Chapter 70 Remember
After he left, Adrian's shoulders sagged slightly.
"That went well," Marcus said dryly.
"Better than expected," Adrian admitted. "At least now they know I'm not going quietly."
"But do you have the votes?" I asked.
"I don't know," Adrian said honestly. "Margaret's with me. My father's with me. That's two. I need seven more."
Vanessa, who'd been silent throughout the meeting, spoke up. "I can help."
We all turned to look at her.
"My father owns Cortez Industries," she said. "And Cortez has business relationships with several board members. If I call him, explain what happened to me, what Stirling-Hale did he has influence. He can make calls."
"That's assuming he believes you," I said gently.
"He will," Vanessa said with quiet certainty. "Because I'm his daughter. And whatever else was manipulated, whatever memories were false that's real."
Adrian nodded. "Make the call. We need every advantage we can get."
Thirty Minutes Later
The board reconvened.
James Cole stood at the head of the table. "We'll now vote on the question before us: Should Adrian Cole be removed as CEO of Cole Enterprises on grounds of mental incompetence? Those in favor, raise your hand."
Four hands went up. Harrington, Chen, and two others I didn't recognize.
"Those opposed?"
Eleven hands. Including three that had been undecided before the recess.
Relief flooded through me so intensely I nearly collapsed.
"The motion fails," James announced. "Adrian Cole retains his position as Chief Executive Officer. This meeting is adjourned."
Adrian remained perfectly composed, shaking hands with board members who approached to congratulate him or offer tentative support.
But I could see the tension in his shoulders, the careful control of someone who'd just survived a battle but knew the war was far from over.
When the room finally cleared, leaving just our core group, Adrian allowed himself to breathe.
"We did it," he said.
"You did it," I corrected. "You stood there and defended yourself against people who wanted you gone. That took courage."
"It took desperation," Adrian said. "But I'll take the win."
Marcus's phone buzzed. He glanced at it, and his expression darkened.
"What?" Adrian asked immediately.
"Security alert," Marcus said. "There's a situation in the lobby. Someone demanding to see Adrian Cole. Someone who's claiming to be—" He stopped, reading more carefully. "claiming to be your wife."
The words hung in the air like a bomb.
"My what?" Adrian said.
"Your wife," Marcus repeated. "She has a marriage certificate. Photos. Legal documentation. And she's causing a scene, threatening to go to the media if she's not allowed up."
Adrian looked at me, then at Vanessa.
"How many secret relationships can one person have?" he asked, his voice strained.
"With memory manipulation?" I said. "Apparently, as many as Stirling-Hale wants you to have."
"We need to contain this," Marcus said. "If she goes to the media, if she starts talking about a secret wife"
"Then everyone will think I'm either lying about the memory manipulation or I'm so severely compromised I can't be trusted with anything," Adrian finished. "Bring her up. Quietly. I need to know who she is and what they want from me now."
As Marcus made the call, as we waited for this mysterious woman to arrive, I found myself thinking that Stirling-Hale was getting creative.
First an engagement I didn't remember.
Now a marriage?
What was next? A secret child who was actually mine? A family I'd forgotten?
How many identities, how many relationships, how many lies could one person be expected to navigate before they broke completely?
And more terrifyingly was this happening to Adrian alone?
Or were there others? Other victims of Project Tabula Rasa walking around with fabricated lives, fake relationships, identities built on nothing but manipulation?
How many people had I destroyed with my research?
How many lives had I ruined with the technology I'd created?
The door opened.
A woman entered late twenties, beautiful in a delicate way, with auburn hair and green eyes that filled with tears the moment she saw Adrian.
"Adrian," she breathed. "Thank God. I thought you were dead. They told me you were dead and I—"
She rushed toward him, but Marcus intercepted her smoothly.
"Ma'am, please maintain distance. We need to verify your identity before—"
"My name is Isabelle Cole," the woman said. "I'm Adrian's wife. We've been married for two years. And I need to know why he's been hiding from me."
Adrian's face had gone completely white.
Because unlike with Vanessa's engagement, unlike with the manufactured relationship something about this woman's voice, her face, the way she looked at him
"Oh God," Adrian whispered. "I remember her."