Chapter 5 - Daniel's Secret
I did not speak to Daniel until we were alone in the underground parking garage.
The concrete walls threw every sound back at us.
“Where did the money go?” I asked.
He rubbed a hand across his face. “Not to me.”
“That was not my question.”
“Elena—”
“Do not say my name like that makes this softer.”
He looked exhausted. “I found the payments six months ago.”
The same six months he had known about the house.
My stomach turned.
“You found both secrets at the same time?”
“Yes.”
“And you told me neither.”
“I was trying to figure out what my father and Grant were doing.”
“By lying to your wife?”
He flinched.
Good.
He deserved to.
Daniel took his phone from his pocket and opened a folder of screenshots. Transfers. Approval chains. Internal emails.
Hart Resolution Partners had received eleven payments totaling $3.8 million.
The authorized signer was Grant.
The secondary approval came from Charles.
But one email changed everything.
It came from Daniel’s account.
APPROVED. PROCEED AS DISCUSSED.
I looked at him.
“That is your email.”
“I didn’t send it.”
“You expect me to believe someone hacked your company account for three years?”
“No. I think someone had access through Dad’s office.”
I stared at him.
He lowered his voice. “I started investigating. Then I discovered the Kingsley deed. Rebecca contacted me after Grandma Margaret’s attorney retired and transferred the file.”
“You had six months to tell me.”
“I was afraid.”
I almost laughed.
“Of your father?”
“No.” He looked directly at me. “Of what you would do once you realized your grandmother had enough leverage to take control of the company.”
That hurt more than I expected.
“You thought I would become dangerous?”
“I thought they would.”
Before I could answer, a car engine roared behind us.
Headlights flooded the garage.
A black SUV shot around the corner too fast.
Daniel grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a concrete pillar.
The SUV missed us by less than three feet.
It did not slow down.
It disappeared up the ramp.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then Daniel looked down.
A white envelope had been left on the hood of our car.
Inside was a photograph of me leaving my office the previous week.
May you like
Across my face, someone had written in red ink:
GIVE THE HOUSE BACK.
