Chapter 11 - The Man Sitting Three Tables AwayI couldn't sleep.
The restaurant scene replayed in my mind.
The man in the charcoal coat.
The one who had watched Lauren.
The one I had barely noticed.
He had been there.
Watching.
Waiting.
Following.
I pulled up the restaurant security footage.
There he was.
Three tables away.
Not eating.
Not drinking.
Watching Lauren.
Then me.
Then Ethan.
I froze the frame.
Ethan leaned closer.
“That's the man from Elias's photograph.”
Daniel.
We searched the footage from earlier that week.
He appeared twice.
Then six times.
Always watching.
Never approaching.
He knew our routine.
He knew when I arrived.
When I left.
Which table I preferred.
One night, he finally entered the restaurant alone.
He sat in the back.
I walked toward him.
He stood.
“Don't.”
I stopped.
“Daniel?”
He smiled.
“You took longer than I expected.”
“You've been following me.”
“I've been protecting you.”
“From what?”
“Your father.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because your father isn't the victim you think he is.”
I felt anger rise.
“You said he was a witness.”
“He was.”
“What else?”
“He built the system.”
Silence.
“What?”
Daniel leaned closer.
“Your father created the offshore structure.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Then why did he expose it?”
“Because he realized someone else was using it.”
“Who?”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“Martin.”
That wasn't the answer I expected.
“And the Bennett family?”
“Richard knew.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Lauren?”
Daniel looked at me.
“She knew more than she admits.”
I remembered the videos.
Her fear.
Her lies.
Her secret notebook.
“What did she do?”
“She gave me up.”
Lauren.
Seventeen years ago.
She had told her father where Daniel was.
That explained everything.
But Daniel continued.
“She thought she was saving her sister.”
“She has a sister?”
“No.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“That's the lie.”
Daniel pulled out an old photograph.
Lauren as a teenager.
Beside her was a younger girl.
Not her sister.
Me.
My breath caught.
It was me.
I remembered the photograph.
A school fair.
Lauren standing beside a little girl.
I had thought it was her cousin.
Daniel said,
“That girl was your best friend.”
I stared.
A name surfaced.
Anna.
Anna Miller.
She had disappeared after graduation.
I hadn't seen her since.
“What happened to Anna?”
Daniel looked away.
“She found the ledger.”
My heart sank.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead he placed a folded note on the table.
“Your mother wanted you to find this.”
I opened it.
The handwriting was hers.
The person you trust most will have to choose.
I looked at Ethan.
He read the sentence.
Then Daniel said,
“Your husband has one choice left.”
Ethan stiffened.
“What choice?”
Daniel smiled.
“Protect Maya.”
A pause.
“Or protect his father.”
Then he walked away.
I followed him outside.
“Daniel!”
He stopped.
I called after him.
“Where is my father?”
He turned.
“Closer than you think.”
Then he pointed across the street.
A black car sat beneath a streetlamp.
The rear window lowered.
A man's face appeared.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakably familiar.
My knees nearly gave out.
My father was sitting inside the car.
Alive.
May you like
Watching me.
Then the car drove away.
