PART 5 — THE MAN I WAS TOLD NOT TO TRUST
“Elizabeth, run!”
Daniel's voice echoed through the darkness.
For one terrifying second, I couldn't see anything.
Then emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Dim.
Unsteady.
My father was gone.
The interview room door stood open.
“Dad?”
No answer.
I ran into the hallway.
People were shouting.
An officer was lying beside the reception desk, conscious but bleeding from his forehead.
Another officer was trying to lock the main entrance.
Laura grabbed my arm.
“Stay behind me!”
“Where's my father?”
“I don't know.”
“You said he was here!”
“I know!”
She looked furious.
Then she noticed something on the floor.
A small black envelope.
She picked it up.
My name was written across the front.
ELIZABETH.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
My father's.
I tore it open.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Only one sentence.
THE PERSON WHO SAVED ME TWELVE YEARS AGO IS THE PERSON YOU MARRIED.
I stared at it.
Daniel.
My heart pounded.
That couldn't be right.
My father had just warned me not to trust him.
But now he'd written that Daniel had saved him.
Laura read over my shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Then I heard footsteps.
Fast.
Coming from the stairwell.
Laura drew her weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
The door burst open.
Daniel appeared.
His shirt was torn.
There was blood on his cheek.
“Elizabeth!”
I almost screamed.
“Where's my father?”
“I don't know.”
“You were just with him!”
“No.”
He looked around desperately.
“I heard the explosion from downstairs.”
“What explosion?”
His face changed.
“You didn't hear it?”
A second later, a deafening boom shook the building.
The windows rattled.
The emergency lights went out again.
Daniel grabbed my hand.
“Now!”
I pulled away.
“You told me to run.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they're coming for you.”
“Who?”
He looked at Laura.
“Victor Hale.”
Laura's expression hardened.
“How do you know that name?”
Daniel didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“You've been lying to me.”
“Yes.”
His honesty shocked me.
“How long?”
“Years.”
My chest tightened.
“About what?”
“Almost everything.”
Laura raised her weapon.
“Start talking.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Not here.”
He pulled a small flash drive from his pocket.
“This is why.”
I stared at it.
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
He looked at me.
“The offshore accounts. The shell companies. The payments to Charles. The records of your father's disappearance.”
My hands trembled.
“Where did you get it?”
“I stole it.”
“From Victor?”
He nodded.
“Three months ago.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Then why did you try to make me transfer my shares?”
His face collapsed.
“Because I needed access to the company.”
“You were going to put the debt in my name.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“By destroying me?”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Elizabeth, listen to me.”
“I've listened to you for years.”
“I knew the company was being used to hide money.”
I froze.
“I discovered it after we got married.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I tried.”
He swallowed.
“Victor threatened you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He told me if I exposed him, you would disappear.”
My anger faltered.
Daniel continued.
“Your father had discovered the same operation twelve years ago.”
“Then why did he fake his death?”
“Because Victor wanted him dead.”
“And Charles?”
Daniel looked away.
“Charles helped Victor.”
My heart sank.
“And you?”
“I was seventeen when it started.”
I stared at him.
“You were there that night.”
He nodded.
“At the warehouse.”
My voice became barely audible.
“What happened?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Your father came there to confront Charles.”
“And?”
“Victor had ordered Charles to kill him.”
I stopped breathing.
“But Charles couldn't do it.”
Daniel looked at me.
“So he called me.”
I stared at him.
“You were seventeen.”
“I know.”
“You were just a kid.”
“I know.”
“What did you do?”
“I helped your father escape through the back entrance.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Then who died?”
Daniel's face became grim.
“A man Victor hired.”
My stomach twisted.
“The police thought it was your father because Charles switched the identification.”
I covered my mouth.
“My mother…”
“She believed he was dead.”
“Why didn't my father come back?”
“Because Victor kept looking for him.”
“And you knew where he was?”
“Not exactly.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I knew he was alive.”
I looked at him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew Victor would use you against him.”
I stepped backward.
All these years…
Daniel had been carrying a secret that had begun before our marriage.
But there was still one question.
“Then why did you betray me at dinner?”
He looked devastated.
“I didn't.”
“You threw me out.”
“I needed your shares temporarily.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I needed everyone to believe you were no longer involved.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Victor was watching the company.”
He looked toward the hallway.
“And I needed him to believe you'd been removed.”
I stared at him.
“You planned the entire dinner?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Daniel's face became serious.
“Something changed tonight.”
“What?”
He looked at the flash drive.
“I discovered Victor wasn't planning to take the company.”
He paused.
“He was planning to take you.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why me?”
Daniel looked directly into my eyes.
“Because your father left something behind.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into his pocket and placed a small brass key in my hand.
I stared at it.
There was a number engraved on it.
317.
“What is this?”
“Your father told me never to give it to you unless everything went wrong.”
“Where does it lead?”
Daniel looked toward the dark hallway.
“A safe deposit box.”
“Where?”
He whispered the name of a bank.
My heart stopped.
Because it was the same bank where I had seen Daniel meeting Victor.
Then Laura suddenly shouted:
“Down!”
A gunshot shattered the window behind us.
Daniel threw himself in front of me.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Laura fired toward the darkness.
“Move!”
We ran.
Behind us, footsteps thundered through the corridor.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered without thinking.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Your father is alive because we allowed him to be.”
I froze.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“Ask Daniel what happened to the real owner of the company.”
The call ended.
I turned toward Daniel.
He had gone pale.
“Daniel…”
He didn't answer.
“Who is the real owner?”
His eyes met mine.
And for the first time that night, I saw something in them I had never seen before.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
He whispered:
“Your father never owned that company.”
I frowned.
“Then who did?”
Daniel looked at the brass key in my hand.
“The woman whose name is inside that safe…”
He stopped.
“What woman?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Your mother.”
I couldn't speak.
Because my mother had been dead for eleven years.
And according to Daniel…
she had been the original owner of everything.
