Chapter 5 - Emma couldn't breathe.Three years.
Her father had been alive three years ago.
While she had been working double shifts.
While her mother had been telling her Daniel was never coming back.
While Emma had spent birthdays wondering whether her father even remembered them.
He had been alive.
In a hospital.
Vincent stared at the image.
“There's something wrong.”
Emma turned.
“What?”
“The man in the bed isn't Daniel.”
She looked again.
The photograph was grainy.
But there was enough detail.
The face looked like her father.
Same jaw.
Same gray at the temples.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
“That is him.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Look at the wrist.”
Emma zoomed the image.
There was a small tattoo.
Three black dots.
Daniel had never had a tattoo.
Emma whispered,
“Then who is that?”
Vincent's eyes hardened.
“A decoy.”
“For what?”
“To make someone believe Daniel was dead.”
The door suddenly opened.
Isabella's old family lawyer entered.
His name was Harold Price.
He was seventy-three, thin, and always carried a silver cane.
“I was told you discovered the recording.”
Vincent stared at him.
“Who told you?”
Harold didn't answer.
Emma stepped forward.
“Do you know where my father is?”
Harold looked at her for a long moment.
“Yes.”
Emma's heart jumped.
“Where?”
He glanced toward Vincent.
“Before I tell you, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“Daniel Carter was not merely an accountant.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Harold shook his head.
“You still don't.”
He placed a thick envelope on the desk.
“Your father was the architect of Moretti Global's original financial system.”
Vincent frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Harold looked at him.
“Your father built the company.”
Silence.
Emma stared at Vincent.
Harold continued.
“Twenty-two years ago, Vincent's father was nearly bankrupt.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“My father told me we were fine.”
“He lied.”
Harold opened the envelope.
Inside were old contracts.
“Daniel created a hidden investment structure that rescued the company.”
Vincent read the pages.
His face slowly changed.
“But my father owned these assets.”
“Legally.”
“Then what was hidden?”
Harold looked toward Emma.
“The majority shares.”
Emma frowned.
“Whose?”
“Daniel’s.”
Vincent stopped reading.
“That’s impossible.”
Harold shook his head.
“Daniel owned 51 percent of the company.”
Emma stared.
Her father had secretly been the controlling shareholder of Moretti Global.
Harold placed another document on the table.
It was a stock certificate.
Daniel Carter.
51 percent.
Emma looked at Vincent.
“So my father owned your company?”
“Apparently.”
Harold nodded.
“And someone spent twenty-two years trying to erase that fact.”
Emma asked,
“Victoria?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Harold's eyes moved toward Isabella.
She whispered,
“Matthias.”
Vincent's expression went blank.
“Uncle Matthias died twenty years ago.”
Harold shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone stared at him.
“He faked his death.”
The room became silent.
Emma remembered the message.
The real enemy is inside the Moretti family.
Vincent stepped closer.
“Where is he?”
Harold looked frightened.
“Chicago.”
“Where?”
“He controls the network that has been hunting Daniel.”
Emma's stomach dropped.
“Then why hasn't he killed my father?”
Harold's answer came slowly.
“Because Daniel knows where the bodies are buried.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A crash came from downstairs.
Vincent reached for his gun.
Harold moved toward Emma.
“Get down.”
A bullet shattered the window.
Harold fell.
“Harold!”
Emma dropped beside him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Vincent rushed to the window.
“Sniper!”
Security flooded the hallway.
Emma held Harold’s hand.
“Who is Matthias?”
Harold tried to speak.
His eyes widened.
He grabbed Emma’s wrist.
“Your mother…”
Emma leaned closer.
“What about her?”
“Your mother knows him.”
Then Harold went still.
Emma's world collapsed.
“My mother knows Matthias?”
Vincent pulled her away.
“We have to move.”
“No!”
A second bullet hit the desk.
Vincent dragged Emma behind a wall.
Security returned fire toward the window.
Then a phone began ringing.
Not Vincent's.
Emma looked down.
It was Harold's phone.
She picked it up.
An unknown number.
She answered.
A man's voice whispered,
“Emma Carter.”
“Yes?”
“You've spent your whole life looking for your father.”
Her blood froze.
The man continued.
“Now he is looking for you.”
The call ended.
Then a new message appeared on the phone.
A location.
And a photograph.
Daniel was standing outside a church.
Alive.
May you like
Under the photograph were five words.
COME ALONE OR HE DIES.
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