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.
