Chapter 5 - THE FILE IN THE STUDY
Adrian ended the call and looked directly at his brother.
“You were at the crash site.”
Julian did not answer.
Vanessa began shaking her head. “You told me you arrived after the ambulance.”
“Quiet,” Julian snapped.
The word was enough. Vanessa stepped away from him.
Adrian's mind returned to the hospital report. He had read it months earlier, but the line about a second impact had been buried beneath technical language. The surgeon had described a possible worsening of the spinal injury after the vehicle came to rest. At the time, Adrian had assumed the damage occurred during the collision.
Now he understood why Emma had called.
“Did you pull me from the car?” he asked.
Julian smiled without warmth. “You were trapped.”
“Did you move me?”
“You were bleeding.”
“Did you know what that would do to my spine?”
Julian's silence was answer enough.
Miles stepped forward, but Adrian raised a hand. “I want to hear him.”
Julian took a slow breath. “The plan was to scare you. The car was supposed to slide into the barrier. You would be injured, maybe hospitalized for a while. The board would appoint an interim chairman. I would fix the company's problems and return it to the family.”
“You wanted to take my place.”
“I wanted the place I should have had.”
“You moved me after the crash.”
“You were unconscious. The door was crushed. I pulled you out.”
“And made the injury worse.”
Julian looked away. “I didn't know.”
“You knew enough to leave.”
For the first time, Julian's expression cracked. “I panicked.”
Adrian remembered Thomas's voice calling his name. He remembered the rain against the broken windshield. He remembered waking beneath hospital lights and hearing a doctor say that the damage was severe.
“You left Thomas there.”
“He was already gone.”
“You didn't know that.”
Julian's jaw tightened. “I had to protect myself.”
“From what? Your brother?”
“From being blamed for something that wasn't supposed to happen.”
Vanessa spoke from behind him. “You said you only wanted him off the road.”
Julian turned. “I told you to stay out of this.”
“You said it would be temporary.”
“Everything was temporary until you started asking for more money.”
Adrian looked between them. Their alliance had never been built on affection. It had been built on greed and fear.
Miles's radio crackled. The second vehicle had entered the outer drive. Security had detained two men, but a third had escaped toward the garden.
“Get the staff into the safe room,” Adrian ordered.
Miles hesitated. “And you?”
“I'll stay here.”
“No.”
“That's an order.”
Miles leaned close. “You don't get to prove you're strong by putting yourself in danger. Your legs are not ready for this.”
The words stung because they were true.
Adrian looked at Julian. “You wanted the board to see a helpless chairman. Tomorrow they will see a man who has been hiding something. But they will also see the evidence.”
Julian's expression shifted. “You don't have it.”
“Not all of it. Yet.”
Adrian's phone buzzed again. Emma had sent a photograph: the page from the medical file, including a handwritten note from the surgeon. At the bottom was a name.
Dr. Samuel Kline.
Adrian recognized it. Kline had been the emergency physician who treated him at the scene before the ambulance transfer. He had later become a consultant for Blackwood Holdings.
“Find Kline,” Adrian said.
Miles nodded.
Julian suddenly lunged for the phone. Miles caught his wrist and forced him back. One guard stepped between them.
“Careful,” Julian said. “You don't want to hurt me in front of the cameras.”
Adrian stared at him. “You keep forgetting. The cameras are the reason you're still standing here.”
Then the control room door opened. Walter entered, pale and sweating.
“Adrian,” he said. “We need to talk.”
Adrian looked at him. “You can start by telling me why you gave Julian access to the board agenda.”
May you like
Walter's eyes moved to Julian.
And Julian smiled again.
