Chapter 4 - The Threat Behind the FortuneDaniel had spent his life believing money could solve almost any problem.
He could hire the best lawyers, secure the best protection, and make a phone call that would bring an entire team of specialists to his door.
But the photograph on Evelyn's desk exposed the one weakness he couldn't eliminate with a bank transfer.
Someone had watched Emily.
Someone knew where she slept.
And someone was willing to threaten their unborn child.
Daniel handed the photograph to his security director, Marcus Reed, who had arrived minutes earlier.
“Find out who took this. Check every camera between the hotel and this building. I want to know how they tracked us.”
Marcus nodded.
“And the man who delivered the envelope?”
“Don't let him leave until we know who he represents.”
The man in the gray suit remained calm.
“You cannot detain me without cause.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then tell me who authorized the threat against my wife.”
“I delivered a message. I didn't write it.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel studied him.
He believed the man was afraid, but not of Daniel.
Marcus took the envelope and examined its edges.
“There's a courier label underneath the flap,” he said. “Someone removed it, but the adhesive may still contain an impression.”
Evelyn immediately locked her files in a cabinet.
“Daniel, you need to understand something. If Margaret knows I've given you these documents, she'll know what else I kept.”
“What else?”
“An audio recording.”
Evelyn opened a second drawer and removed a small digital recorder.
“Your father called me from the hospital the night before he died. He said he had learned that the trust documents had been altered. He wanted me to meet him the following morning.”
She pressed play.
A man's exhausted voice filled the room.
“Evelyn, if you're hearing this, I may not get the chance to explain. Margaret thinks she can control the company by controlling Daniel. Richard thinks he can control both of them. But neither understands what the original agreement says.”
A rustling sound followed.
Then Robert spoke again.
“If Daniel's wife ever comes into possession of Thomas Bennett's ledger, make sure she understands why it matters.”
The recording ended.
Emily stared at the device.
“Why would my father have the ledger?”
Evelyn looked troubled.
“Thomas was the only person who could reconstruct the missing transactions. Robert trusted him to keep a duplicate record.”
“Where is it?” Daniel asked.
“I don't know.”
Emily shook her head.
“My father died six years ago. We went through everything in his apartment. There was no ledger.”
“Did he leave you anything unusual?” Evelyn asked.
Emily thought for a moment.
“An old music box. He gave it to me on my eighteenth birthday. He said it had belonged to my grandmother.”
“Where is it now?”
“At our apartment.”
Daniel immediately called Marcus.
“Send two people to the apartment. Retrieve Emily's music box, but don't touch anything else until the place has been searched.”
Marcus's expression darkened.
“Sir, if someone knows about the ledger, your apartment may already be compromised.”
“Then we secure it.”
As they left the office, Emily caught Daniel's arm.
“Wait.”
He turned.
“If that ledger connects my father to your father's death, I need to know the truth. But I won't let you turn this into a war where everyone becomes expendable.”
“I would never put you at risk.”
“You already are, Daniel. So am I. Pretending otherwise won't protect us.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“You're right.”
It was the first time in years he had admitted that someone else might see a problem more clearly than he did.
They reached the hotel shortly after noon. Marcus called before they could enter the lobby.
“Your apartment was searched.”
Daniel stopped walking.
“What?”
“Nothing was taken from the safe. The office drawers were opened, and someone went through Emily's old belongings. The music box is missing.”
Emily's face drained of color.
“My father gave me that box.”
“Did he ever tell you how to open it?” Daniel asked.
“No. The key was always stuck.”
Marcus continued.
“There's something else. The security cameras show a black sedan entering the building's garage twenty minutes before our team arrived. The plate was stolen.”
“Find it.”
“We're trying.”
Daniel ended the call.
For several seconds, neither he nor Emily spoke.
Then she whispered, “What if the ledger was never in the music box?”
“What do you mean?”
“My father was careful. If he was protecting something important, he wouldn't have left it where anyone could find it.”
She closed her eyes, remembering.
“He always told me that the most valuable things were hidden in ordinary places.”
Daniel took her hand.
“Then we'll start with every ordinary place he ever loved.”
His phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
It contained a single image.
Margaret standing outside a private hospital room fourteen years earlier, holding a paper cup and speaking to a man whose face was hidden.
The caption read:
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHAT HAPPENED AT 11:47 P.M.
Daniel enlarged the photograph.
On the wall behind Margaret hung a clock.
Its hands showed 11:47.
The same time listed on Robert's death certificate.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
SHE WASN'T THE LAST PERSON TO SEE YOUR FATHER ALIVE.
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