Chapter 4: The Enemy Inside The Company
The evidence room was cold.
Too cold.
The kind of cold that made every breath feel heavier.
The lights above flickered softly, creating long shadows across the shelves filled with evidence bags, documents, and sealed containers.
Daniel Carter stood frozen.
He had spent the last month searching for the person responsible for destroying his life.
He had imagined many possibilities.
A rival businessman.
A former employee.
A stranger who wanted money.
But not this person.
Never this person.
The figure standing in front of him slowly removed the glasses from their face.
Daniel stared.
His mind refused to accept what his eyes were seeing.
"Laura..."
The name came out as a whisper.
Laura Bennett.
His longtime executive assistant.
The woman who had worked beside him for eight years.
The woman who knew his schedule.
His passwords.
His meetings.
His private conversations.
The woman who had helped him build Carter Technologies from the inside.
She looked at him silently.
No panic.
No surprise.
Only sadness.
"Daniel."
Her voice was calm.
Almost gentle.
And somehow that made it worse.
Because betrayal was always louder when it came from someone you trusted.
"What are you doing here?"
Daniel's voice was shaking.
Laura looked at the phone in the evidence cabinet.
Then back at him.
"You already know."
"No."
Daniel stepped closer.
"I don't."
His eyes hardened.
"I want to hear you say it."
For several seconds, Laura said nothing.
Then she sighed.
"You always were good at pretending you didn't see things."
Daniel felt a sharp pain in his chest.
"Pretending?"
Laura laughed quietly.
A bitter laugh.
"Do you know how many times I watched people praise you?"
"How many times they called you a genius?"
"How many interviews did you give where they said Daniel Carter built an empire?"
Her expression changed.
"But nobody ever asked who stood behind you."
Daniel stared.
"Laura..."
"No."
She shook her head.
"Tonight you listen."
The anger in her voice finally appeared.
"Victor created the technology."
"He built the foundation."
"I managed the company operations."
"And you?"
She pointed at him.
"You became the face."
Daniel stepped back.
"So this is about recognition?"
Laura looked away.
"It started that way."
The silence grew.
"But then it became something else."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
Laura looked at the phone.
"It became about survival."
Eight years earlier.
Before the billions.
Before the fame.
Before Carter Technologies became a symbol of innovation.
Laura Bennett was an ambitious young employee.
She joined the company when there were only twenty people.
She worked late nights.
She solved problems nobody noticed.
She protected the company during its most difficult years.
And she believed one day Daniel would see her value.
But slowly, she watched the company change.
Investors arrived.
Executives arrived.
The small team became thousands of employees.
And the people who had built everything were pushed aside.
Including Victor.
Including her.
"Daniel changed," Laura said.
"He stopped seeing people."
"He only saw numbers."
Daniel shook his head.
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?"
Her eyes became colder.
"When was the last time you knew the names of your employees?"
Daniel opened his mouth.
But no answer came.
Because he knew.
He didn't know.
The company had grown too large.
Too fast.
He had become focused on protecting the machine he created.
And somewhere along the way, he stopped seeing the people inside it.
But that didn't justify what she had done.
"You framed me."
Laura looked down.
"I didn't expect it to go this far."
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
"You didn't expect it?"
"You almost sent me to prison for life."
"I thought the evidence would force a negotiation."
"What negotiation?"
Laura hesitated.
"The board."
Daniel froze.
"The board?"
She nodded.
"Victor wasn't acting alone."
Daniel felt the room shift.
"Who else?"
Laura didn't answer.
"Who else, Laura?"
Before she could speak, a loud alarm suddenly echoed through the building.
The evidence room doors locked automatically.
Daniel looked around.
"What was that?"
Laura's face changed.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
"They know you're here."
"Who?"
She didn't answer.
Because she didn't need to.
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Confident.
Someone was approaching.
Daniel looked toward the door.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
A voice came from outside.
"Daniel."
His blood ran cold.
Because he recognized the voice.
Victor Hayes.
"Open the door."
Daniel looked at Laura.
"You told him I was here?"
She shook her head quickly.
"No."
"Then how?"
Laura stepped closer.
Her voice lowered.
"Because Victor has been watching everyone."
The door lock clicked.
Daniel grabbed a metal shelf beside him.
He wasn't prepared.
He wasn't a fighter.
He was a businessman.
But he had spent weeks being hunted.
And he was tired of running.
The door opened slowly.
Victor Hayes stepped inside.
The man who had been declared dead.
The man who had destroyed his life.
The man who had once been his closest friend.
He looked older.
Different.
There was no warmth left in his eyes.
"Hello, Daniel."
Daniel stared at him.
"You ruined everything."
Victor smiled slightly.
"No."
He walked closer.
"I revealed what was already broken."
Daniel clenched his fists.
"You framed me."
Victor looked almost disappointed.
"I gave you a chance."
"A chance?"
"To step aside."
Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You wanted my company."
Victor's expression hardened.
"Our company."
The same words.
The same argument.
Five years later.
The same wound.
"You never understood, Daniel."
Victor looked around the evidence room.
"You were always better at selling the dream."
He touched one of the evidence shelves.
"But I was the one who created it."
Daniel stepped forward.
"And you killed everyone who stood in your way."
Victor's face changed.
Only for a second.
But Daniel noticed.
Because he knew Victor.
Even after everything.
He still knew him.
"You didn't plan all this alone."
Victor remained silent.
And that silence confirmed it.
Daniel looked toward Laura.
Then back at Victor.
"Who is above you?"
For the first time, Victor looked uncomfortable.
A small crack appeared in his confidence.
"There is no one above me."
Daniel smiled bitterly.
"You're lying."
The room became quiet.
Then Victor received a phone call.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
But everyone watched his face.
After several seconds, Victor lowered the phone.
The color had disappeared.
"What happened?"
Laura asked.
Victor looked at Daniel.
Then whispered:
"Emily is gone."
Daniel's entire body froze.
"What?"
Victor looked toward the exit.
"The person who started this just took your daughter."
The world stopped.
Because suddenly, the trial didn't matter.
The company didn't matter.
The evidence didn't matter.
There was only one thing left.
His little girl.
And someone had taken her.
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End of Chapter 4
(Chương tiếp theo: Chapter 5: The Girl Who Knew Too Much.)
