Chapter 5 - The Man Who Buried the Truth
Richard Kline arrived at Adrian’s brownstone the next morning wearing a charcoal suit and the expression of a man who believed he had already won.
He was sixty-six, silver-haired, carefully tanned, and still handsome in the polished way television lawyers were handsome. For eighteen years he had been tied to Adrian’s family through marriage and business. His wife, Claire, had been Eleanor’s younger sister. After Claire died, Richard remained on the edges of the Vale empire as outside counsel, adviser, and occasional trustee.
Adrian had once trusted him.
That fact now felt embarrassing.
Richard entered the library and stopped when he saw Eli.
The reaction lasted less than a second, but Adrian noticed it.
Recognition.
Fear.
Then control.
“Adrian,” Richard said. “Marcus told me this was urgent.”
“It is.”
Richard looked at the baby in Eli’s arms. “Who are these children?”
Adrian’s voice was calm. “You tell me.”
Richard smiled faintly. “I have no idea.”
Adrian rolled his wheelchair forward. “Sarah Laurent.”
The color drained from Richard’s face.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“Ah,” he said. “That.”
Eli stiffened.
Adrian’s gaze sharpened. “That?”
Richard sighed. “Sarah had problems. Drugs, unstable relationships, paranoia. I tried to help her.”
“You filed a missing-person report.”
“Yes.”
“You recovered her body from St. Matthew’s.”
“Yes.”
Eli stepped forward. “Where is she?”
Richard looked at him as if noticing furniture.
“Who are you?”
“My son.”
The words came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Mia stood there holding Caleb’s hand. She had chosen the words deliberately, protecting Eli with the only weapon she had: confusion.
Richard’s eyes moved between the children.
Adrian saw something in them that made his blood run cold.
Calculation.
“Sit down, Richard.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Sit.”
Richard remained standing.
Adrian placed a file on the desk. “Sarah tried to contact me before she died.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“She wrote my initials on her intake form,” Adrian continued. “Why?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You told me for years she wanted no contact with this family.”
“She didn’t.”
“She tried to reach me while dying.”
“That doesn’t mean she wanted anything from you before that.”
“Where is her body?”
Richard looked toward the windows.
“I arranged cremation.”
Eli made a sound as if someone had punched him.
Adrian’s hands tightened on his wheelchair.
“Where are the ashes?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember?”
“It was a difficult period.”
Adrian’s voice dropped. “You cremated my wife’s niece and misplaced her ashes?”
Richard’s controlled expression began to crack.
“Adrian, you’re being dramatic.”
Marcus moved away from the wall.
Adrian smiled without warmth. “That is not a word I recommend using with me today.”
Richard finally sat.
Adrian pushed another photograph across the desk. It showed Sarah standing near an old brick warehouse.
“Recognize the building?”
Richard glanced at it. “No.”
“You should. It belonged to Laurent Medical Research.”
Richard’s eyes snapped upward.
Adrian saw it.
There.
The real fear.
Eleanor’s family had once owned a small research foundation. It had closed decades earlier after financial disputes and allegations of unethical experimental work involving nerve-regeneration studies. Adrian had always considered the rumors exaggerated.
Now, he was no longer sure.
“What was Sarah hiding?” Adrian asked.
Richard said nothing.
Eli spoke. “A metal box.”
Richard turned toward him too quickly.
Adrian leaned back.
“Interesting.”
Richard stood. “I think we’re done.”
“You leave when I say.”
“Adrian, you are not in a boardroom.”
“No. I’m in my house, with children whose mother died believing she needed to reach me.”
Richard’s voice hardened. “You have no idea what you’re involving yourself in.”
“Then explain it.”
Richard looked at Hope.
For the first time, Adrian saw genuine terror in his face.
Not greed.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Richard whispered, “That child should not exist.”
The room became silent.
Eli pulled Hope closer.
Adrian’s eyes turned to ice. “Explain.”
Richard realized what he had said.
He stepped backward.
Marcus moved in front of the door.
Richard laughed nervously. “You’re all misunderstanding me.”
“No,” Adrian said. “For the first time, I think I’m understanding you perfectly.”
Richard reached inside his jacket.
Marcus crossed the room in two strides and slammed his arm against the bookshelf.
A small pistol hit the floor.
Mia screamed.
Caleb began crying.
Eli shielded Hope with his body.
Marcus kicked the weapon away and forced Richard face-first against the wall.
Adrian did not flinch.
“Why do you have a gun?”
Richard’s breathing came hard.
Adrian rolled closer.
“Why did you look at that baby as if she were dangerous?”
No answer.
Adrian’s right leg twitched.
He felt it.
Then again.
The sensation was stronger now, almost painful.
Hope began to fuss in Eli’s arms.
Richard turned his head enough to see her.
And whispered something Adrian barely heard.
“She has Claire’s marker.”
Adrian froze.
“What marker?”
Richard closed his eyes.
Too late.
Adrian had heard him.
Marcus had heard him.
And so had Dr. Helen Cross, who had just entered the library behind them.
Her face had gone pale.
“Adrian,” she said, staring at Hope.
“I know what he means.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Helen swallowed.
“Twenty-five years ago, Laurent Medical Research was studying a rare hereditary cellular trait linked to accelerated nerve repair.”
Adrian stared at the baby.
Helen’s voice dropped.
May you like
“Claire Laurent was one of the documented carriers.”
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