The Ghost In The Rain
2032 Words
Adrian’s POV
“Adrian.”
I hadn’t heard that voice in six years.
Not in real life.
Not outside my memories.
Not outside the dreams that sometimes dragged me back to the worst night of my life.
The rain had stopped hours ago, but cold water still dripped from the edges of the buildings around us.
Maya stood beside me.
The black car waited at the end of the alley.
And standing beside it was a man I had buried six years ago.
My throat went dry.
“No.”
The man tilted his head.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I took a step back.
My heart was beating too fast.
It couldn’t be him.
I had attended his funeral.
I had watched them lower the coffin into the ground.
I had stood beside his family while everyone around me cried.
And now
He was standing in front of me.
“Ethan?” I finally said.
Maya looked at me.
“You know him?”
I couldn’t answer her.
The man walked closer.
He looked older than I remembered.
Of course he did.
Six years had passed.
His dark hair was shorter now, and a thin scar ran across his left eyebrow. He wore a dark jacket and looked nothing like the smiling twenty-five-year-old man I remembered.
But it was him.
Ethan Cole.
My older brother.
The brother I had spent six years believing was dead.
“No,” I said again.
Ethan stopped a few feet away.
“That’s not exactly the welcome I expected.”
My chest tightened.
“You died.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
Maya slowly looked from me to Ethan.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Did he just agree that he died?”
Ethan gave her a quick smile.
“That does sound strange.”
I moved toward him.
“Don’t.”
He stopped smiling.
“Adrian”
“Don’t say my name.”
“Listen to me.”
“You were dead.”
My voice echoed through the narrow street.
“You were gone.”
“I know.”
“I saw the funeral.”
“I know.”
“I stood beside your grave!”
Maya touched my arm.
I pulled away.
I wasn’t angry at her.
I was angry at everything.
At Ethan.
At the rain.
At the city.
At the past.
At myself.
“What is this?” I asked. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Ethan looked toward the black car.
“We need to leave.”
I laughed.
“No.”
“Adrian.”
“You don’t get to disappear for six years and then show up in an alley telling me what to do.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Ethan looked away.
For a moment, he looked exactly like my brother again.
Not the stranger standing before me.
My brother.
The one who used to steal my food and blame me for it.
The one who taught me how to drive.
The one who was supposed to inherit the company.
The one who was supposed to be here when our father died.
But he hadn’t been.
He had died first.
Or so I had believed.
“You need to come with me,” Ethan said quietly.
“Why?”
“Because Victor knows where you are.”
I froze.
Maya’s expression changed.
“You know his uncle too?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Who is she?”
“No one,” I said.
Maya stared at me.
“Excuse me?”
I rubbed my forehead.
“Not now.”
“Actually, now seems like a very good time.”
Ethan looked between us.
“You brought someone?”
“I didn’t bring anyone.”
“Interesting.”
“Ethan.”
His face became serious.
“We don’t have time.”
That was when I heard it.
A car engine.
Then another.
I looked toward the street.
Two black SUVs turned around the corner.
My body immediately tensed.
Ethan moved toward the car.
“Now.”
Maya grabbed my sleeve.
“Those are the same kind of cars from before.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
I looked at Ethan.
“Get in the car.”
Maya stared at me.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know this man.”
“Neither do I.”
Ethan sighed.
“Touching family reunion.”
The first SUV stopped.
A door opened.
I grabbed Maya’s hand.
She looked down at our hands.
Then at me.
“Run,” I said.
We ran.
Ethan was already moving.
The three of us reached the black car just as the men from the SUVs stepped onto the street.
“Get in!”
Maya climbed inside first.
I followed.
Ethan got in last.
The driver accelerated immediately.
One of the SUVs followed us.
I looked through the rear window.
Maya was breathing heavily beside me.
Ethan sat across from us.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, I turned toward him.
“Start talking.”
Ethan smiled faintly.
“You haven’t changed.”
“Six years.”
His smile disappeared.
“You have exactly six years to explain.”
Maya leaned forward.
“I would also like to hear this explanation.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Who is she?”
“Maya.”
“Just Maya?”
She crossed her arms.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Fair enough.”
I hit the side of the seat.
“Ethan.”
“Fine.”
He looked out the window.
“I didn’t die.”
“I noticed.”
“The funeral was real.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means there was a body.”
My stomach tightened.
“A body?”
“Not mine.”
For several seconds, the only sound was the car engine.
I couldn’t breathe properly.
“You’re telling me everyone believed you were dead because someone else was buried in your place?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I had to disappear.”
