Chương 2
More names.
More unanswered questions.
The mystery was not ending.
It was only beginning.
The hospital room door suddenly opened.
A nurse entered and stopped when she saw the tension inside.
She immediately sensed something was wrong.
Victor stepped away from the bed.
Daniel noticed something unusual.
Victor was no longer looking at him like an enemy.
He was looking at him like someone who needed to make a choice.
"You need to decide what you do next," Victor said.
Daniel stared at the phone.
He thought about leaving.
He thought about walking away from everything.
But then he looked at Emily.
Despite everything, she was still the woman he loved.
The woman who had shared his life.
The woman who was now terrified and alone.
Daniel slowly picked up the phone.
"Tell me everything," he said.
Emily began to cry quietly.
Victor nodded.
"Then you are finally ready to hear it."
The room became silent again.
Outside the hospital window, the city lights continued shining as if nothing had changed.
But inside that room, everything had changed forever.
Daniel had entered looking for someone to blame.
Instead, he found a truth that would force him to question every memory he had ever trusted.
And before the night ended, he would discover that the biggest betrayal was not the secret Emily had hidden.
It was the reason she had been forced to hide it.
The reason she had been forced to hide it was buried deeper than Daniel could imagine.
For several seconds, nobody in the hospital room moved.
The only sound was the quiet hum of the medical machines beside Emily's bed.
Daniel held the phone tightly in his hand, staring at the screen as if the words might somehow rearrange themselves into something easier to accept.
They did not.
Every message revealed another piece of a story he had never known existed.
There were conversations between Emily and Victor from months earlier.
There were warnings about people watching their home.
There were photographs of documents Daniel had never seen before.
There were names of strangers connected to a company he had trusted for years.
Daniel slowly lowered the phone.
"Why is my company in these messages?"
Emily looked at him with a painful expression.
She had been waiting for this question.
Victor stepped closer but stopped when he saw Daniel's reaction.
"This is not about your marriage," Victor said.
"It is about something much bigger."
Daniel looked at him coldly.
"Everything happening right now is happening inside my marriage."
Victor accepted the anger without reacting.
"I understand why you think that."
Daniel pointed at the phone.
"You knew about this."
"Yes."
"And you kept it from me."
"Yes."
The honesty surprised Daniel more than a lie would have.
He expected excuses.
He expected denial.
Instead, Victor simply admitted everything.
That made Daniel even more suspicious.
"Who are you really?"
Victor looked toward Emily before answering.
"I used to work with your father."
Daniel froze.
The mention of his father immediately changed the atmosphere.
His father had passed away five years earlier.
After his death, Daniel had taken over the family business and spent years trying to protect the reputation his father built.
"My father never mentioned you."
"Because he could not."
Daniel felt his anger return.
"What does that mean?"
Victor walked toward the window and looked down at the city below.
"Your father discovered something before he died."
Daniel's expression changed.
He had always been told his father died suddenly from a heart condition.
There had never been any questions.
At least, not questions anyone answered.
"What did he discover?"
Victor looked back at him.
"That someone inside your company was stealing information and preparing to destroy everything he built."
Daniel shook his head.
"That is impossible."
Victor watched him carefully.
"You say that because you want it to be impossible."
Daniel looked away.
The words hurt because they sounded true.
For years, he had believed his father's business was protected.
He believed the people around him were loyal.
But now every assumption felt fragile.
Emily slowly spoke.
"Daniel, I tried to tell you."
He looked at her.
"Then why didn't you?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because every time I tried, someone stopped me."
Daniel stepped closer to the bed.
"Who?"
Emily looked toward the door.
The fear returned immediately.
Victor noticed it.
"She is afraid because the person behind this is closer than you think."
Daniel followed Emily's gaze.
The hospital hallway was empty.
But suddenly, the empty hallway felt threatening.
A cold feeling moved through him.
"What happened the night you ended up here?"
Emily took a deep breath.
Her hands tightened around the blanket.
"I found something."
"What?"
"A hidden account connected to the company."
Daniel stared at her.
"What kind of account?"
"An account that was moving money without your approval."
His mind raced.
He remembered several unusual financial reports from the previous month.
He remembered asking his chief financial officer about missing records.
He remembered being told it was a simple accounting mistake.
"Who had access?"
Emily hesitated.
Victor answered.
"Your business partner."
Daniel's face changed instantly.
"No."
The word came out quietly.
Then louder.
"No."
Victor did not look away.
"I know what you are thinking."
"You are accusing someone who has been with my family for twenty years."
"That is exactly why nobody would suspect him."
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
His business partner, Michael, had been his father's closest friend.
He had attended family dinners.
He had watched Daniel grow up.
He had stood beside him at his father's funeral.
The idea that Michael could betray them felt impossible.
But so had everything else tonight.
Emily reached for his hand.
"Daniel, I did not want you to find out this way."
He looked at her.
"How did you end up in the hospital?"
She became silent.
That silence answered before she spoke.
Daniel's voice dropped.
"Emily."
She looked down.
"I was following someone."
"Who?"
May you like
"Michael."
The room became completely still.
