Chapter Four
1284 Words
The Familiar Stranger
Damian’s POV
Damian was reviewing a contract when a knock sounded on his office door.
“Come in.”
His secretary stepped inside. “Sir, Elsie Walker received the shareholder breakdown file this afternoon.”
Damian looked up from the document in front of him. After a brief pause, he set it down.
“Good.”
His secretary hesitated. “Should I expect her to request a meeting?”
A faint smile touched the corner of his mouth.
“She won’t request one.”
The secretary frowned. “No?”
Damian leaned back in his chair. “She’ll come here herself.”
His secretary looked confused, but Damian offered no explanation. He already knew how Elsie thought. She was stubborn—too stubborn to let something like this go. By now she would have seen the shareholder breakdown and realized his claim to Walker Group was completely legal. And if she had found the photograph, she would have even more questions.
“You may go,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
After she left, silence settled over the office. Damian turned his attention to the city beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. A storm was gathering in the distance, dark clouds slowly covering the sky. He had a feeling another storm was already on its was.
Elsie’s POV
Elsie sat alone in her father’s office, surrounded by documents. The shareholder reports, acquisition agreements, and transfer records were spread across the desk, but her attention kept returning to the photograph.
No matter how many times she looked at it, it refused to make sense.
Her father stood beside Damian , smiling. Not the polite smile people wore during business meetings, but a genuine one. The kind he reserved for people he trusted.
“How?” she whispered.
She picked up the photograph again and studied it. How had they known each other? Why had her father never mentioned him? And if they were acquainted, why had Damian taken over the company after his death?
Nothing made sense.
With a frustrated sigh, she dropped the photograph back onto the desk and rubbed her temples. The more answers she found, the more questions appeared. Finally, she reached for her phone and called the only person she trusted enough to discuss it with.
Sophia answered on the second ring.
“Elsie?”
“Sophia, I need your help.”
The concern in her assistant’s voice was immediate. “What happened?”
“I found the shareholder records.”
“And?”
Elsie looked down at the documents. “He owns fifty-five percent. He bought shares from the other shareholders.”
There was a brief silence.
“So it’s true.”
“Apparently. I thought there would be a loophole or some mistake, but there wasn’t.”
“And that’s not all, is it?”
Elsie glanced at the photograph again.
“No. I found a picture of my father and Damian.”
The silence that followed was much longer.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there’s an actual photograph of them together.”
“At a business event?”
“I don’t know. There are no other people in the picture.”
“That’s strange.”
“Exactly.”
Elsie stood and began pacing the room. “My father never mentioned him. Not once. Yet somehow there’s a photograph of them looking like they’ve known each other for years.”
“Maybe you’re missing part of the story,” Sophia said quietly.
The words lingered in Elsie’s mind.
Maybe she was.
Maybe there was something her father had never told her.
Something only Damian knew.
Sophia must have reached the same conclusion because her next question came almost immediately.
“You’re thinking about talking to him, aren’t you?”
Elsie stopped pacing.
For a moment, she said nothing. Her eyes remained fixed on the photograph lying on the desk. The faded image seemed to mock her, daring her to make sense of it.
“Maybe.”
“Elsie.”
“Fine. Yes.”
Sophia groaned. “Please don’t storm into his office looking for a fight.”
“I’m not looking for a fight.”
“That’s exactly what someone looking for a fight would say.”
Despite everything, a small smile tugged at Elsie’s lips. It disappeared just as quickly.
This wasn’t something she could laugh about.
Her father had spent years preparing her to take over Walker Group one day. He had shared business lessons with her, brought her to meetings, and slowly introduced her to the company despite her initial lack of interest. Yet somehow he had never mentioned Damian .
Not once.
The more she thought about it, the less sense it made.
“If they knew each other,” she said slowly, “then why keep it a secret?”
“I don’t know.”
“And why would my father trust someone who ended up taking control of his company?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Elsie let out a frustrated sigh.
Questions circled endlessly inside her head. Every possibility created three more questions. She was tired of guessing. Tired of staring at documents. Tired of trying to piece together a puzzle when half the pieces were missing.
There was only one person who could explain what was going on.
Damian.
The realization settled over her like a heavy weight.
Sophia seemed to sense the change in her silence.
“You’re going, aren’t you?”
Elsie looked around the office one last time. Her father’s desk. His bookshelves. The chair that would never be occupied by him again.
“Yes.”
“Then at least promise me you’ll stay calm.”
A short laugh escaped her.
“I’ll try.”
“That doesn’t sound very convincing.”
“It’s the best you’re getting.”
Sophia sighed. “Good luck.”
The call ended.
Elsie slipped her phone into her handbag and stared at the photograph one final time. For a brief moment, she considered leaving everything until tomorrow. She was exhausted. Emotionally drained. Confused.
But if she went home now, she knew she wouldn’t sleep.
She would spend the entire night wondering why her father had hidden this from her.
Gathering the documents, she carefully placed them back into the folder. The photograph went in last. She closed the file and held it tightly against her chest before switching off the office lights.
The room instantly felt different.
Colder.
Emptier.
As though the little pieces of her father that remained there had disappeared with the light.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned away and walked out.
The building was nearly empty by the time she reached the lobby. A few employees remained, finishing their work before heading home. Some greeted her as she passed, but she barely noticed.
Her mind was elsewhere.
Outside, the evening sky had darkened considerably. Thick clouds hung overhead, threatening rain. A cool breeze swept through the parking lot, lifting strands of her hair as she made her way to her car.
She unlocked it and slid into the driver’s seat.
For several seconds, she simply sat there.
The folder rested on the passenger seat beside her.
The photograph.
The shareholder records.
The questions.
All of it seemed heavier than paper should be.
She started the engine.
The soft hum filled the silence.
Her hands tightened around the steering wheel as determination slowly replaced confusion.
One way or another, she was going to get answers.
The car pulled out of the parking lot and merged onto the road.
For the first time since finding the photograph, she had a plan.
She knew exactly what she needed to do next.
- Writer
