CHAPTER SEVEN

ADRIAN’s POV

“Confirmed?” I asked sharply.

The investigator, still standing near the door nodded once. “Yes, sir.”

The atmosphere inside the office turned tensed again. Rain still battered the windows behind us while Serena’s face continued appearing across every news channel in the background.

I looked toward the investigator again. “Who is the body?”

The man opened the file in his hand. “His name is John Sky, a man in his mid-forties, had multiple criminal charges including fraud, assault, illegal weapons possession, and organized theft.”

Damien frowned as he stared along from where he was seated. “What does he have to do with Serena’s accident?”

“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”

I stepped forward impatiently and snatched the file from him, flipped through the report. The dead man’s face stared back at me from the report. He has a rough appearance and a scar near his jaw, then I flipped over to the next page, my heart sank at what I saw.

Vehicle association report: Black SUV.

The exact SUV from the highway footage. I looked up slowly from the report to meet the gaze of the investigator. “Are you telling me the dead man was driving the SUV vehicle?”

“Yes.”

A strange feeling crawled slowly down my spine, my assumption has just been justified, this no longer looked like an accident.

“Cause of death?” I asked.

“Gunshot wound.” The investigator replied.

Damien straightened immediately. “Someone killed him?”

“Yes.”

“How long after Serena’s crash?” Damien asked again.

“Approximately four hours.”

My body shivered as my mind started moving faster. The dots are now connecting clearly. The traffic cameras disabled, an unidentified SUV following Serena, the driver later turning up dead. It is clear someone had been cleaning up evidence before we even realized there was evidence to clean.

I looked toward Damien. “Find out who hired him.”

I turned to the investigator. “I want names of everyone attached to him.”

“Alright sir, but we have another clue sir.” The investigator said slowly

My patience was already hanging by a thread. “What now?”

The investigator swallowed once before answering. “We found traces of blood inside the SUV when we searched it.”

Frustration flickered over my face. “Whose blood?”

“We don’t know yet. The sample was damaged from water exposure.”

Damien folded his arms slowly. “Could belong to Serena.”

“No, she went into the ocean. Why would her blood be inside his vehicle?” I argued.

“That’s exactly the problem,” the investigator replied quietly.

I suddenly became quiet, other possibilities started forming inside my head. Then I turned to Celeste who was seated, watching the whole time. For the first time since all this started, paranoia was beginning to creep into my thinking.

Suddenly, I remembered how Serena was staring at her phone in the bedroom after she left the dining table. I remembered how she asked if I was still traveling the next day, then a crazy thought landed in my mind. What if Celeste sent Serena a message the night before the accident, because I honestly don’t know who to trust at this point,

I moved closer to Celeste, stared into her eyes as if checking for answers to thousands of questions running through my mind.

“Did you sent Serena a message the night before the accident,” I finally asked.

“What.” Celeste eyes widened. “You think I tipped her off about us,” she added. I can sense the disgust in her voice.

Before I could say another word, Celeste stormed out of the office, banging the door behind her.

The only thing that can solve this puzzle is Serena’s phone. I turned sharply toward the investigator.

“What about her phone, were you able to retrieve it.”

“No sir,” he replied quickly, “but we recovered a phone from the dead driver’s apartment, we believe it belonged to him.”

I looked toward him with widened eyes. “What?”

The man handed over a small evidence bag, inside it was a phone.

Damien frowned. “How does this help?”

“There was a voice recording saved on the device,” the investigator replied

Every nerve in my body were already sharpened. “Play it.”

The investigator connected the phone to the conference speaker, static filled the room briefly, then a man’s voice came through. The dead driver’s voice.

“We’re still following the woman.”

My entire body went rigid.

Another voice answered afterward, distorted and calm. “Do not lose her.”

The driver spoke again. “What about the child?”

Silence filled the room at the mention of child. Ethan.

Then the distorted voice answered. “Take the boy first.”

Every single person inside the office froze, I felt my pulse spike violently. The recording continued.

“What about the woman?” the driver asked.

The distorted voice paused for a second before finally responding. “If she survives… handle it.” The recording ended abruptly.

Everybody went still inside the office. This recording just confirmed part of my assumptions. The accident was never an accident, someone wanted my family gone.

Who could that be?

My mind started spiraling through possibilities, suddenly Damien moved beside me in a rush. I turned sharply toward him just in time to see the color drain from his face completely.

He was staring at the paused screen near the projector, at the waveform analysis beneath the audio file. Then he whispered quietly.

“I know that voice.”