I laughed.
“You had to?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked directly at me.
“Because someone tried to kill me.”
Maya went silent.
I stared at him.
My brother’s expression didn’t change.
Six years ago, he had died in a car accident.
That was what the police said.
The car had gone off the road.
There had been a fire.
The identification process had taken days.
Our family had accepted the report.
I had accepted it.
“Who?” I asked.
Ethan looked at me.
“I never found out.”
I leaned forward.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Then why should I?”
“Because I’m sitting in front of you.”
I looked away.
Maya spoke softly.
“What happened after you disappeared?”
Ethan’s eyes moved toward her.
“I had help.”
“From who?”
“A man named Samuel Reed.”
Maya froze.
My head turned toward her.
“What?”
Ethan studied her face.
“Samuel Reed was your father?”
Maya’s expression changed.
“How do you know my father?”
I looked between them.
“What is going on?”
Ethan sighed.
“Samuel helped me disappear.”
Maya shook her head.
“My father died eight years ago.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“He worked for Cole Global.”
I frowned.
“He did?”
Maya looked toward me.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“Of course you didn’t.”
I looked at him.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Adrian, you knew almost nothing about the people working for our family.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Isn’t it?”
My jaw tightened.
Ethan continued.
“Samuel worked in corporate security. He discovered something before my accident.”
“What?”
Ethan looked at the window.
“That someone was moving money through companies connected to Cole Global.”
I stared at him.
“Victor.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t know?”
“I know Victor was involved in something.”
Maya’s face became pale.
“My father found out?”
Ethan nodded.
“Yes.”
“And then he died?”
“Two months later.”
Silence.
Maya looked away.
I saw something in her expression.
Pain.
I understood then why she had reacted so sharply to the news about my company.
Her father had worked for Cole Global.
Her father had died.
And now she was sitting beside the billionaire whose family might have destroyed her life.
I looked at Ethan.
“Did Victor kill him?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what do you know?”
Ethan leaned forward.
“I know my accident was not an accident.”
I felt cold.
“I know Samuel found information about money disappearing from the company.”
My mind raced.
“I know Victor was the last person I spoke to before my car went off that road.”
Ethan paused.
“And I know that the same thing is happening to you now.”
The words settled heavily inside the car.
My company.
The failed expansion.
The losses.
The frozen accounts.
The board.
Victor.
The anonymous calls.
It wasn’t just business.
Someone had been planning my downfall.
For how long?
My phone buzzed.
All three of us looked at it.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
I answered.
“Who is this?”
A woman spoke.
“Your brother is alive.”
My eyes moved toward Ethan.
“Yes.”
“Then he found you.”
“Who are you?”
“You should ask your brother why he never came back.”
The call ended.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Ethan was staring at me.
“Who was it?”
“A woman.”
His expression changed.
“What did she say?”
“She said you found me.”
Ethan went still.
“What else?”
“She told me to ask why you never came back.”
Maya looked at him.
“You know who it was.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
But he was lying.
I knew my brother.
Maybe not as well as I once had.
But I knew when he lied.
“Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“Who was that?”
His silence was answer enough.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can’t?”
“Not here.”
My patience broke.
I grabbed his shirt.
The car swerved slightly.
“Mr. Cole!” the driver shouted.
Ethan didn’t fight me.
He simply looked into my eyes.
“I came back for you.”
The words made me stop.
“What?”
“Victor is not finished.”
I let go.
Ethan adjusted his jacket.
“What does that mean?”
He looked out the window.
“Your downfall was only the beginning.”
Maya moved closer to me.
My phone vibrated again.
A message.
This time, it wasn’t from an unknown number.
It was from Daniel.
My assistant.
ADRIAN, DON’T TRUST ETHAN. HE ISN’T HERE TO SAVE YOU.
I stared at the message.
Then slowly looked up at my brother.
He was watching me.
“What?” Ethan asked.
I showed him the screen.
His expression became unreadable.
Maya took the phone from my hand.
She read the message.
Then looked at Ethan.
The driver suddenly slammed on the brakes.
The car stopped.
I looked forward.
“What happened?”
The driver said nothing.
“Driver?”
Still nothing.
Ethan’s head turned sharply toward the front.
“Get us moving.”
The driver slowly looked over his shoulder.
And smiled.
A smile I had never seen before.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Cole.”
My blood turned cold.
Then the doors locked.
Ethan moved first.
“Adrian, get down!”
The car windows exploded.
And suddenly, everything went dark.
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