Chapter 4
The room went silent.
Olivia felt her knees weaken.
"...Someone at the wedding?"
Detective Grant nodded.
"The fingerprint match came in less than five minutes ago."
He placed his phone on the table.
"The same unidentified print recovered from Daniel's engagement ring box..."
He paused.
"...matches a fingerprint voluntarily provided by one of your wedding guests during a recent business security screening."
Victor frowned.
"Who?"
Grant looked directly at Olivia.
"You know him."
Olivia searched her memory.
The wedding had been small.
Only family.
Close friends.
A handful of business partners.
Everyone she trusted.
Grant slowly removed a photograph from his folder.
It had been taken only hours earlier.
The wedding reception.
Guests raising champagne glasses.
Everyone smiling.
Grant pointed to a man standing just behind Olivia.
"His name is Adrian Cole."
Victor's expression froze.
"No..."
Olivia looked confused.
"You know him?"
Victor slowly nodded.
"He was my personal attorney."
"For fifteen years."
Olivia stared at the photograph.
Adrian.
Always polite.
Always smiling.
The man who had organized their prenuptial agreement.
The man who handled Victor's confidential files.
The man who had congratulated them only hours ago.
Grant quietly continued.
"Ten years ago..."
"Adrian wasn't your attorney."
"He worked as Victor's financial adviser."
"He knew about the five-hundred-thousand-dollar offer."
Victor whispered,
"Only three people knew."
"My assistant."
"My lawyer."
"And Adrian."
Grant nodded.
"The assistant died six years ago."
"The lawyer has airtight records proving he wasn't involved."
"That leaves Adrian."
Olivia felt sick.
"So..."
"You're saying he knew Daniel was meeting Victor."
Grant answered calmly.
"And he arrived first."
He opened another evidence folder.
Inside was a newly enhanced surveillance image.
A man in a dark raincoat walking into the alley.
His face had been impossible to identify ten years earlier.
Modern image enhancement had changed that.
Grant slid the photo across the table.
Olivia's hands shook.
Even though the image was grainy...
There was no mistake.
Adrian.
Victor collapsed into a chair.
"My God..."
Grant continued.
"We searched Adrian's financial records after the fingerprint match."
"Three days after Daniel's death..."
"A shell company transferred twelve million dollars into an offshore account."
Victor looked stunned.
"I never paid him twelve million."
Grant nodded.
"Exactly."
"Someone else did."
Olivia frowned.
"But why kill Daniel?"
"He could have simply taken the money."
Grant looked toward the city lights.
"Because Daniel wasn't the target."
Both Olivia and Victor stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
Grant turned one final page.
"This case was never about romance."
"It was about control."
He looked at Victor.
"Ten years ago..."
"Your company was days away from signing the largest merger in its history."
Victor nodded slowly.
"I remember."
Grant continued.
"If news broke that a billionaire secretly paid someone to abandon the woman he loved..."
"The scandal would've destroyed the deal."
Victor suddenly understood.
"You think Adrian planned everything."
Grant nodded.
"He knew about your obsession."
"He knew Daniel would refuse the money."
"So he eliminated Daniel..."
"...and left just enough evidence to make you appear guilty."
Olivia whispered,
"He trapped both of you."
Grant gave a grim smile.
"Daniel died."
"You lost ten years believing the man you loved abandoned you."
"Victor spent ten years too afraid to tell the truth because he knew no one would believe he stopped at bribery."
"And Adrian..."
He looked at the skyline.
"...walked away with twelve million dollars."
Victor buried his face in his hands.
"I destroyed your life..."
he whispered to Olivia.
"I was selfish."
"I tried to buy another man's future."
He looked up, tears in his eyes.
"But I swear to you..."
"I never wanted him dead."
Olivia looked at him for a long time.
She believed him.
Not because he was innocent.
He wasn't.
His obsession had started the chain of events.
But for the first time...
She also believed he wasn't the murderer.
Just then...
Grant's phone vibrated again.
He answered immediately.
His face darkened.
"When?"
A pause.
"I'll be there."
He ended the call.
Olivia's heart pounded.
"What happened?"
Grant slowly looked up.
His voice was heavy.
"We're too late."
"Adrian's penthouse is empty."
"He disappeared thirty minutes ago."
Victor frowned.
"How?"
Grant answered quietly.
"He left behind only one thing."
"What?"
The detective placed a plastic evidence bag on the table.
Inside...
Was an old newspaper clipping dated ten years earlier.
The headline read:
LOCAL MAN MURDERED IN RAINY ALLEY.
Across the photograph of Daniel...
May you like
Someone had written a message in black ink.
'You were never the real target.'
