Chapter 6 - I couldn’t breathe.“My father.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
“But he died.”
“No.”
Alexander took the photograph from me.
“When was this taken?”
“Three years ago.”
My stomach turned.
“Three years?”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father has been alive this entire time.”
I felt something inside me collapse.
All those years of grief.
All those nights wondering whether I had been a bad daughter.
All those memories.
A lie.
I grabbed the photograph.
“Where is he?”
Daniel’s expression was grim.
“Nowhere you can reach.”
“Then why show me this?”
“Because he wants you to find him.”
Alexander looked at the photograph again.
“Why?”
Daniel answered.
“Because he believes Mia belongs to him.”
I stared.
“She’s my daughter.”
“She is Lucas’s daughter.”
“And Lucas is dead.”
“Maybe.”
The word froze me.
Alexander looked at him sharply.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel said nothing.
Then his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His face changed.
“Get down.”
A second later, the window exploded.
We dropped.
Glass rained across the room.
Security shouted from outside.
Alexander dragged me behind the sofa.
Mia cried upstairs.
I tried to run.
Alexander stopped me.
“Wait.”
“My daughter!”
“Security is with her.”
Another shot.
Daniel crawled toward the wall.
He pulled out a hidden pistol.
“Someone wants you terrified.”
Alexander’s expression hardened.
“They’re failing.”
When the shooting stopped, the estate became chaos.
No one had entered the property.
But one thing was missing.
A photograph.
The old picture of my father.
Daniel searched the room.
“It’s gone.”
I looked at him.
“Someone came inside?”
He nodded.
“We never know who.”
Alexander turned toward security.
“Lock every door.”
One guard stepped forward.
“Sir, there’s another problem.”
“What?”
The guard handed him a tablet.
“Your company servers were breached.”
Alexander stared.
“What was accessed?”
The guard swallowed.
“Shareholder records.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“The Lucas Sterling records?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at me.
“It has started.”
“What has?”
“The final transfer.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Daniel opened his laptop.
“Lucas left a dormant voting trust.”
I frowned.
“What is that?”
“Thirty-one percent of Sterling Maritime.”
My eyes widened.
“The shares my father transferred.”
Daniel nodded.
“The trust becomes active when Lucas’s biological heir turns five.”
I looked toward the staircase.
Mia had turned four only two months ago.
“She has one year.”
“Yes.”
“And whoever controls her controls the shares.”
Daniel nodded.
“The moment Mia turns five, she becomes the legal beneficiary.”
Alexander’s face went completely still.
“So Marcus wants her.”
“Not just Marcus.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Your father.”
I felt cold.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
A second message followed.
BRING THE BOX.
OR YOUR DAUGHTER LEARNS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HER FATHER.
My hands shook.
Alexander saw the screen.
“What box?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“The one from the cabinet.”
I looked at him.
“What’s inside?”
May you like
Daniel whispered:
“The proof that Lucas Sterling is still alive.”
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