Chapter 9 - The Man Who Cut the BrakesThe second attempt happened on a Tuesday.
There was no dramatic warning.
No anonymous note.
No broken lens.
Just a traffic light turning green.
Emil driving.
Thea in the rear seat beside Lachlan.
And a delivery truck coming through the intersection at sixty miles an hour.
Lachlan saw it first.
“Emil!”
The shout came half a second before impact.
Emil turned the wheel.
The sedan spun.
The truck struck the rear quarter instead of the passenger doors.
Metal screamed.
Glass exploded.
Thea felt the world rotate.
Her shoulder slammed against the seat belt.
Something struck her temple.
Then the car stopped.
Silence.
Not true silence.
A horn.
Steam.
People shouting.
But inside Thea’s body, everything became quiet.
“Thea.”
Hands were on her face.
“Thea.”
She opened her eyes.
Lachlan.
No glasses.
Blood along his jaw.
His eyes locked on hers.
“Look at me.”
“I am.”
“Are you hurt?”
“My head.”
“Can you move your fingers?”
She did.
“Toes?”
“Yes.”
“Any neck pain?”
“No.”
Emil’s voice came from the front.
“I’m all right.”
Lachlan turned.
“Truck?”
“Stopped against the divider.”
Security vehicles had already surrounded them.
Lachlan looked back at Thea.
She saw fear.
Real fear.
Not controlled.
Not hidden.
His hands shook once against her cheeks.
“I’m okay.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
Then anger replaced fear.
The truck driver survived.
According to police, he claimed the accelerator jammed.
According to Lachlan’s investigators, the truck had been purchased under a shell company forty-eight hours earlier.
The driver had received seventy thousand dollars through a foreign account that morning.
By midnight, federal investigators were involved.
By Wednesday, Marcus Vale disappeared.
The CFO.
Gideon’s closest ally.
His private jet filed a flight plan for Montreal but never departed.
His phone was found near the river.
Lachlan sat in the hospital room while a doctor placed three stitches above Thea’s eyebrow.
“You can stop staring.”
“No.”
“I’m fine.”
“No.”
The doctor glanced between them.
Thea sighed.
“My husband has recently discovered anxiety.”
“I preferred life without it,” Lachlan said.
The doctor smiled.
“You were lucky.”
After he left, Thea turned.
“So were you.”
Lachlan touched the bandage along his jaw.
“Superficial.”
“The truck hit your side.”
“The rear panel.”
“Still.”
He stood near the bed.
His composure had returned, but she could see the cracks now.
“You screamed my name.”
“I wanted your attention.”
“You sounded terrified.”
His jaw tightened.
“Thea.”
“It’s not an accusation.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Come here.”
He hesitated.
Then approached.
Thea took his hand.
He stared at their fingers.
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
He tried to pull away.
She held tighter.
“Stop.”
His eyes lifted.
“For once, stop pretending you’re fine.”
Something changed.
The room became too small.
Lachlan sat on the edge of the chair beside her bed.
Thea kept his hand.
“I saw the truck coming toward your door.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“And for one second, I was back in the car with Thomas.”
Thea said nothing.
“I knew exactly what metal sounded like before it happened.”
His thumb moved against her knuckles.
“I thought I was going to watch it happen again.”
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“Because Emil moved.”
“Because I saw it.”
The meaning settled between them.
If he had remained blind, truly blind, the truck might have killed them.
Lachlan looked away.
“The first accident took my sight. This one reminded me why I hid its return.”
“What happens if they try again?”
“They won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Marcus ran.”
“That doesn’t mean Gideon is finished.”
“No.”
Lachlan’s gaze hardened.
“It means he’s frightened enough to make mistakes.”
The mistake arrived that evening.
Police located Marcus Vale at a private airfield eighty miles north of the city.
He had a passport.
Two hundred thousand dollars in cash.
And a laptop containing communications with Gideon.
Marcus asked for immunity before the handcuffs were fully secured.
By Thursday morning, investigators had enough evidence to reconstruct the first crash.
Gideon had ordered it.
Not directly.
Never directly.
A maintenance contractor received a payment from a shell company.
The mechanic weakened Lachlan’s brake line.
Then Marcus, paranoid the first sabotage might not work, paid another man to cut the secondary line.
Twice.
The note from the original crash report finally made sense.
G.V.
The initials did not stand for Gideon Voss.
They belonged to George Varela, the second mechanic.
A man who had died from an overdose seven months after the crash.
Lachlan read the report inside his study.
Thea stood by the window.
