Chương 6
And this time, Elena was ready to face it.
Elena stood outside the hospital entrance with the phone still pressed against her ear.
For several seconds, neither she nor Adrian spoke.
The information was too large to process.
Marcus was leaving.
The same man who had shaped their lives from the shadows was trying to disappear before the truth reached him.
“Where is he going?”
Elena asked.
Adrian looked through the office window at the city below.
“I don’t know yet.”
“You said he was leaving tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Then find out.”
Her voice was calm.
Not desperate.
Not afraid.
That was what surprised Adrian most.
The Elena he remembered from years ago would have been overwhelmed by the discovery.
The woman standing now sounded like someone who had already survived the worst thing that could happen.
“I’m working on it.”
“No.”
Elena interrupted.
“We are working on it.”
The words caught him off guard.
Not because they meant forgiveness.
Because they meant she was finally allowing him beside her again.
Even if only to uncover the truth.
“I’ll send you everything I have.”
“Send it to Daniel too.”
Adrian paused.
“You trust him?”
“I trust that he is trying to do the right thing now.”
The answer was fair.
And Adrian knew he had no right to question it.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena became quiet.
“Adrian.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t apologize every time you feel guilty.”
He swallowed.
“Then what should I do?”
“Tell the truth.”
The simplicity of the answer stayed with him.
“Even when it makes you look bad.”
“Even when it hurts.”
Elena ended the call.
For the first time in years, they were moving toward the same thing.
Not a relationship.
Not a promise.
Not a second chance.
The truth.
An hour later, Elena arrived at Daniel’s office.
The building was smaller than Adrian’s headquarters but carried a different atmosphere.
There were no walls covered with awards.
No displays of power.
Only people working quietly.
Daniel stood when she entered.
“You found something.”
Elena placed the medical file on his desk.
“I found out we were both missing pieces.”
Daniel opened it.
As he read, his expression changed.
“You went back to the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“And they told you about the witness.”
Elena looked at him sharply.
“You knew?”
Daniel stopped.
“I suspected.”
“Daniel.”
His silence was enough.
Elena stepped closer.
“How long?”
“Only recently.”
“That is not an answer.”
Daniel looked away.
“Two weeks.”
The disappointment on her face was immediate.
“You knew there was another witness for two weeks and said nothing?”
“I was trying to confirm it.”
“No.”
Her voice became firmer.
“You were trying to protect Adrian again.”
Daniel did not deny it.
That hurt more than an excuse.
“I thought if I brought him another painful truth before knowing everything, it would destroy him.”
Elena stared at him.
“You still think you get to decide what people can handle.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
She was right.
Everyone around Adrian had spent years doing the same thing.
Protecting him.
Managing information.
Choosing what he should know.
And every choice had created more damage.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena shook her head.
“I don’t need another apology.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I need you to understand something.”
She waited.
“The reason this family became what it became is because everyone believed silence was protection.”
The words were quiet.
“But silence was the thing that destroyed us.”
Daniel looked at the medical file again.
“We need to find that witness.”
They spent the next several hours searching through old records.
The witness name was incomplete.
Only a first name and an outdated address remained.
But Daniel had resources.
And Elena had something more important.
A memory.
She remembered a detail from that night.
Something she had ignored because it seemed meaningless.
“A red scarf.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“The person at the scene.”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
“There was someone standing near the road.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“What did they look like?”
“I don’t know.”
She shook her head.
“But I remember a red scarf.”
Daniel immediately began searching.
By evening, they found a possible match.
A woman named Rachel Collins.
Former emergency volunteer.
Moved away three years after the accident.
No criminal history.
No connection to Adrian.
No obvious reason to hide.
Daniel looked at the information.
“She might know everything.”
Elena stared at the photograph.
Something about the woman’s face felt familiar.
Not because she remembered her.
Because she felt like she had seen her before.
Adrian arrived shortly after.
For a moment, the three of them stood in the same room.
A year ago, this would have been impossible.
Elena and Adrian on one side.
Daniel caught between loyalty and guilt.
But now they were connected by the same purpose.
Finding the truth.
Adrian looked at the file.
“Rachel Collins.”
Daniel nodded.
“She may be the missing piece.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“I should have told you about the accident.”
“Yes.”
Her answer was immediate.
He accepted it.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That if you knew everything, you would see me differently.”
Elena studied him.
“I already see you differently.”
The words hurt.
But she continued.
“Not because of what happened that night.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Because of what you did afterward.”
He nodded slowly.
That was the difference.
The accident was something they needed to understand.
The choices afterward were what they had to face.
Rachel Collins was found the next morning.
She lived in a quiet town several hours outside the city.
A place where nobody knew her past.
When Elena, Adrian, and Daniel arrived at her home, the woman immediately looked frightened.
Not surprised.
Frightened.
That told them everything.
Rachel opened the door only halfway.
“I wondered when you would come.”
Elena felt a chill.
“You knew we would find you?”
Rachel looked at Adrian.
“I knew eventually someone would want the truth.”
Adrian stepped forward.
May you like
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Rachel looked at him with sadness.
