Chapter 3 - SABRINA’S VERSION
Sabrina demanded to speak with me.
I agreed.
Library.
Naomi present.
No Wexler.
Sabrina entered furious.
Her lips moved quickly.
“You’re believing a stranger who broke into your home.”
I signed:
Slow down.
She did.
“I spent three years taking care of you.”
That sentence bothered me.
Taking care of me.
Not loving me.
I signed:
Did you know my original tests showed residual auditory response?
“No.”
Her answer came too fast.
I watched her pupils.
No glance away.
No hesitation.
Maybe true.
Were you present when Wexler discussed the medication possibly suppressing recovery?
She stopped.
There.
That pause.
“I remember a conversation.”
What did he say?
“That your condition was unstable.”
Not an answer.
Did he say stopping the medication could improve test results?
“He said changing anything could be risky.”
Again.
Not an answer.
I leaned forward.
Yes or no.
Sabrina looked at Naomi.
Then back at me.
“Yes.”
The word hit harder because I could read it perfectly.
Why didn’t you tell me?
“I trusted him.”
So did I.
She started crying.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I almost laughed.
From what?
“You were destroyed after Luca died.”
True.
“You weren’t sleeping. You barely ate. You talked about going back to the warehouse alone.”
True.
“You blamed yourself.”
True.
But none of that answered the question.
I signed:
Why did you help keep medical information from me?
Her tears stopped.
“I didn’t think you could handle another false hope.”
There it was.
She decided.
For me.
I stood.
Sabrina moved closer.
“Adrian, please.”
I stepped back.
Her face changed.
I signed:
Did you authorize the letter threatening Mara?
“No.”
Naomi placed the document on the table.
Sabrina read it.
Then:
“I asked legal to stop a former employee from harassing you.”
Without telling me.
“You were recovering.”
Three years.
Everything led back to the same excuse.
I was recovering.
Therefore other people could decide what information I was allowed to receive.
Naomi asked:
“Did you instruct anyone to block Mara’s calls?”
Sabrina looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Did Adrian approve that?”
“No.”
I felt strangely calm.
Then I asked the question I had been avoiding.
Did Luca know Mara?
Sabrina blinked.
Wrong question, apparently.
“Why would he?”
I watched her face.
She was hiding something.
I signed:
Because Luca investigated Blackwood Medical Ventures before the explosion.
Sabrina stopped breathing.
I had guessed.
The reaction confirmed enough to keep looking.
Luca had been CFO of Blackwood Holdings.
Three weeks before his death, he told me there was “something rotten” inside one of our healthcare-investment subsidiaries.
He wanted a private meeting.
That meeting was supposed to happen at Warehouse 14.
The warehouse that exploded.
I had always assumed Luca was referring to inflated research spending.
After his death, Sabrina told me his concerns were routine accounting discrepancies.
Resolved.
I believed her because I was in a hospital bed.
Now I signed:
What did Luca find?
Sabrina looked toward the door.
Exit glance.
I stood between her and it without intending to threaten her.
Naomi immediately said:
“Adrian.”
I stepped aside.
Good correction.
Sabrina was free to leave.
Instead, she sat.
Then said:
“I don’t know everything.”
May you like
It was the first honest sentence of the meeting.
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