Chapter 4
Marcus insisted Adrian’s death had nothing to do with the recordings.
Grant did not.
That difference mattered.
I watched him.
He would not meet Leo’s eyes.
“Grant.”
Marcus snapped:
“Don’t.”
I almost smiled.
“Now I definitely want him to.”
Grant rubbed both hands over his face.
Then whispered:
“It was supposed to scare him.”
Leo made a sound I never want to hear from a child again.
I kept one hand on his shoulder.
“What was?”
Grant explained without technical detail.
Marcus arranged for Adrian’s normal riding equipment to be interfered with before a morning session.
Not enough, they believed, to kill him.
Enough to frighten him.
Enough to prove the club was unsafe without Marcus controlling security.
Enough to make Adrian stop investigating.
I looked at Marcus.
“You staged danger.”
He lifted his chin.
“I told Grant to make him reconsider.”
Grant shook his head.
“You told me to make sure he stopped.”
Marcus turned on him.
“And you went too far.”
Coward.
Already dividing guilt.
I looked at Grant.
“What happened?”
He said Adrian realized something was wrong during the ride.
Tried to recover.
Couldn’t.
The fall became catastrophic.
No one had planned that outcome.
Maybe true.
It did not rescue any of them.
Leo whispered:
“You killed him.”
Marcus snapped:
“No.”
I stepped between them.
“Leo.”
He looked at me.
Tears running silently now.
“The fall was unintended.”
His face hardened.
I continued.
“That doesn’t make what they did small.”
Both truths.
He looked toward Grant.
“Did my dad know you did it?”
“No.”
“Did he die thinking it was his mistake?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Leo stepped backward as if struck.
That sentence hurt him more than the confession.
My brother died believing he had failed.
I spent six years believing it too.
Then Rafe opened another file.
Recorded after the accident.
Marcus’s voice.
“He’s gone. Wipe A17.”
Grant answered:
“What about the account?”
Marcus said:
“Leave it buried.”
Rafe looked at me.
“There’s a folder called NORTH.”
Marcus went pale.
May you like
My brother’s death had not hidden one theft.
It had protected an entire structure.
