Chapter 11 - The City Learns His NameBy morning, Ravenshore was awake with rumors.
Videos of Adrian’s collapse spread across the internet. Customers who had filmed Mia helping him now posted captions calling her brave, though some of them had shouted at her to stay inside.
News vans parked outside Bellamy Café.
Reporters asked who Adrian Vale really was.
For the first time in years, Caleb let some of the truth come out.
Not everything. Not the names of protected witnesses. Not the details that could put innocent people in danger.
But enough.
Enough for people to learn that Adrian’s companies had funded shelters under fake names.
Enough for them to discover that several “dangerous men” he had supposedly ruined were involved in crimes far worse than unpaid debts.
Enough for old stories to be questioned.
Mia watched the news from her apartment, wrapped in a blanket, exhausted.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She hesitated before answering.
“Mia Carter?” a woman asked.
“Yes?”
“This is Detective Hall. We need your statement. Also… Mr. Vale asked whether you would be willing to visit Bellamy Café today.”
Mia almost laughed. “That place fired me.”
“Actually,” the detective said, “that place may not belong to Marcus Reed anymore.”
An hour later, Mia stood across the street from the café.
The sign still read Bellamy Café, but the windows were covered. Police tape marked the side entrance.
Adrian was there, leaning against a black car, wearing a dark coat instead of the biker jacket.
He looked pale but alive.
“You should be resting,” Mia said.
“So should you.”
“I lost my job.”
May you like
Adrian glanced at the café.
“No,” he said. “You lost a bad manager.”
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