Chapter 15 - The Safe House Wasn’t SafeAdrian did not wait.
He grabbed Oliver.
Maria packed in ninety seconds.
They moved again under police escort.
The safe residence had been compromised from inside.
Only six people knew the location.
Harris.
Two officers.
Adrian.
Maria.
And Adrian’s security chief, Thomas Reed.
Thomas had worked for him for ten years.
Adrian wanted to deny it.
He had learned enough not to.
Phone records showed Thomas called a burner number after every relocation.
Harris confronted him.
Thomas broke quickly.
Marcus had been paying him for two years.
Not to hurt anyone.
Just information.
Schedules.
Addresses.
Security gaps.
“Just information” had nearly killed people.
Adrian stared at Thomas through the glass.
Another loyal man.
Another betrayal.
Maria said:
“You need different people around you.”
He laughed bitterly.
“I’m noticing.”
Thomas gave them Marcus’s next plan.
He wanted Adrian to come to the old company data center.
Why?
Because the original accounting server was there.
Evidence.
Marcus planned to destroy it.
And he believed Adrian would come personally if told Elena had hidden one last video on the server.
Harris wanted to use the trap.
Adrian wanted to go.
Maria said no.
He snapped:
“You don’t decide for me.”
She flinched.
He regretted it immediately.
Then she said:
“No. But I get to remind you that Oliver has already lost one parent.”
That stopped him.
Police went instead.
The data center caught fire before entry.
Marcus escaped through a service tunnel.
But firefighters saved the server room.
And one recovered file contained a video Elena had recorded inside Adrian’s office.
Marcus entering after midnight.
Opening Adrian’s safe.
Photographing trust documents.
May you like
Then looking directly into the hidden camera.
As if he knew it was there.
