Chapter 6 - The Man Who Sent Them Into the Storm
Grant Holloway was arrested at Mara’s cottage before noon.
He asked for Mara immediately.
Against Adrian’s objections, she agreed to speak with him at the county sheriff’s office.
Adrian insisted on coming.
“You had surgery twelve hours ago.”
“I’m aware.”
“You can barely walk.”
“I can walk.”
He stood.
Nearly collapsed.
Mara caught him.
Leo covered his face.
“Dad.”
Adrian straightened.
“Minor miscalculation.”
“You’re staying in the wheelchair.”
“No.”
Twenty minutes later, Adrian Vale entered the sheriff’s office in a wheelchair.
He looked furious about it.
Mara pushed him.
“You tell anyone about this—”
“I’m putting it on Christmas cards.”
Leo laughed behind them.
Grant waited inside an interrogation room.
When Mara entered, he looked exhausted.
“I never wanted anyone hurt.”
Adrian said, “That sentence usually means someone got hurt.”
Grant stared at him.
“Victor threatened my daughter.”
Mara stopped.
“What?”
“He knew about Room Nine. But he didn’t know the entrance.”
Grant rubbed his face.
“He knew your mother had been involved. He knew you lived beside Saint Aurelia.”
“So you gave him my address.”
“I gave him more than that.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Grant looked at him.
“I sent you there.”
Silence.
“What?”
“Your driver.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Thomas.”
“He works for me.”
Grant shook his head.
“Worked.”
Mara remembered the black sedan.
“Thomas crashed the car?”
Grant nodded.
“He was supposed to injure Adrian badly enough that Leo would seek help at the nearest residence.”
“My cottage.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Victor expected Mara to panic and call an ambulance. He would intercept Adrian before police arrived.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“But I refused the hospital.”
Grant nodded.
“That changed everything.”
Mara looked at Adrian.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why did you say Room Nine?”
Adrian reached beneath his shirt and removed the brass key.
“My father gave me this before he died.”
He looked at Mara.
“He said if I ever found myself betrayed by my own family, there was one place I should go.”
“Room Nine.”
“Yes.”
Grant lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
Mara stared at him.
“You used a child.”
“I was trying to save mine.”
“And nearly killed someone else’s.”
Grant had no answer.
Adrian rolled closer.
“Where is Victor’s remaining operation?”
Grant hesitated.
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“Doctor.”
Grant finally looked up.
“Chicago.”
“Where?”
“The Vale Meridian Hotel.”
Adrian smiled without humor.
“Of course.”
Mara touched his shoulder.
“No.”
He looked up.
“You are not leaving.”
“I have to end this.”
“You have fresh stitches.”
“He has people.”
“So do the police.”
Adrian stared at her.
Mara leaned closer.
“You want to be different from Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Then act different.”
That silenced him.
“You don’t need revenge.”
She nodded toward Leo outside the glass.
“You need to go home with your son.”
Adrian looked at Leo.
The boy was drawing something on a piece of paper.
A house.
Three people standing outside.
Adrian’s expression changed.
He finally nodded.
“Call the federal investigators.”
Mara smiled.
“Good.”
“But I’m not happy about it.”
“I didn’t ask you to be.”
Within forty-eight hours, Room Nine’s records exposed the entire network Victor had built behind Adrian’s back.
Arrests followed in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia.
Companies were seized.
Officials resigned.
Adrian cooperated.
Not because investigators forced him.
Because he wanted Leo to inherit something other than fear.
Three weeks later, Adrian Vale disappeared from the newspapers.
And Mara assumed she would never see him again.
May you like
She was wrong.
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