Chapter 18 - Daniel’s BetrayalDaniel stood in the doorway.
His suit was soaked.
His face unreadable.
I stared.
“You?”
He nodded.
“I had hoped you wouldn't find this.”
Richard turned.
“You knew?”
Daniel replied:
“I knew before Harold did.”
Richard smiled.
“Then why have you been protecting her?”
“I wasn't.”
I felt cold.
“What?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I was protecting the document.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“For years?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“Did Harold know?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Eventually.”
Richard laughed.
“So everyone is a liar.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Daniel, put the gun down.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You still think this is about revenge.”
“What is it about?”
“Control.”
He pointed toward the box.
“The person who controls that document controls the property claims.”
Richard moved closer.
“And I control it now.”
“No.”
Daniel smiled.
“You don't.”
He pressed a button.
The vault doors began closing.
Richard lunged.
Daniel fired.
The bullet missed.
Marcus tackled Richard.
The two men crashed into the floor.
Lauren grabbed the box.
Rebecca pulled Emma away.
Nathan shoved me behind him.
The vault sealed.
We were trapped.
Daniel stood outside the closing door.
I shouted:
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because Harold knew you were the only person who could survive without knowing the truth.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
He pulled out another envelope.
“Harold left this for you.”
He slid it through the narrowing gap.
Then the door slammed shut.
I grabbed the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
I opened it.
Pat, if Daniel ever betrays you, trust him.
I stared.
What?
Marcus looked at me.
“What does it say?”
I read the sentence aloud.
Nobody understood.
Then Nathan laughed.
“Harold.”
“What?”
“He planned even this.”
I opened the letter again.
The next line explained why.
Daniel's betrayal is the final test.
I looked toward the sealed door.
Daniel had not betrayed us.
He had deliberately made Richard think he had.
The document in the box wasn't the real document.
It was a copy.
A decoy.
I looked at the steel box.
“Then where is the original?”
Emma pointed toward the wall.
“There's something behind it.”
She touched a hidden latch.
The wall opened.
Inside was another compartment.
Smaller.
Older.
Inside was one envelope.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
A birth certificate.
My name.
Harold's name.
And the name of another person.
The biological father of my daughter.
I stared at the name.
My hands began shaking.
It wasn't Richard.
It wasn't Harold.
It was Arthur Kane.
Emma gasped.
“What?”
I couldn't speak.
Harold had written one final note.
I did not give our daughter away because she was in danger from Richard.
I kept reading.
I gave her away because she was in danger from Arthur.
Then the final line.
Arthur is not the mastermind.
I looked up.
Nathan stared at me.
“Then who is?”
My phone rang.
A familiar female voice spoke from the other side.
“Me.”
I froze.
May you like
It was my mother.
Who had been dead for twelve years.
