Chapter 3 - DANIEL
I couldn't move.
Daniel stood approximately twenty feet away.
Three years of grief disappeared in one second.
I remembered everything.
His laugh.
His voice.
The scar above his eyebrow from a motorcycle accident when we were teenagers.
The way he used to call me “little brother” even though there were only fourteen months between us.
But the man standing in my hallway wasn't the brother I remembered.
He looked exhausted.
Hard.
Dangerous.
The police surrounded him.
Daniel raised both hands.
“I didn't come here to hurt anyone.”
An officer shouted:
“Get on your knees.”
Daniel slowly lowered himself.
I stared.
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because Dad wanted you alive.”
My heart pounded.
“What does that mean?”
“You need to ask Thomas.”
I looked at Thomas.
He had gone pale.
Daniel noticed.
“Still keeping secrets?”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Daniel, you need to come with us.”
Daniel laughed.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Northbridge isn't trying to steal Olivia's money.”
I felt confused.
“Then what do they want?”
“Control.”
“Of what?”
“The family company.”
Thomas shook his head.
“That's not all.”
Daniel looked at him.
“No.”
Then he looked back at me.
“They want the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The evidence Dad collected before he died.”
I remembered the hidden files.
“The file inside the trust?”
Daniel nodded.
“That's one of them.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“Where are the others?”
Daniel smiled.
“Your father didn't trust me enough to tell me.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Victor wants me dead.”
“Who is Victor?”
Daniel looked toward the cameras.
“Northbridge's real owner.”
Thomas's expression hardened.
“Victor Shaw.”
Daniel nodded.
“He was Dad's business partner.”
I stared.
“My father never mentioned him.”
“Because Victor wasn't supposed to exist.”
“What?”
“He operated through shell companies.”
Daniel explained that Northbridge wasn't a normal corporation.
It was a network.
Lawyers.
Accountants.
Bankers.
Politicians.
Corporate executives.
They targeted wealthy families whose assets were difficult to transfer.
They would create debt.
Engineer disputes.
Manufacture evidence.
Then they would offer a solution.
A loan.
A settlement.
A restructuring agreement.
And slowly, ownership changed hands.
My father discovered the scheme.
He began fighting it.
Then he realized someone close to him was helping Northbridge.
“Who?”
Daniel looked at Lauren's empty chair.
“Your wife wasn't the first.”
I stared.
“Who was?”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
Thomas said nothing.
Daniel laughed.
“Ask your father's lawyer.”
I turned toward Thomas.
“Is he telling the truth?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who betrayed Dad?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Your father never knew for certain.”
Daniel interrupted.
“I know.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Who?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Your father's chief financial officer.”
“Martin Cole.”
“Yes.”
“But Martin disappeared.”
“He was paid to disappear.”
I remembered the name from my father's files.
“What happened to him?”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“He's still alive.”
“Where?”
“California.”
Thomas immediately picked up his phone.
Daniel smiled.
“You won't find him.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows you're looking.”
Then a sound came from upstairs.
Olivia.
Her cry.
I immediately turned.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“You need to get her out.”
“What?”
“Now.”
The police officer asked:
“Why?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because someone else is already inside.”
The officer froze.
I ran toward the stairs.
“Ryan!”
Thomas shouted.
I ignored him.
I reached the nursery.
Sofia was standing beside Olivia's crib.
She looked terrified.
“What's wrong?”
She pointed toward the window.
“It was open.”
I looked.
The window was slightly raised.
Curtains moved in the wind.
I checked Olivia.
She was safe.
But there was something on the floor.
A tiny black device.
I picked it up.
A tracking beacon.
My blood ran cold.
Someone had been tracking my daughter.
I called the police.
Thomas came upstairs.
He saw the device.
“Don't touch it.”
Too late.
He looked at me.
“Ryan, we need to move Olivia.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere they can't find.”
Sofia stepped forward.
“I know a place.”
We looked at her.
“My uncle owns a farm outside Austin.”
Thomas frowned.
“Does anyone know about it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I picked up Olivia.
She wrapped her tiny fingers around mine.
I looked down at her.
Then I looked toward the hallway.
Daniel was standing there.
He met my eyes.
“I told you.”
“What?”
“They're not coming for the money.”
“Then what?”
Daniel's face became serious.
“They're coming for her.”
May you like
He pointed at Olivia.
“Because she is the only person who can expose everything.”
