Chapter 5 - Midnight on Route 9The rain lashed against the windshield of Evan’s black SUV as he tore down the winding asphalt of Route 9 outside Stamford.
The headlights cut through the heavy mist, illuminating the exact stretch of guardrail where Grace’s car had plunged into the ravine three years ago. The metal barrier had been replaced, gleaming dully in the dark, but the phantom shadows of the past hung thick in the air.
Evan pulled onto the gravel shoulder, killing the engine.
He didn't turn on the dome light. Instead, he sat in silence, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Nora’s words echoed in his skull like church bells tolling for a funeral. Targeted. Tampered with. Murder.
For three years, he had blamed bad luck. He had blamed the rain. He had blamed himself for not insisting Grace stay home that night.
The realization that someone had actively hunted down his family sent a surge of pure, unadulterated adrenaline through his veins. This wasn't grief anymore. This was war.
His phone buzzed on the passenger seat. It was an encrypted text from his head of corporate security, a former MI6 operative named Vance (unrelated to the fired CFO).
Boss. Ran the background on your former CFO, Arthur Vance. He’s clean on paper, but his brother is Julian Vance—the principal shareholder of Vance Logistics. Three years ago, your wife was investigating corporate embezzlement within Vance Logistics' shipping routes just before the crash.
Evan stared at the screen, the final pieces of the puzzle snapping into place with chilling precision.
Arthur Vance. The man he had fired that very morning. The man who had tried to siphon four million dollars from the company accounts. The brother of the man Grace was about to expose.
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They hadn't just killed his wife to cover up financial fraud. They had thought they buried the secret deep enough. They didn't count on a grieving billionaire waking up.
Evan slammed his foot on the gas, roaring down the dark highway toward the Stamford branch of First National Bank—where Nora’s ex-husband had hidden the proof.
