Chapter 4 - Claire's SecretClaire's sister finally agreed to meet me.
She chose a crowded coffee shop in downtown Chicago.
“You can't threaten me,” Rebecca said.
“I didn't.”
“You don't have to.”
She folded her arms.
“Your reputation enters rooms before you do.”
I sat across from her.
“Tell me where Claire is.”
“No.”
“She is seven months pregnant.”
“She was.”
My heart stopped.
“What do you mean?”
Rebecca's eyes softened.
“She had the baby.”
I couldn't breathe.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
“My daughter?”
“Healthy.”
I closed my eyes.
For two weeks, I had been imagining Claire alone somewhere, frightened and pregnant.
Meanwhile, our daughter had already been born.
I swallowed hard.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she believed someone would hurt the baby to control you.”
“Who?”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“She never knew.”
“What?”
“She knew money was disappearing from your company. She knew someone was following her. She knew someone had accessed your private accounts.”
“But she didn't know who.”
“No.”
“Then why leave?”
Rebecca looked at me for several seconds.
“Because she found something in your father's old records.”
“What?”
“A letter.”
“To whom?”
“You.”
I frowned.
“What did it say?”
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“Your father knew someone would eventually try to take control of Carter Holdings.”
My blood chilled.
“Who?”
“He called that person the Architect.”
I almost laughed.
“The Architect?”
“That's what he called him.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Rebecca reached into her purse.
She removed a small envelope.
“This was meant for you.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of my father standing beside a young man.
I stared at the face.
My stomach turned.
I knew him.
Not as an enemy.
As family.
The man in the photograph was Michael Reed.
Twenty-five years younger.
Standing beside my father.
The photograph had been taken three years before Michael supposedly joined my organization.
On the back was a handwritten note.
HE KNOWS WHERE EVERYTHING IS BURIED.
I looked up.
Rebecca was watching me.
“You understand now?”
I couldn't speak.
My entire career had been built around trust.
Michael had been beside me during wars, business disputes, threats, and attempted attacks.
He knew my schedules.
My properties.
My passwords.
My security procedures.
He knew Claire.
He knew where we lived.
He knew the nursery.
And he knew exactly when I had been weakest.
I stood.
“Where is Claire?”
Rebecca hesitated.
Then she gave me an address.
“Don't go there angry.”
“I won't.”
“Daniel.”
I stopped.
“She still loves you.”
Those words hurt more than any accusation.
“Then why won't she come home?”
Rebecca looked down.
“Because love isn't the same thing as trust.”
I left the café.
Outside, snow had begun falling.
For the first time in months, I wasn't thinking about revenge.
May you like
I was thinking about a newborn daughter I had never held.
And a wife who had disappeared because she believed the man who claimed to love her might accidentally lead danger straight to her door.
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