Chương 6
He placed the note down.
“My wife trusted you.”
Michael’s expression changed.
“I know.”
“She trusted you enough to let you into our home.”
“I know.”
“She trusted you around Sophie.”
Michael looked toward the stairs.
The guilt on his face was real.
Daniel hated that.
Because it made everything more complicated.
“You knew about the note,” Daniel said.
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
“You recognized it.”
“I recognized the capsule.”
Daniel froze.
The room became silent.
Vanessa looked at Michael.
“You knew?”
Michael closed his eyes.
“I saw it once.”
“When?”
“The night before she went to the hospital.”
Daniel’s breathing stopped.
“What were you doing with my wife that night?”
Michael looked at him.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“She called me.”
“Why?”
“To warn me.”
Daniel stared.
“Warn you about what?”
Michael looked at the note.
Then at Daniel.
“She said she knew who was behind it.”
“Who?”
Michael swallowed.
“She never told me.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because the last thing she said to me was that if I told you too soon, Sophie would be in danger.”
Daniel felt a cold wave pass through him.
The room became completely silent.
His daughter.
Again.
Everything always returned to protecting Sophie.
Daniel looked toward the staircase.
Then back at Michael.
“What did she know?”
Michael’s voice became quieter.
“She knew someone inside your family was helping the person who stole the money.”
Daniel stared.
“Inside my family?”
Michael nodded.
“And she believed that person had access to Sophie.”
Daniel felt his anger turn into something colder.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For his daughter.
He looked upstairs.
Then at the two people standing in front of him.
Two people who had hidden pieces of the truth.
Two people who knew more than they admitted.
And suddenly Daniel understood.
His wife had not hidden the secret because she did not trust him.
She had hidden it because she was trying to protect him.
And now he had to find out who she was protecting him from.
Daniel looked at Michael for several seconds without speaking.
The man standing in front of him was someone he had trusted with his business, his home, and his family.
But now every memory carried a different meaning.
Every conversation.
Every promise.
Every moment Michael had offered help after Daniel’s wife died.
Daniel wondered if those moments had been genuine or carefully planned.
“What do you mean someone inside my family?” Daniel asked.
Michael looked uncomfortable.
“I mean someone close enough to know everything.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only answer I have.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
His voice remained calm, but the anger beneath it was clear.
“You do not get to walk into my house, tell me my wife was afraid, and then give me half the truth.”
Michael looked down.
“I know.”
“Then give me the rest.”
Vanessa remained silent near the doorway.
Daniel noticed that both of them looked like people carrying the weight of something they had avoided for too long.
He hated that they had waited until now.
Until after Sophie was hurt.
Until after he found the note by accident.
Until after the truth was forced into the open.
Michael slowly sat down.
“There is something you need to understand.”
Daniel did not sit.
“I am listening.”
“Your wife was not just looking at missing money.”
Daniel waited.
“She was looking at patterns.”
“What patterns?”
“People moving funds between accounts.”
“People creating fake records.”
“People making it appear like you approved things you never approved.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Why?”
Michael looked at him.
“Because whoever did it wanted you blamed.”
“But why would someone want that?”
Michael looked away.
“Because if you lost everything, they would gain everything.”
Daniel thought about the company he built.
The foundation.
The accounts.
The legal documents.
Everything his wife had helped create.
“Who benefits?”
Michael hesitated.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who benefits?”
Michael finally answered.
“Someone who already has access.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone in my company.”
“Yes.”
“Someone in my family.”
Michael did not respond.
That silence was enough.
Daniel turned away.
He felt anger rising again.
Not explosive anger.
Something deeper.
The kind that came from realizing someone had been standing beside him while secretly destroying everything.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Michael looked at him.
“Because your wife asked me not to.”
Daniel turned back.
“My wife asked you to keep secrets from me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed you would confront the person immediately.”
“And?”
Michael’s expression became serious.
“And that person would know she had found out.”
Daniel understood.
His wife had been trying to buy time.
She had been gathering evidence.
She had been protecting him.
Protecting Sophie.
“Why didn’t you continue helping her?”
Michael’s face changed.
Daniel noticed.
There was guilt there.
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“She found something.”
“What?”
Michael looked toward the note.
“Proof.”
Daniel waited.
“Proof that connected someone directly.”
“Who?”
Michael took a breath.
“She never told me.”
Daniel stared.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it is true.”
“Then what happened?”
Michael’s voice became quieter.
“The night she went to the hospital, she called me.”
Daniel remembered that night.
The phone call from the doctor.
The rushed drive.
The fear.
He remembered feeling helpless.
“She sounded scared,” Michael said.
Daniel’s expression changed.
“My wife was never scared.”
“She was that night.”
“What did she say?”
Michael looked at Vanessa.
Then back at Daniel.
“She said she had made a mistake.”
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
“What mistake?”
“She trusted the wrong person.”
The words struck harder than Daniel expected.
His wife had trusted many people.
She believed in giving others chances.
She believed people could change.
Daniel had always admired that about her.
Now he wondered if it had also been what put her in danger.
“Did she say a name?”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
“Did she tell you where the evidence was?”
May you like
“No.”
“Did she tell you about the capsule?”
