Chương 4
But she was still his child.
Always had been.
"Find everything," Daniel said.
"I want every document, every payment, every person connected to this."
After ending the call, Daniel sat beside his daughter.
She looked up.
"Is something wrong?"
He forced a gentle smile.
"No."
She studied him carefully.
"You always say no when something is wrong."
Daniel was surprised.
A small laugh escaped him.
"You noticed that?"
She nodded.
"Mom does that too."
Daniel looked at Claire.
For the first time, he saw not just the woman who kept his daughter from him.
He saw someone who had been trapped by the same people who hurt them both.
The anger inside him became more complicated.
Not gone.
But different.
Later that afternoon, Daniel took his daughter outside to the garden.
The luxury home had a large backyard filled with trees and flowers.
She walked slowly beside him, looking at everything.
"Did you plant these?"
Daniel nodded.
"Some of them."
"Why?"
He smiled.
"Because I thought one day you might see them."
The girl stopped walking.
"You thought I would come back?"
Daniel looked at her.
"I never stopped believing."
She looked away, trying to understand something much bigger than her age.
"Why did people tell me you were gone?"
Daniel had no easy answer.
He knelt beside her.
"Sometimes adults make choices because they are afraid."
"Did you make a bad choice?"
The question hurt.
But Daniel answered honestly.
"No."
He paused.
"I made mistakes."
The girl listened.
"But giving up on you was never one of them."
She nodded slowly.
Then she hugged him.
A simple hug.
A second chance.
Inside the house, Claire watched from the window.
She saw something she had feared and hoped for at the same time.
Daniel and his daughter were rebuilding a bond that had been broken before either of them understood why.
But the peace did not last.
That evening, Daniel received another message.
This time, there was a photograph attached.
His blood ran cold.
The picture showed him standing in the garden with his daughter.
Someone had taken it only hours earlier.
The message underneath said:
You found what was hidden.
Now see what happens when the truth comes out.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Someone was watching them.
Someone knew exactly where they were.
He slowly placed the phone on the table.
His daughter was laughing in the next room.
Her voice was the only thing keeping him calm.
Daniel looked toward Claire.
She immediately understood something was wrong.
"Who was it?"
Daniel showed her the message.
Claire's face turned pale.
"No."
Daniel looked at her.
"You know who it is."
Claire stepped back.
"I thought he was gone."
"Who?"
Claire whispered the name she had been afraid to say for ten years.
"Richard."
Which next focus would help most: Richard’s confrontation or the daughter’s new life with Daniel?
Richard.
The name remained in the room like a shadow that had finally stepped into the light.
Daniel stared at Claire, waiting for an explanation.
For ten years, he had imagined the person responsible for losing his daughter.
He imagined a stranger.
A criminal.
Someone he could hate without hesitation.
He never imagined it would be someone who had sat beside him during family dinners and called him a friend.
"Where is he?" Daniel asked.
Claire shook her head slowly.
"I don't know."
Daniel looked at the message again.
The photograph of him and his daughter in the garden was still open on the screen.
Someone had been close enough to capture a private moment.
Someone who knew his home.
Someone who knew his routines.
Someone who knew exactly what would hurt him most.
"He has been watching us," Daniel said quietly.
Claire nodded.
"Richard always watched people."
Daniel looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
Claire sat down, her hands trembling.
"It means he never acted without knowing every detail first."
The memory of Richard returned piece by piece.
The confident smile.
The calm voice.
The way he always seemed to know what people were thinking before they spoke.
Daniel had trusted him because Richard had always appeared loyal.
He had been there when Daniel built his company.
He had been there when Daniel's daughter was born.
He had even stood beside Daniel during the darkest days after she disappeared.
Now every memory felt different.
Daniel walked toward the window.
Outside, his daughter was sitting on the grass, drawing flowers in a small notebook.
She looked peaceful.
She looked safe.
That was all that mattered.
"I need to know why," Daniel said.
Claire looked at him.
"Why what?"
"Why would my father and Richard do this?"
Claire remained silent.
Daniel turned around.
"You know more."
She looked down.
"There is something I never told you."
Daniel waited.
"When your father was alive, he believed your company was becoming too powerful."
Daniel frowned.
"My company?"
Claire nodded.
"He thought you were changing."
"Changing how?"
"He believed you cared more about your family than your business."
Daniel almost laughed.
"My father thought that was a problem?"
Claire looked sad.
"He believed emotions made people weak."
Daniel remembered those words.
His father had said them many times.
A businessman needed logic.
A leader needed control.
Feelings were distractions.
But Daniel had never believed that.
His daughter had taught him that love was not weakness.
It was the reason he kept fighting.
"Richard agreed with him," Claire continued.
"They wanted you to become colder."
Daniel looked at her.
"And taking my daughter was supposed to do that?"
Claire nodded.
"They thought losing her would make you focus only on the company."
The cruelty of the plan was almost impossible to understand.
They had not only stolen a child.
They had tried to break a father.
Daniel walked back toward the table.
"Where was she all these years?"
Claire's eyes filled with sadness.
"I kept her hidden."
"Where?"
"In small towns."
She paused.
"I changed our names."
May you like
Daniel looked at her carefully.
"You raised her alone?"
