Chapter 6: The Man Who Already Knew
Warren Chu did not ask who she was.
That was the first thing wrong.
Adrian introduced her anyway.
"This is Bianca.
She's family."
"I see," Warren said.
Two words.
Completely neutral.
The kind of neutral that takes years to perfect.
Adrian gestured toward the office at the end of the hall.
"Walk with me."
They went inside.
Warren closed the door without being asked.
He moved to the chair across the desk with the ease of someone who had sat in that chair a hundred times.
Adrian remained standing.
"Daniel Reiss," he said.
Warren folded his hands.
"What about him?"
"You hired him twenty-two months ago."
"I hire a great many people."
"His personal reference came from my father."
A pause.
Short, but there.
"References from former leadership aren't unusual for senior positions," Warren said.
"Your father had strong opinions about security staffing."
"My father was d\*ad before Reiss applied."
Warren looked at him steadily.
"The reference was submitted through the estate's document archive.
It was dated correctly and signed.
I had no reason to question it."
"You had every reason," Adrian said.
"You knew my father's signature better than almost anyone.
You worked with him for fifteen years."
"Signatures can be verified by—"
"Warren."
The name landed quietly.
Warren stopped.
Adrian sat down across from him.
"I'm going to ask you something, and I need you to understand that I already know more than you think I do." He set his hands flat on the desk.
"How long have you known about Bianca?"
The silence lasted four seconds.
Warren looked at her.
Then back at Adrian.
"Since she was five years old," he said.
Bianca felt the air go out of the room.
"Your father told me," Warren continued.
His voice had changed — not softer, but more careful, the way a man speaks when he's decided to stop performing and start calculating.
"He considered it a security matter.
A potential vulnerability.
He wanted me to monitor the situation."
"Monitor," Adrian repeated.
"Track the mother's location.
Flag any contact attempts.
Ensure the arrangement held."
"The arrangement." Adrian's voice was even.
"You mean the money he paid Elena to disappear."
"Yes."
"And the night of the crash?"
Warren's hands tightened slightly on the arms of the chair.
"I was informed afterward."
"By whom?"
"Your father."
"Not before."
"No."
"You're certain."
"Adrian—"
"I need you to be certain, Warren.
Because if you knew before that car went off the road and you said nothing, this conversation ends very differently."
The room was completely still.
Warren met his gaze.
"I was told afterward," he said.
"I want you to believe that."
"I don't know yet if I do." Adrian leaned back.
"But I'm going to give you the chance to earn it." He paused.
"Reiss.
Tell me what you know."
Warren exhaled slowly.
"Six months ago, I received a communication through a private channel I hadn't used in years.
An old contact from your father's network.
He told me that Reiss had been placed at a specific request — that he was there to monitor internal communications and flag any activity related to a particular name."
"Bianca's name," Adrian said.
"Yes."
"And you allowed it."
"I was told it was a protective measure.
That there were people who wished the Vale family harm and that Reiss was there to prevent it."
"You believed that."
Warren was quiet for a moment.
"I believed it enough not to ask more questions.
Which I understand is not the same thing."
Bianca spoke for the first time since they'd entered the room.
"Who gave you the communication?"
Warren looked at her.
There was something in his expression she hadn't expected — not guilt, exactly, but the particular discomfort of a man who has just understood, too late, that he has been used.
"A man named Garrett Soll," he said.
Adrian stood.
"Where is Reiss right now?"
"I don't know.
He stopped responding to internal messages at eleven-thirty."
"He was seen leaving a hotel with Soll at eleven forty-seven." Adrian moved toward the door.
"Which means Soll knows we've identified him.
Which means whatever they planned to do next, they've moved the timeline up."
Warren rose from his chair.
"Adrian.
Whatever Soll told me — I want to help fix this."
Adrian stopped at the door.
He turned and looked at Warren for a long moment.
"You will," he said.
"You're going to call Soll right now, from your own phone, and tell him that everything is quiet.
That I spent the night at my mother's house and came back this morning with no new information." He paused.
"Can you do that convincingly?"
Warren straightened.
"Yes."
"Then do it." Adrian opened the door.
"And Warren — if there's anything else you haven't told me, tell me now.
Because after tonight, I won't be in a position to protect anyone who held something back."
Warren looked at him.
Then at Bianca.
"There's one more thing," he said quietly.
Adrian waited.
"Soll isn't working alone.
May you like
The man who contacted me — the one who vouched for Reiss — he's not from your father's old network." Warren paused.
"He's from yours."
