Chapter 16 - Marcus CallsMarcus called Adrian the next morning.
No traceable number.
Voice calm.
“You’re making this bigger than it needs to be.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“You killed my wife.”
“I did not.”
“You ordered the people who did.”
Silence.
Marcus changed direction.
“Vanessa tried to kill your son.”
“Yes.”
“Maria hid evidence from you.”
“Yes.”
“Your security chief sold you.”
“Yes.”
“You see the pattern?”
Adrian waited.
“No one tells you the truth.”
Marcus continued.
“Because you make people afraid to disappoint you.”
That landed harder than Adrian wanted.
Marcus knew him.
Knew where to cut.
Adrian said:
“You’re right about one thing.”
Marcus paused.
“I built a life where people brought me polished answers.”
Silence.
“But you still killed Elena.”
Marcus’s voice hardened.
“Everything was already collapsing.”
“You chose what to do next.”
Then Adrian heard a sound in the background.
A train horn.
Long.
Two short.
Maria, listening on another line, wrote something.
RIVER YARD.
There was an old freight yard near Marcus’s childhood neighborhood.
Police moved.
Marcus sensed something.
“You’re tracing me.”
“No.”
“You always were a terrible liar.”
The call ended.
Police found the burner phone near the rail yard.
Not Marcus.
But beneath it was a note.
For Adrian.
Come alone if you want Elena’s original files.
Harris said:
“No.”
Adrian agreed.
For once.
They sent no one.
Instead, they watched.
May you like
Six hours later, Marcus returned to retrieve the phone.
He was arrested without a shot fired.