“So Thomas was right.”
“Yes.”
“About Gideon.”
“Yes.”
“And the medical program.”
“Yes.”
“And everything.”
Lachlan closed the file.
“He died because he found it.”
Thea crossed the room.
“Thomas died because Gideon decided money mattered more than human life.”
Lachlan looked at her.
“He switched seats with me.”
“I know.”
“I should have been in the passenger seat.”
“You could repeat that sentence for fifty years and it still won’t make you responsible.”
He looked away.
Thea reached for his wrist.
His fingers were against his watch again.
She stopped them.
“No buying time.”
His eyes met hers.
“You’re very demanding.”
“You married me.”
The faintest smile appeared.
Then vanished.
There was a knock.
Emil entered.
His left wrist was bandaged from the collision.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Astrid Voss is downstairs.”
Lachlan’s expression changed.
“And?”
“She has Gideon with her.”
Thea froze.
“What?”
“Mr. Gideon Voss arrived at her residence thirty minutes ago.”
“Why wasn’t he arrested?”
“Warrant hasn’t cleared.”
Lachlan stood.
Emil continued.
“He asked to speak to you before federal agents arrive.”
“No.”
“He claims he has information about Marcus.”
“I don’t care.”
Astrid’s voice came from the doorway.
“You should.”
They turned.
Astrid entered.
Behind her stood Gideon.
Two security men flanked him.
No smile now.
No charm.
He looked tired.
Cornered.
Lachlan’s body became still.
“You have five minutes,” Astrid said.
Gideon looked at Thea.
Then at Lachlan.
“You almost died yesterday.”
“So did my wife.”
The word struck Thea differently now.
Not contractual.
Not performative.
My wife.
Gideon’s mouth twisted.
“That was not supposed to happen.”
Lachlan crossed the room so quickly security stepped forward.
Thea had never seen him lose control.
He stopped inches from his uncle.
“What was supposed to happen?”
“Marcus arranged the truck.”
“You expect me to believe you didn’t know?”
“I knew he wanted leverage.”
“A truck is not leverage.”
Gideon looked toward Astrid.
“I lost control of him.”
Astrid laughed bitterly.
“You recruited him.”
Gideon ignored her.
He looked at Lachlan.
“Everything I did was to protect this company.”
Thea stared.
“You manipulated sick people.”
Gideon turned to her.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“No. I understand perfectly. You discovered suffering could be converted into influence.”
His face hardened.
“You were supposed to stabilize him.”
Thea went cold.
Lachlan’s voice lowered.
“What did you say?”
Gideon realized the mistake too late.
Thea stepped forward.
“You chose me.”
Silence.
“You put me on that list.”
Gideon looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Astrid wanted someone outside our world. Someone uncomplicated.”
Thea laughed.
“You made me uncomplicated by trying to bankrupt my mother?”
“The insurance denial was temporary.”
“She could have died.”
“She didn’t.”
Lachlan moved.
His fist struck Gideon before anyone could react.
The older man fell against the desk.
Astrid gasped.
Security stepped in.
Lachlan stood over his uncle.
Blood appeared at Gideon’s lip.
Thea grabbed Lachlan’s arm.
“Enough.”
He was breathing hard.
Gideon laughed.
“There he is.”
Lachlan tried to step forward.
Thea held him.
“Don’t give him what he wants.”
His eyes met hers.
Slowly, he stopped.
Gideon straightened.
“You think you won because you found Thomas’s files?”
Lachlan froze.
“How do you know about the files?”
A smile returned to Gideon.
Small.
Ugly.
“Because Thomas wasn’t the only person keeping records.”
He looked at Astrid.
“There are things in this family you still don’t know.”
Astrid went pale.
“What things?”
Gideon wiped blood from his mouth.
“Ask her.”
Lachlan looked at his grandmother.
Astrid stared at Gideon.
“Don’t.”
Interesting.
Thea felt it.
Another secret.
Gideon smiled.
“Tell him why his father changed the trust.”
Lachlan’s expression sharpened.
“What trust?”
Astrid said nothing.
Gideon looked at him.
“The one that gives controlling voting power to your spouse if you die without an heir.”
The room went silent.
Thea stopped breathing.
Gideon turned toward her.
“And now you understand why the nineteen-year-old girl mattered so much.”
Lachlan’s face became cold.
Not confusion.
Horror.
Because the implication was immediate.
Thea had not only been selected to influence him.
She had been selected to inherit power if someone succeeded in killing him.
May you like
And whoever controlled Thea…
could control the Voss empire.
