Chương 5
"I deserved that."
She sat across from him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
The waiter came by and asked if they wanted drinks.
Daniel ordered coffee.
Mara ordered water.
When the waiter left, Daniel said, "Your father and mine built Vale Holdings together."
"I know."
His expression changed.
"You met with Evelyn."
"Yes."
"That was fast."
"Was I supposed to wait?"
"No."
"Then why say it?"
Daniel rubbed his thumb along the edge of his coffee cup.
A habit she had seen years ago.
Before the money.
Before the company.
Before he became someone who seemed untouchable.
"You think I knew about this."
Mara did not answer.
That was enough.
"I knew there were old records."
"That is not the same thing."
"No."
He looked at her.
"It isn't."
"How long?"
Daniel looked away.
"Years."
The answer hurt more than she expected.
Not because Daniel had information.
Because he had chosen silence.
"My entire life, you knew there were questions about my family."
"I knew there were questions about the company."
"That is not what I asked."
Daniel leaned back.
"You think everything is simple because you weren't inside it."
Mara stared at him.
There it was.
The old Daniel.
The one who believed being close to power gave him a better view than everyone else.
"I was a child when your father handled my parents' affairs."
"I know."
"You know?"
"Yes."
"Then you know I trusted him."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"I know."
"And you know my mother spent years believing she had nothing left."
His silence answered.
Mara looked away.
The restaurant noise filled the space between them.
Forks against plates.
People laughing.
A couple arguing quietly near the bar.
The world kept moving while they sat there with a history neither of them knew how to carry.
"Tell me what happened," Mara said.
Daniel looked at his coffee.
"My father and your father had a disagreement."
"About money?"
"About control."
Mara waited.
Daniel continued.
"Your father wanted the company to stay private."
"And your father?"
"He believed expansion required outside investment."
"So he won."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
The answer surprised her.
"He didn't."
Mara watched him carefully.
"Then what happened?"
Daniel looked toward the window.
"My father changed after that."
"Changed how?"
"He became afraid."
Mara almost dismissed it.
Richard Vale had never seemed afraid in the stories she heard.
He was always described as confident.
Decisive.
Successful.
But Daniel was not talking about a legend.
He was talking about his father.
"What was he afraid of?"
Daniel looked back at her.
"I don't know."
The honesty caught her off guard.
"That's not an answer."
"I know."
"Then why say it?"
"Because it's the truth."
Mara folded her arms.
"You expect me to believe you don't know what happened inside your own family?"
Daniel looked exhausted.
"Yes."
She almost laughed.
"That is convenient."
"I know."
He accepted the accusation too easily.
That bothered her.
"What do you want from me, Daniel?"
He looked down at the table.
"I want you to be careful."
"Of who?"
Another pause.
"Everyone."
Mara shook her head.
"No."
"What?"
"You came here to control the conversation."
"I came here because someone else is already moving."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
The answer made her angry.
"You keep saying that."
"Because I keep knowing less than people think I do."
For the first time, Mara saw something beneath his confidence.
Not guilt exactly.
Something closer to shame.
But she did not know whether to trust it.
The waiter placed their drinks on the table.
Neither of them touched them.
Daniel reached into his coat and placed a small envelope between them.
Mara looked at it.
"What is that?"
"Something my father kept."
"Why give it to me?"
"Because it has your mother's name on it."
Mara did not move.
The envelope looked old.
The edges were worn.
A small tear marked the corner.
She knew immediately that whatever was inside had existed longer than Daniel's apology.
Longer than his warning.
Maybe longer than the story she had been told about her own family.
"Why now?" she asked.
Daniel looked at her.
"Because someone searched my father's old office last night."
Mara felt the room become suddenly smaller.
"How do you know?"
"Because I was there this morning."
She stared at him.
"And?"
Daniel looked down at the envelope.
"And they left this behind."
Mara did not reach for it.
Because if someone had wanted her to find it, that was one possibility.
But if someone had wanted her to open it, that was another.
And she was beginning to understand that in the world Daniel came from, those two things were rarely the same.
Mara did not touch the envelope.
Daniel noticed.
She knew because Daniel noticed everything when he was uncomfortable.
Most people looked away when they were afraid.
Daniel studied the thing that frightened them.
"You don't trust me," he said.
Mara looked at him.
"Should I?"
The question stayed between them.
Daniel did not answer immediately.
That was becoming his most honest habit.
"I don't know," he said.
She almost pushed the envelope back toward him.
The old Mara would have.
The old Mara would have decided that uncertainty was too dangerous and walked away before she could lose anything else.
But the old Mara had also spent years accepting explanations from people who benefited from her not asking more questions.
She picked up the envelope.
Daniel watched her.
Not like he expected gratitude.
Like he expected something else.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Daniel."
He looked down.
"You hold things the same way your mother did."
Mara froze.
The comment was so unexpected that anger arrived before curiosity.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Act like you know her."
"I did know her."
"You knew the version of her that belonged to your family."
Daniel accepted that.
"Maybe."
Mara looked at the envelope again.
"My mother never talked about your father."
Daniel's expression shifted.
"That doesn't surprise me."
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"Why?"
"Because she blamed him."
