Chapter 9
1749 Words
Chapter 9 — What His Father Did
Daniel held the phone tightly against his ear.
“Victor,” he said, his voice cold. “What did my father do?”
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then Victor laughed softly.
“You still think your father was the man who protected you?”
Daniel glanced toward Emma.
She was standing beneath the old acacia tree, her face pale.
“Tell me.”
“Seven years ago, your mother discovered something she was never supposed to see.”
“What?”
“Documents.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“What documents?”
“Financial records. Transfers. Names. Payments.”
His grip tightened.
“And my father?”
“He signed them.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You don't believe me?”
“My father built Hartwell Development from nothing.”
“That's what he wanted everyone to believe.”
Daniel felt anger rising inside him.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Victor's voice suddenly became serious.
“Your mother discovered that someone had been secretly moving company money into accounts controlled by people outside the family.”
Daniel froze.
“How much?”
“Enough to destroy the company.”
“And my father knew?”
“He didn't just know.”
Victor paused.
“He helped make it possible.”
Daniel looked toward Emma.
She lowered her eyes.
“You knew,” he whispered.
Emma nodded.
“Some of it.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your mother begged me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed someone was watching you.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
For seven years, he had blamed Emma.
He had believed she abandoned him.
But now every answer seemed to lead back to the same night.
His mother's death.
Emma's disappearance.
His father's silence.
Victor's threats.
And a secret that someone was still willing to kill to protect.
“Where is my father?” Daniel asked.
Victor laughed again.
“You're finally asking the right question.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Richard Hart isn't where you think he is.”
The call ended.
Daniel immediately called his father.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then a message appeared.
DON'T GO HOME.
Daniel looked at Emma.
“Did you send that?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Another message arrived.
GO TO THE HARTWELL ESTATE. ALONE.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Emma immediately said, “No.”
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly what they want.”
“They already have my father.”
“And they might be waiting for you.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Stay alive.”
He looked at her.
After everything that had happened, those words somehow hurt more than they should have.
“Seven years ago, you told me to stay away from you.”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“And now you're telling me to stay alive.”
“I don't want to lose you again.”
Daniel became silent.
There it was.
The sentence she had been too afraid to say for seven years.
He walked closer.
“Then don't leave me.”
Emma looked at him.
“I don't know how.”
“Neither do I.”
He reached for her hand.
“But we can learn.”
Emma's fingers trembled inside his.
For one brief moment, the darkness surrounding them disappeared.
They were just Emma and Daniel again.
Two people who had once loved each other beneath the same tree.
Two people who had spent seven years pretending they had moved on.
Emma whispered,
“I never stopped loving you.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Those were the words he had wanted to hear for seven years.
But instead of relief, they brought tears.
“Then why did you make me believe you didn't?”
“Because I thought losing you was better than watching you get destroyed.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You should have trusted me enough to fight beside you.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Emma cried silently.
Daniel gently wiped a tear from her cheek.
“And I'm still afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That the truth will take you away from me again.”
Emma shook her head.
“Not this time.”
Before Daniel could respond, headlights appeared beyond the trees.
Emma immediately stepped away.
A vehicle stopped near the park entrance.
A man got out.
Daniel recognized him.
“That's one of our security officers.”
The man walked toward them.
“Mr. Hart.”
Daniel approached.
“What happened?”
The officer looked nervous.
“Your father's security team lost contact with him about twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“The Hartwell estate.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“Take me there.”
The officer hesitated.
“Sir, there's something else.”
“What?”
“We found this inside your father's study.”
He handed Daniel a small black box.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a key.
And beneath the key was a photograph.
Daniel stared at it.
It showed his mother.
Margaret stood beside a younger Richard.
But they weren't alone.
A third person stood behind them.
Daniel's face changed.
He knew that man.
He had seen him countless times growing up.
Someone who had attended family dinners.
Someone who had been present during celebrations.
