The CEO's Secret Obsession-Chapter 112: The Accident(III)

Benjamin arrived first, coat unbuttoned and his expression carved from stone.

Margaret followed close behind, cane tapping sharply against the floor despite Pauline’s hand hovering near her arm.

Olivia came next, composed but pale and Jack trailed a step behind her.

The atmosphere shifted the moment they stopped.

Benjamin’s eyes went straight to Lucas. "What happened?"

Lucas straightened instinctively. "Brake failure. Alexander realized it seconds too late and tried to steer into the divider to reduce the impact."

Brake failure.

Benjamin’s jaw tightened so hard it visibly flexed.

"That’s not possible," he said quietly

"Reid vehicles don’t fail like that," Benjamin continued, his voice calm but edged with something lethal. "They are serviced, inspected and monitored. Redundancies exist for a reason."

Margaret’s cane tapped once against the floor.

"First Heinberg," she said slowly. "Now this."

Her tone was flat but the weight of it pressed down on everyone present.

Pauline stepped forward then, her face pale but steady. "Enough."

Everyone stilled.

She looked at Benjamin, then Margaret, her voice controlled despite the tremor beneath it. "You can analyze the causes later. Right now, I want to know how my son is."

Lucas exhaled slowly. "The doctors say he is out of danger. He took the impact hard but there are no life-threatening injuries." He paused. "He is still unconscious. They are shifting him to a private room now."

Pauline nodded once, gripping her handbag tightly. "That’s all I needed to hear."

Evelyn stood frozen near the wall, hands clenched at her sides and eyes fixed on the trauma room doors.

Margaret noticed.

She reached out and placed her hand gently over Evelyn’s trembling fingers. "He is strong," she said quietly. "And stubborn. That combination doesn’t lose easily."

Evelyn swallowed hard, nodding without trusting her voice.

Gregory moved closer, his presence solid and grounding. "He will be fine," he said firmly. "You don’t build a man like Alexander Reid to break this easily."

A few steps away, Olivia stood perfectly still.

Her grip on her purse tightened almost imperceptibly as her gaze flicked—just once—to Jack.

Jack felt it.

He shifted his weight, staring at the floor, jaw tight, saying nothing.

Benjamin didn’t look at him. His attention was already elsewhere, phone in hand, mind clearly racing ahead.

Then she turned to Benjamin, her voice dropping into something lethal. "You better find out who is behind this quickly or you will see the side of me you have been very lucky to avoid."

Benjamin nodded once. "I already am."

The trauma room doors opened again and a nurse stepped out, signaling that Alexander was being moved.

Pauline straightened. "Let’s go."

They followed and as they moved down the corridor, one truth hung heavy in the air.

.....

[Hospital Corridor — A Few Minutes Later]

The hallway had thinned out.

Most of the family had followed the doctor toward Alexander’s room, voices hushed, footsteps hurried. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, cold and unforgiving.

Jack lingered near the vending machines, staring at nothing, his hands shoved deep into his pockets like he could hide the shaking.

He felt it before he heard it.

"Jack."

He turned.

Olivia stood a few feet away, posture perfectly composed and her face unreadable. But her eyes—those were sharp, calculating and dangerous.

"Come here," she said quietly.

He hesitated and that was mistake number one.

Olivia stepped closer, her heels silent against the floor. She stopped right in front of him, lowered her voice, and asked calmly—

"Are you behind this?"

Jack scoffed, a little too fast. "What? Don’t be ridiculous. You think I would—"

She cut him off with a look. It was not anger or hysteria but recognition.

"I have raised you," she said softly. "I know that face and I know that silence."

Jack’s jaw tightened. "I didn’t mean—"

Her hand shot out, gripping his arm hard enough to hurt.

"Don’t," Olivia hissed. "Don’t you dare say it like that."

She dragged him a few steps farther down the corridor, out of earshot, her voice dropping into something sharp and vicious.

"Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to touch Alexander Reid."

Jack swallowed and his eyes darted away.

And that was answer enough.

Olivia released him abruptly, stepping back as if she had touched something filthy.

"Do you have any idea," she said slowly, every word biting, "what you have just done?"

Jack tried to defend himself. "I didn’t want to kill him. I just—if the accident scared him, delayed things—"

Her laugh was sharp and humorless.

"Scared him?" she snapped. "You sabotaged the brakes of the CEO of Reid Enterprise."

She leaned in, her voice trembling now—not with fear but fury.

"That man is Benjamin’s legacy. The company runs because of him. Pauline worships him and Margaret would burn this entire city to the ground if he died."

Jack opened his mouth but she didn’t let him speak.

"You think this is some schoolyard rivalry?" she went on. "First Heinberg, when all eyes were already on us—when the board was watching every breath we took—and now this?"

Her fingers curled into fists. "Another scandal, another investigation and another reason for people to start connecting dots."

Jack’s voice cracked. "I didn’t think it would go this far."

"That," Olivia snapped, "is because you never think."

Silence fell between them, thick and suffocating.

Then she said, coldly, "You know I helped you with Heinberg."

Jack’s head snapped up. "What?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You heard me."

"You—?" His breath stuttered. "You mean that man? The one they caught?"

"It was my arrangement," she said flatly. "My money, my contingency."

Jack stared at her, stunned. "It was you?"

She exploded then.

"Who else do you think cleans up your messes?" she hissed. "You create chaos and expect the world to bend around you and until now, I let it."

She stepped closer again, pointing a finger at his chest.

"But this?" Her voice dropped. "This crosses a line even I won’t protect you from."

Jack shook his head. "You said you would help me."

"With strategy," she snapped. "Not attempted murder."

He flinched.

"You don’t touch Alexander," Olivia continued, breathing hard. "Not because I care about him but because you cannot afford to."

She straightened, smoothing her hair and regaining her composure with terrifying speed.

"If this comes back to you," she said quietly, "I will not stand in front of you and I will step aside."

Jack’s face drained of color.

"You always know how to ruin things," she added coldly. "But this time, Jack, you may have ruined yourself."

She turned and walked away without looking back.

Jack remained frozen in the corridor, heart pounding and dread settling deep in his gut.

For the first time since this all began, he understood something terrifying—

He wasn’t in control anymore and Olivia might not save him twice.

.....