Chương 8
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What does that mean?”
“I think someone else knew about the money.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
I stood.
“Then what do you know?”
My father’s voice dropped.
“The night before the accident, Julian called me.”
I felt cold.
“What did he say?”
“He told me he was going to meet someone.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“He said if he was right, he needed proof first.”
I looked at Julian’s notebook sitting on the table.
The man I loved had spent his final days quietly gathering pieces of a truth I never knew existed.
“Did he meet them?”
My father was silent.
Then he answered.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The morning of the accident.”
My grip tightened on the phone.
“Who did he meet?”
My father whispered the name.
And I knew immediately that the foundation scandal was not the beginning of the story.
It was the aftermath.
“Thomas.”
The name came through the phone quietly.
For a moment, I thought I had heard him wrong.
“Eleanor’s ex-husband?”
“No.”
My father paused.
“Not Thomas.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then who?”
“Daniel.”
The name meant nothing at first.
Then it did.
I stood completely still.
“Daniel who?”
“Daniel Pierce.”
I knew that name.
Not because I knew him personally.
Because he was my manager at the accounting firm.
The same man who had walked to my desk after the article appeared.
The same man who had looked worried when he showed me the headline.
I sat down slowly.
“No.”
My father did not respond.
“No.”
I said it again.
There was no anger in my voice.
Only disbelief.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
“Daniel helped me.”
“I know.”
“He supported the foundation.”
“I know.”
I closed my eyes.
The world had a cruel way of making people impossible to categorize.
Good people could make terrible choices.
People who helped you could still hurt you.
People who hurt you could still love you.
Nothing was simple anymore.
“How did Julian know him?”
My father answered carefully.
“Daniel was the one who introduced Eleanor to Thomas.”
I felt a strange emptiness in my chest.
“Why?”
“They worked together years ago.”
“Where?”
“A financial consulting company.”
I thought about Daniel.
His quiet voice.
His careful questions.
The way he always seemed to understand when I was overwhelmed.
I remembered him telling me I did not have to return to work after the funeral.
I remembered him sitting across from me while I cried in the parking lot because I could not remember my own password.
Had any of it been real?
“Sienna.”
My father’s voice pulled me back.
“I don’t know what Daniel did.”
“But Julian suspected him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian found messages.”
“What kind of messages?”
My father hesitated.
“Between Daniel and Eleanor.”
I stood up.
“Where are they?”
“I don’t have them.”
“Who has them?”
“I don’t know.”
I almost shouted.
But I stopped.
Because I realized something.
My father had spent months living with uncertainty too.
The difference was that he had chosen silence.
I had been forced into it.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Did Julian tell you what the messages said?”
“No.”
“Then why did he suspect Daniel?”
My father was quiet.
Then he said, “Because Julian believed Daniel was helping Eleanor hide money.”
I looked around the kitchen.
The same kitchen where Julian had cooked breakfast every Sunday.
The same place where he had danced with Leo while making pancakes.
The same place where Maya had sat coloring while asking questions about everything.
The room felt different now.
Like the walls had been holding information from me.
“I need those messages.”
“I know.”
“No.”
My voice hardened.
“I need them.”
“I’ll try to find out where they went.”
“Try?”
My father sighed.
“I am not the person who can fix this.”
The honesty caught me off guard.
For the first time, he was not pretending to have control.
Maybe that was the beginning of something.
Or maybe it was just another thing I wanted to believe.
After we hung up, I sat at my table for almost an hour.
I looked at my phone.
Daniel’s name was still saved in my contacts.
I could call him.
I could ask him directly.
But I already knew what he would say.
People rarely confessed when confronted without proof.
Especially people who had something to lose.
Instead, I went to work.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I needed to see him.
Daniel was in his office when I arrived.
He looked up from his computer.
“Sienna.”
His smile appeared automatically.
Then disappeared when he saw my face.
“What happened?”
I closed the door behind me.
“I need to ask you something.”
He nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
I sat down.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then I said, “Did you know Eleanor Vance?”
The change was small.
But I saw it.
His eyes moved away from mine.
Only for a second.
A second was enough.
“I know your sister.”
“How?”
“She came to me for financial advice.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Before or after she married Thomas?”
His face changed.
That was the second confirmation.
“You know about Thomas.”
“I know about a lot of things now.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Sienna.”
“Did you tell anyone about my foundation?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate.
“Did you help Eleanor access information about it?”
“No.”
“Did Julian confront you?”
Daniel looked down.
That silence hurt more than any answer.
“You knew.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I knew Julian was suspicious.”
“Of you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I made mistakes.”
The words surprised me.
I expected denial.
I expected anger.
Not this.
“What mistakes?”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“I gave Eleanor advice.”
“About what?”
“Debt.”
“Her debt?”
“Yes.”
“And the foundation?”
“No.”
I watched him carefully.
“You’re lying.”
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
“I’m not.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He stayed silent.
May you like
I stood.
“I lost my husband and my children.”