Someone who had always been treated as family.
Daniel whispered his name.
“That's impossible.”
Emma looked at the photograph.
Then she covered her mouth.
“You know him?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“He was my father's closest adviser.”
Emma's eyes widened.
“Daniel…”
“What?”
“He was there the night your mother gave me the envelope.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“I saw him leaving the estate.”
The pieces suddenly began connecting.
Victor had said someone inside the family helped him.
Margaret had warned Emma about someone close to Daniel.
The photograph showed the same man standing beside Richard.
And now that man had disappeared.
Daniel looked at the key.
“What does this open?”
The security officer shook his head.
“We don't know.”
Emma suddenly noticed something engraved on it.
She took the key from Daniel.
There were two letters.
M.H.
“Margaret Hart,” she whispered.
Daniel looked toward the estate.
“My mother left this for me.”
“Maybe,” Emma said, “she wanted you to find something she couldn't reveal.”
Daniel turned to the security officer.
“Let's go.”
Emma grabbed his arm.
“I'm coming with you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Don't do this.”
“You heard Victor. They want me alone.”
“That's exactly why I'm going with you.”
“Emma—”
“I spent seven years trying to protect you by leaving you.”
She stepped closer.
“I won't make that mistake again.”
Daniel stared at her.
Then he slowly nodded.
“Okay.”
They got into the car.
Neither of them noticed the second vehicle following them from a distance.
---
The Hartwell estate was dark.
Too dark.
Daniel's father's car was parked outside.
The front door stood slightly open.
Daniel stepped out first.
“Stay behind me.”
Emma nodded.
They entered the house.
Everything was silent.
Too silent.
Daniel switched on the lights.
Nothing happened.
“Power's out,” the security officer said.
Daniel took out his phone and used the flashlight.
They walked toward Richard's study.
The door was open.
Inside, papers were scattered across the floor.
A drawer had been forced open.
Daniel looked around.
“Someone searched the room.”
Emma crouched beside a fallen picture frame.
She picked it up.
It was a photograph of Daniel's family.
She turned it over.
There was writing on the back.
HE KNEW.
Daniel took it from her.
“Who?”
Emma pointed toward the study desk.
A small voice recorder was sitting there.
Daniel pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then his mother's voice emerged.
Daniel froze.
“If you're hearing this, Daniel, then I failed to protect you.”
His breathing became shallow.
Emma held his hand.
Margaret continued.
“There is something your father never told you.”
A pause.
Then—
“The person responsible for everything is not Victor.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
The recording continued.
“Victor was only a messenger.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
Then Margaret said the words that changed everything.
“The person who ordered Emma to leave you was someone inside this house.”
The recording suddenly stopped.
Daniel stared at the device.
“No…”
Emma whispered,
“Daniel…”
He pressed the button again.
Nothing.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Someone was walking toward them.
The security officer raised his flashlight.
“Who's there?”
No answer.
Daniel moved toward the staircase.
“Show yourself!”
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man's voice came from the darkness.
“You should have listened to your mother.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
He knew that voice.
The security officer pointed his light upward.
A man slowly stepped into view.
Daniel stared at him.
The man smiled.
“It's been a long time, Daniel.”
Emma's face went white.
She whispered one word:
“Victor.”
But Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He stared at the man.
“You're not Victor.”
The man smiled wider.
“No.”
He slowly walked down the stairs.
“My name is Alexander Hart.”
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
His father's closest adviser.
The man who had been standing beside his parents in the photograph.
The man who had watched Emma leave seven years ago.
Alexander looked at Emma.
“You should never have come back.”
Then he looked at Daniel.
“And your mother should never have trusted you with the truth.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“What did you do to my mother?”
Alexander's smile disappeared.
“I didn't kill her.”
He paused.
“Your father did.”
Daniel stared at him in disbelief.
Then Alexander added quietly:
“But he didn't do it willingly.”
To be continued...
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