CHAPTER 10: DANIEL’S HIDDEN PAST
Claire stared at her husband.
For a moment, she did not recognize the man standing in front of her.
Not because he looked different.
Because suddenly there was a part of him she had never seen.
A hidden chapter.
A locked room.
And after everything they had discovered about Richard, Claire hated the feeling of another secret.
“Years ago?” she repeated.
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Daniel looked down.
“Because I thought it was over.”
Claire almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because she had heard those words too many times.
It’s over.
It was nothing.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
Words people used when they wanted the past to stay buried.
“But it wasn’t over.”
“No.”
Daniel admitted.
“It wasn’t.”
They sat at the kitchen table.
The same table where they had built their timeline.
Only now, Daniel was becoming part of it.
Claire looked at him.
“Start from the beginning.”
Daniel took a deep breath.
“Before I met you, I worked as a financial analyst.”
Claire knew that.
But she never knew the details.
“I worked with several companies connected to Richard.”
“Connected?”
“Yes.”
Daniel rubbed his hands together.
“At the time, I didn’t know what he was doing.”
“When did you find out?”
“When Michael contacted me.”
Claire remembered the name.
“The first person he destroyed.”
Daniel nodded.
“Michael was looking for someone who could review financial records independently.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because I saw something wrong.”
Claire waited.
“Everyone was afraid of Richard.”
Daniel continued.
“Employees. Partners. Investors.”
He looked at the notebook.
“They all knew something wasn’t right.”
“But nobody said anything.”
Daniel nodded.
“Fear is powerful.”
Daniel explained everything.
At the time, Richard’s companies looked successful.
The numbers looked impressive.
The reports looked clean.
But Daniel noticed patterns.
Money moving too often.
Accounts changing without clear explanations.
Investments disappearing and reappearing under different names.
“Michael thought Richard was hiding something.”
“And he was.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at him.
“Did you find proof?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
That answer surprised her.
“What happened?”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“Richard found out.”
Claire felt a familiar cold feeling.
“What did he do?”
“Nothing.”
Claire frowned.
“Nothing?”
Daniel shook his head.
“That was the scary part.”
“He didn’t threaten you?”
“No.”
“He didn’t attack you?”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“He smiled.”
Claire felt a chill.
The same thing Michael said.
The same thing Laura described.
The calm.
The control.
“What happened after?”
Daniel continued.
“Three days later, I lost my job.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“Officially?”
Daniel gave a bitter smile.
“Poor performance.”
Claire immediately understood.
“Unofficially?”
“I had become inconvenient.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because when I met you, I wanted a normal life.”
The answer was honest.
And that made it harder.
“I didn’t want you involved.”
Claire’s voice became softer.
“But I was already involved.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
A pause.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
Claire did not say it angrily.
She said it because it was true.
After everything with Sophie, honesty mattered more than ever.
Daniel accepted that.
“I was wrong.”
Claire looked at him.
“What happened after you lost your job?”
“I moved on.”
“Did Richard leave you alone?”
Daniel was quiet.
Too quiet.
Claire noticed.
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“He didn’t.”
A week after Daniel lost his job, someone reported him.
Not for financial crimes.
For leaking confidential information.
The accusation almost destroyed his career.
Luckily, an investigation cleared him.
But the damage remained.
“People remembered the accusation.”
Claire understood.
A lie could disappear from the news.
But it stayed in people’s minds.
“That’s why you never talked about him.”
Daniel nodded.
“I thought if I ignored him, he would eventually forget me.”
Claire looked at him.
“But he didn’t.”
“No.”
The next morning, they received another message.
This time, not from an unknown number.
From Eleanor.
We need to talk. Alone.
Claire showed Daniel.
He shook his head.
“No.”
“I know.”
“She’s trying to separate us.”
Claire looked at the phone.
“She knows about you.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Daniel became silent.
Then he said:
“Because Richard probably kept records.”
Claire looked at him.
“Records?”
“Information.”
The same thing Andrew said.
The same thing Emily said.
Richard collected weaknesses.
He stored them.
He waited.
That afternoon, Claire received a call from an unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
But something told her to answer.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice.
Older.
Shaking.
“Is this Claire Bell?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Patricia Wells.”
Claire froze.
Andrew Wells.
The former employee.
“Are you related to Andrew?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
The woman took a breath.
“I know what Richard did.”
Claire sat down.
“What do you mean?”
“I know about the records.”
Claire looked toward Daniel.
“What records?”
Patricia’s voice lowered.
“The ones he has been trying to find.”
“What records?”
A pause.
Then:
“The original files.”
Claire felt her heartbeat increase.
“Where are they?”
“I have them.”
The room went silent.
“Why are you calling me?”
Patricia answered:
“Because Richard is looking for them.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“How do you know?”
“Because he came to my house last night.”
A cold feeling moved through Claire.
“Was he alone?”
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
Patricia hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Eleanor.”
That evening, Claire looked at the family photo on the wall.
Her.
Daniel.
Sophie.
A normal family.
A safe family.
At least, that was what she believed.
Now she understood something.
Richard did not simply attack people.
He prepared.
He collected.
He waited.
And the reason he targeted Sophie was becoming clearer.
The birthday party was not about a bracelet.
It was not even about humiliation.
It was about creating a distraction while searching for something else.
Something hidden.
Something powerful.
The original files.
The evidence that could finally expose Richard Hale.
But there was one problem.
Richard did not know Claire had found them.
Not yet.
And Claire intended to keep it that way.
Because for the first time in years…
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Richard Hale was not controlling the story.
Someone else was.
