Chapter Five

The automatic doors of City Hospital slid open, and I rushed inside I even barely remembered parking the car.

Just a few minutes ago, I had been standing face-to-face with my grandmother, the same grandmother I thought was dead ,the next thing I knew, I was racing through traffic with shaking hands, praying I wasn't too late to save Marcus.

He couldn't be dead,he just couldn't be.

The receptionist pointed me toward the emergency wing, and I broke into a full run, when I reached his room, I shoved the door open so hard it slammed loudly against the wall.

Marcus looked up and thank God he was aliv, relief hit me so hard my knees almost gave out right there, his left arm was wrapped in a cast, a deep cut ran across his forehead, and dark bruises covered one side of his face but he was breathing.

"Elena," he said, his voice sounding rough and strained.

I crossed the room in seconds. "What really happened?"

Marcus studied my face for a moment, and his expression softened. "You look worse than I do." I almost laughed,Instead, hot tears stung my eyes. "Don't joke right now."

"I'm not," he replied quietly.

The room went completely still,for a moment, neither of us said a word immediately Marcus sighed heavily.

"It wasn't an accident."

My stomach instantly dropped. "What?"

"It wasn't," he repeated, his voice hardening "The police think I lost control on the wet road and hydroplaned." "But you didn't?"

"No." Marcus leaned back against his pillows. "When I left the office, everything seemed completely fine then, my brakes just stopped working entirely."

A cold dread crept over me. "Brakes fail sometimes, Marcus."

"Not on a car that was just serviced three days ago."

The hospital room suddenly felt incredibly small, i remembered the text message and the photo I had received earlier, warning me that "accidents happen." My fingers curled into fists. "You think someone messed with your car."

Marcus looked straight into my eyes. "I know someone did." The heart monitor beside him beeped steadily in the silence. I swallowed hard. "Who?"

"I don't have proof yet," he said, which frustrated me immediately. "But I have a pretty strong suspicion." It was the exact same suspicion sitting heavy in my own chest neither of us said her name out loud.

We didn't need to Elora my sister.

A sudden knock interrupted us, and a police officer walked in holding a small notebook. "Mr. Hale?" Marcus nodded.

The officer glanced over at me. "You must be Ms. Vance. We've just reviewed the preliminary findings on the car."

Marcus folded his arms. "And?"

The officer hesitated for a second. 

"There's evidence of tampering your brake line looks like it was deliberately cut."

My chest spiked because this was a damage or worn down it was on  purpose.

"We're waiting for the full forensic report before making any final conclusions," the officer continued, closing his notebook. "But if either of you think someone might be targeting Mr. Hale, please let us know immediately."

With that, he stepped out, and the door clicked shut behind him marcus and I just stared at each other someone hadn't just tried to scare him or threaten him but had tried to kill him.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my hand, and I nearly dropped it,the call was from an unknown number my blood ran cold as I opened the message- I warned you.

That was it,there wasn't any explanation or a name it was just those three words Marcus noticed the look on my face. "What is it?" I handed him the phone at a first glance he's expression darkened instantly. 

"The texter."

I nodded just as another message buzzed on the screen,You're running out of time, Elena. Immediately I got a third one right after: Check the television.

Marcus grabbed the remote and turned on the small TV mounted on the wall, a local news station flickered to life, showing a reporter standing right outside the headquarters of Vance Holding which was my father's company.

I frowned, a bad feeling reacting in my chest. "What now?"

The reporter began speaking into the microphone,"Breaking news tonight Federal investigators have just announced an emergency financial audit of Vance Holdings following major allegations of fraud and accounting irregularities."

My breath caught. No, No, no, no.

The screen showed  footage of my father walking into the building, looking completely terrified my phone buzzed again showing Your parents are finally being investigated.

Followed immediately by….they should be more worried about what happened twenty years ago my hands started shaking violently. Twenty years ago? What on earth did that mean? Marcus was reading the screen over my shoulder, his eyes narrowing "Elena, this person knows things they shouldn't."

I thought about my grandmother she was alive, hidden away, watching, and apparently protecting me and maybe had sent these texts? Or was someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes?

Before I could think it through, my phone actually started ringing, the screen showed Private Number.

Marcus sat up straight in bed. "Answer it."

I hesitated for a heartbeat, then pressed accept and put it to my ear. "Hello?"

For a few agonizing seconds, there was nothing but dead silence,then an elderly woman's voice came through,it was calm, controlled, and intensely familiar.

"Did you make it to the hospital safely?"

My heart stopped. "Grandma?"

Marcus looked at me, completely confused. "You need to listen to me very carefully," her voice continued through the static. "Someone is moving much faster than I expected."

"What does that mean?" I demanded, standing up. "Who is moving?"

"It means the people hunting for the truth realize you're getting too close," she said. Immediately the line crackled, and her next words turned the world completely upside down. "The accident wasn't meant for Marcus."

"What?"

"It was meant for you."

My blood turned to red. Marcus, watched my face, went pale "Grandma, what are you talking about?" I begged.

"Listen to me, Elena," her voice grew frantic and urgent. "They know who you are and they know what your parents stole." "What did they steal?!" I shouted into the phone….

There was a heavy pause when Grandmother Esther spoke again, her voice trembled for the very first time, delivering words that completely shattered my entire reality.

"Elena... Clara and Richard are not your biggest enemies they aren't even your real parents."

The line suddenly went dead , I pulled the phone away and stared at the blank screen with any signal, the call was gone…Marcus slowly swung his legs over the edge of the hospital bed and stood up. 

Neither of us spoke or could even move.

Because if what she had just said was the truth, then my entire life was a total lie and somewhere out there in the city, someone had just tried to end my life and Marcus had almost died in my place.