Chapter 9 - Daniel looked at me.I looked at him.
For the first time since the ballroom, the man who had protected me felt like a stranger.
My father reached for his weapon.
Daniel immediately raised both hands.
“Don't.”
Dad's voice was ice.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who has kept your daughter alive for eight years.”
“Answer the question.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Lena.”
“Don't come near me.”
He stopped.
“I knew your mother.”
Dad stiffened.
“When?”
“Before she disappeared.”
“You worked for me.”
“I worked for her first.”
Silence.
That sentence changed everything.
Dad stared.
“You infiltrated my organization.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I was assigned to protect Lena.”
“By whom?”
He looked at me.
“Your mother.”
My stomach twisted.
“So you knew she was alive.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Eight years.”
I backed away.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
Apparently, everyone in my life had mastered the same skill.
Dad moved toward him.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“You failed.”
“No.”
Daniel reached into his jacket.
Pulled out a small device.
He placed it on the table.
A recording began.
My mother's voice.
“Daniel, if Michael ever discovers the truth, keep Lena away from him.”
Dad stared at the device.
“Why?”
Daniel answered:
“Because your father is not the only one with secrets.”
I looked at Dad.
“What does she mean?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel continued.
“Your father's organization was built on money that originally belonged to Anthony Hart.”
“So what?”
“Michael took control of it after Anthony disappeared.”
Dad's face hardened.
“That isn't true.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You changed the books.”
The room went silent.
“You moved the trust.”
Dad stepped closer.
“Careful.”
“I'm done being careful.”
Daniel's voice rose for the first time.
“You want to know why Lillian ran?”
Dad said nothing.
“Because she discovered that Michael planned to seize the Hart Trust before Lena turned twenty-one.”
I looked at my father.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Daniel placed a document on the table.
“Then explain this.”
A signature.
Michael Carter.
Approval for the transfer of the Hart Trust to a subsidiary company.
Dated eighteen years ago.
Two years after my birth.
I stared at it.
Dad looked at the document.
Then at me.
“I never signed that.”
“Then someone forged your signature.”
“Who?”
Daniel replied:
“Anthony.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Anthony wanted to create a paper trail proving Michael stole the trust.”
“Why?”
“To start a war.”
Suddenly everything clicked.
The ballroom.
The public humiliation.
The leaked photos.
The fake documents.
Someone wasn't simply trying to kill us.
Someone wanted the public to believe that the Carter family was corrupt.
Anthony was dismantling both families without firing a single shot.
Then the lights went out again.
Daniel pulled me down.
Gunfire erupted.
When the lights returned, my father was gone.
So was the trust document.
Ethan rushed into the room.
“Where's Dad?”
Nobody answered.
Then every television in the house turned on.
Anthony Hart appeared.
This time his face was visible.
Older.
Gray at the temples.
Calm eyes.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Lena.”
I stared.
He smiled.
“My daughter.”
For the first time, I saw my own features in someone else's face.
He continued:
“Michael has told you many lies.”
I wanted to scream.
“Don't believe him.”
Anthony leaned closer to the camera.
“The greatest lie is that he saved you.”
The screen changed.
Security footage.
A hospital.
Twenty years ago.
A woman in labor.
My mother.
A man taking a newborn baby.
Michael Carter.
My father.
He lifted the infant.
Me.
The footage showed my mother reaching toward him.
Crying.
Michael walking away.
I covered my mouth.
Anthony's voice continued.
“Your father stole you from your mother.”
The screen changed.
Another recording.
My mother screaming:
“Michael, please!”
Then blackness.
I stared at Daniel.
“He did take me.”
Daniel's eyes filled with something I couldn't identify.
Regret.
Anthony returned.
“And now, Lena, you have a choice.”
Two photographs appeared.
My mother.
Ethan.
Both tied to chairs.
“We can end this tonight.”
My blood ran cold.
Anthony said:
“Come to the old Hart Theater.”
“Come alone.”
“If you bring Michael, they die.”
The screen went black.
Ethan stepped forward.
“We have to go.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Anthony expects exactly that.”
I stared at the dark screen.
Then I noticed a detail.
The theater in the photograph.
It wasn't in Chicago.
It was in Gary, Indiana.
And the photograph had been taken yesterday.
Which meant Anthony wasn't there now.
He had already moved them.
I turned to Daniel.
“Where would he go next?”
Daniel looked at me.
Then his face changed.
“The Carter cemetery.”
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“Why?”
“Because that's where your father buried his biggest secret.”
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