humor.
“Definitely not.”
Claire looked around his office.
A framed black-and-white photograph stood on a shelf.
The first personal picture she had noticed anywhere.
A younger Adrien beside a man who must have been his father.
Behind them stood an old hotel.
“What’s that building?”
“The first Blackwood Hotel.”
“Where?”
“Lake Briar.”
Claire typed LAKEBRIAR.
Wrong.
“What room did your father always stay in?”
Adrien looked at her.
“How would I know?”
“Think.”
He closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
“312.”
Claire typed 312.
Wrong.
Adrien suddenly moved closer.
“Try 314.”
“Why?”
“My mother died on March fourteenth.”
Claire typed 0314.
The attachment opened.
Nobody spoke.
Inside was an audio recording.
Daniel clicked play.
Thomas Blackwood’s voice filled the office.
“If Adrien is hearing this, then I failed.”
Adrien stopped breathing.
Claire looked at him.
The recording continued.
“I discovered money leaving Blackwood Holdings through Graystone Services. I authorized Graystone years ago for private acquisitions, but someone revived it without permission.”
Claire felt chills.
Thomas continued.
“I believe Victor Lang is involved.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
“But Victor is not working alone.”
A pause.
Then the sentence that changed everything.
“The person protecting him sits closer to my family than Adrien will ever imagine.”
Adrien stared at the speakers.
Thomas’s breathing sounded heavy.
“If something happens to me, do not trust the accident report.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
Claire whispered, “Your father knew.”
Adrien looked almost numb.
Daniel immediately began copying the file.
Then a fire alarm screamed.
Red lights flashed.
Claire jumped.
“What happened?”
Daniel went toward the door.
Smoke appeared beneath it.
Adrien grabbed Claire.
“Move.”
The hallway was filling rapidly.
Employees rushed toward stairs.
Someone shouted that a fire had started in the archive floor below.
Claire looked at Adrien.
“The records.”
He understood instantly.
This was not an accident.
Someone knew they had found the recording.
Security moved them toward emergency exits.
Halfway down the stairwell, Claire heard an explosion below.
People screamed.
Adrien pulled her against the wall and shielded her.
Sprinklers activated.
Smoke thickened.
They reached another floor.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Adrien turned.
Daniel listened.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
“The server room.”
“What about it?”
“The fire started there.”
Adrien swore.
“Backups?”
“Someone disabled the local backups fifteen minutes before the alarm.”
Claire stared.
“Then they’re destroying evidence.”
Daniel nodded.
“But that isn’t the worst part.”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
“What is?”
Daniel looked directly at him.
“The access command came from your executive account.”
Adrien froze.
Claire did too.
“That’s impossible,” Adrien said.
Daniel swallowed.
“According to security logs, you ordered the deletion.”
Claire looked from Daniel to Adrien.
Someone was not merely stealing from Blackwood.
Someone was preparing to make Adrien look responsible.
And by the time they reached the street, news crews were already arriving.
May you like
Which meant someone had warned them before the fire even began.
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