Chapter 4 - THE MAN VICTORIA HAD CHOSEN AS HER SUCCESSOR
Adrian Cross had worked beside Victoria for twelve years.
She had recruited him from a struggling medical-device company, promoted him twice, and publicly described him as the future of Hayes Biotech.
That was why his betrayal cut deeper than Marcus’s.
Marcus had always wanted what she owned.
Adrian had convinced her he believed in what she built.
Detective Brooks obtained traffic footage showing Adrian’s silver sedan circling the alley eight minutes after the robbery. He drove away when Daniel and Sofia arrived.
If they had not stopped, Adrian would have reached Victoria first.
His plan emerged through messages recovered from Elise’s phone.
Adrian intended to move Victoria to a private rehabilitation facility outside the city.
He had already prepared a story that she suffered a breakdown triggered by exhaustion and prescription-drug misuse.
The facility’s intake documents listed Marcus as her emergency contact.
A private physician had agreed to recommend seventy-two hours of observation based only on secondhand claims.
Seventy-two hours.
Long enough to complete the acquisition.
Long enough to restructure company control.
Long enough to destroy the opposition records.
“They were going to imprison me without calling it imprisonment,” Victoria said.
Naomi remained careful.
“They intended to use medical procedures and false information to restrict you. The facility had not yet admitted you.”
The distinction mattered.
Facts were stronger when not exaggerated.
The next morning, the board meeting was postponed after Naomi delivered evidence of interference to independent directors and regulators.
The acquisition did not pass.
But Adrian had not disappeared.
He entered Hayes Biotech headquarters before dawn using his legitimate executive badge. Then he locked himself inside the secure research archive.
Victoria watched the security feed from her hospital room.
“What is he doing?”
Naomi enlarged the blurred monitor.
“He’s copying files.”
The acquisition had been only one layer.
Adrian was transferring proprietary research to an external server.
If the sale failed, he intended to sell the technology privately.
The destination server belonged to an investment company registered in Singapore.
Its beneficial owner was hidden behind several entities.
Detective Brooks traced one payment back to Marcus.
Former husband and chosen successor had not merely partnered for the board vote.
They had been competing to steal the same company.
Marcus wanted the acquisition completed so he could profit through hidden investments.
Adrian wanted the deal delayed only long enough to copy the research and create a rival firm.
Each thought the other was useful.
Neither planned to share.
Then the research archive alarm sounded.
Adrian had accessed a restricted file called Project Lantern.
Victoria sat upright despite the pain in her ankle.
“No.”
“What is it?” Brooks asked.
“A trial dataset containing patient genetic information.”
If Adrian removed it, thousands of participants could face privacy breaches.
Naomi attempted to shut down external access.
The system refused.
Someone had used Victoria’s missing token.
The attackers had found it after all.
But the token had never left her jacket.
Victoria reached into the lining.
The pocket was empty.
Then she remembered Daniel wrapping his jacket around her in the alley.
Her own jacket had been taken by paramedics and placed in an ambulance bag.
Someone inside the hospital had removed the token before it reached her room.
A nurse entered carrying a sealed belongings container.
“The man who said he was your husband asked for this earlier.”
Marcus had returned while Victoria was undergoing scans.
He had used their old marriage and her confusion to collect the jacket.
Security footage showed him leaving with the token twenty-three minutes before Adrian entered the archive.
Then Naomi received an alert from Project Lantern.
Adrian had not copied only patient information.
He had opened a hidden report Victoria had never seen.
It documented unexplained deaths during an early clinical trial.
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The report had been signed by Marcus.
Cliffhanger: Marcus had hidden fatal trial data inside Victoria’s company—and Adrian now possessed evidence that could destroy Hayes Biotech or expose a crime buried during her marriage.
