Chương 5
"We need somewhere private."
They moved quickly.
The hospital stairwell was cold and empty.
The sound of their footsteps followed them down the concrete walls.
Daniel helped Emily sit on the steps while Victor stood near the door, watching the hallway.
Daniel looked at the paper again.
Your father never knew the whole truth.
The sentence kept repeating in his mind.
"My father spent his whole life trying to protect our family."
Victor nodded.
"He did."
"Then what didn't he know?"
Victor took a long breath.
"That Michael was not working alone."
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
"Who else?"
Victor looked at him.
"Someone your father trusted even more."
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Before Victor could answer, Emily suddenly spoke.
"Daniel."
Her voice was shaking.
"I need to tell you something."
He turned toward her.
She looked like she had been carrying the words for years.
"When I found the hidden account, I did not find it by accident."
Daniel waited.
"Someone sent me information."
Victor looked at her sharply.
"You never told me that."
Emily looked guilty.
"I was afraid."
Daniel frowned.
"Who sent it?"
Emily reached into her hospital bag and pulled out a small envelope.
"I never opened it."
Daniel looked confused.
"Why?"
"Because I recognized the handwriting."
She handed it to him.
Daniel stared at the envelope.
The handwriting was familiar.
Too familiar.
He slowly opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
His father was standing beside three people.
One was Michael.
One was Victor.
The third person was a woman Daniel did not recognize.
On the back of the photo was a handwritten message.
The person closest to you is the one you will never suspect.
Daniel looked at Victor.
"Who is she?"
Victor's face became pale.
"Your mother."
Daniel froze.
The world seemed to stop.
"My mother?"
Victor nodded slowly.
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
His mother had died when he was young.
He barely remembered her.
The memories he had were faded images from childhood.
A voice.
A smile.
A perfume he could not fully remember.
"That is impossible."
Victor shook his head.
"No."
Daniel looked at him.
"What are you saying?"
"Your mother was alive when your father died."
Daniel stared at him.
Every piece of reality seemed to break apart.
"No."
Emily reached for him.
"Daniel."
He pulled away slightly.
"No."
He looked at Victor.
"My mother died."
Victor's expression was full of regret.
"That is what you were told."
Daniel's breathing became heavier.
"Who told me?"
Victor did not answer.
But Daniel already knew.
His father.
The man he had trusted above everyone.
The man who had built his entire world.
A thousand questions rushed through his mind.
Why would his father lie?
Why would everyone hide this?
Why was his mother connected to everything happening now?
Victor looked at the photograph.
"Your father wanted to protect you."
"By lying to me?"
"By keeping you away from a war you were too young to understand."
Daniel stood up.
"I am not a child anymore."
Victor nodded.
"That is why the truth is finally reaching you."
Emily looked at Daniel.
"I found another file."
Daniel turned toward her.
"What file?"
She looked toward Victor.
"I never showed him."
Victor's expression changed.
"Emily, where is it?"
She reached into her bag again.
This time, she pulled out a small memory card.
Daniel looked at it.
"What is on that?"
Emily swallowed.
"The final evidence your father left behind."
Victor immediately stepped closer.
"Why do you still have that?"
"Because I was waiting for the right time."
Daniel looked at both of them.
"Everyone keeps deciding when I am ready for the truth."
His voice became stronger.
"But nobody asked if I wanted to know."
The silence that followed was painful.
Because everyone knew he was right.
Daniel had spent his entire life surrounded by people protecting him with secrets.
And those secrets had nearly destroyed everything.
He took the memory card.
"What is on this?"
Emily looked at him.
"Everything."
Daniel held it tightly.
"Then we watch it."
Victor shook his head.
"Not here."
"Why?"
"Because if they can track my phone, they can track anything connected to us."
Daniel looked around the stairwell.
"Then where?"
Victor looked toward the exit.
"There is one place they would never think to look."
Daniel waited.
"Your father's old office."
The words carried a strange weight.
The place where Daniel had grown up.
The place where his father made decisions that shaped their family.
The place connected to every secret they had uncovered.
Daniel looked at Emily.
She nodded slowly.
"We have to go there."
Victor opened the stairwell door.
But before they stepped out, Daniel stopped him.
"One thing."
Victor looked back.
"If my mother is alive, if Michael betrayed my father, if all of this was hidden from me..."
He paused.
"Who is the person my father trusted more than anyone?"
Victor did not answer immediately.
Then he said one name.
A name Daniel never expected to hear.
The name of the person who had raised him.
The person who had always been there.
The person who had comforted him after his father's death.
"The one person who knew every secret in your family."
Daniel felt the blood leave his face.
"Who?"
Victor looked directly into his eyes.
"Your father's closest friend."
Daniel whispered.
"Michael."
Victor shook his head.
"No."
A long silence followed.
Then Victor said the words that changed everything.
"Your father's closest friend was someone else."
Daniel stared at Victor, unable to process the words he had just heard.
"Someone else?"
Victor nodded slowly.
"Someone your father trusted more than Michael."
Daniel felt a strange mixture of anger and confusion.
"Then why have I never heard of this person?"
"Because after your father's death, that person disappeared."
Daniel looked at the memory card in his hand.
"Who was it?"
Victor remained silent for a moment.
Then he answered.
May you like
"Your uncle Richard."
The name hit Daniel harder than anything else that night.
