Chapter 2: Daniel Revealed Why He Had Invited His Boss Into Our Home
Chapter 2: Daniel Revealed Why He Had Invited His Boss Into Our Home
The doorbell rang again.
Mark didn’t move.
For the first time since he had walked into our house, he looked genuinely nervous.
Daniel stood beside the front door, one hand resting on the handle.
“You wanted to know who I called,” he said.
Mark swallowed.
“I asked you a question.”
Daniel smiled.
“You’ll get your answer.”
He opened the door.
Two people stood on the porch.
A woman in her forties wearing a dark blazer.
Beside her was a man carrying a slim black briefcase.
I didn’t recognize either of them.
Mark did.
The color drained from his face.
“No.”
The woman looked directly at him.
“Good evening, Mark.”
He stepped backward.
“What are you doing here?”
She held up an identification badge.
“I’m with the company’s compliance department.”
Mark stared at the badge.
Then at Daniel.
“You set me up.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He stepped aside.
“I gave you an opportunity.”
The woman entered the house.
The man with the briefcase followed.
She looked at me.
“Mrs. Carter, I’m sorry you were brought into this.”
“I don’t understand.”
She glanced at Daniel.
“He hasn’t told you?”
“No.”
Daniel sighed.
“I wanted to.”
“Then tell her now.”
Mark suddenly interrupted.
“This is ridiculous.”
The woman turned toward him.
“You might want to sit down.”
“I don’t take orders from compliance.”
“You might after you see what’s in this briefcase.”
Mark’s jaw tightened.
Daniel pointed toward the dining table.
“Sit.”
Mark remained standing.
Daniel looked at him.
“Thirty seconds are over.”
Mark slowly sat down.
I looked at my husband.
“What is happening?”
Daniel came toward me.
“I owe you an explanation.”
“You definitely do.”
He nodded.
“The dinner wasn’t about the promotion.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Mark has been promising me that project for six months.”
“Yes.”
“He never intended to give it to me.”
Mark laughed.
“That’s absurd.”
The compliance officer placed a folder on the table.
“Then perhaps you can explain these.”
Mark looked down.
His expression changed.
Inside the folder were copies of emails.
Bank records.
Project documents.
And photographs.
I recognized one of the photographs immediately.
It showed Mark entering our office building late at night.
Another showed him meeting a contractor in a parking garage.
The third showed him handing an envelope to someone.
“What’s this?” I asked.
Daniel answered.
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Mark has been leaking confidential project information to a competing company.”
Mark shook his head.
“That’s a lie.”
The man with the briefcase opened it.
“We have server logs.”
Mark looked at him.
“You don’t have anything.”
“We have your credentials.”
Mark’s confidence disappeared.
I looked at Daniel.
“How long have you known?”
“Four months.”
“Four months?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I didn’t want to involve you.”
“Then why bring him here?”
“Because I needed him to incriminate himself.”
Mark suddenly stood.
“You recorded me?”
Daniel looked toward the small black device on the bookshelf.
“Yes.”
Mark’s face hardened.
“You can’t use that.”
The compliance officer calmly replied:
“We’ll determine what can be used.”
Mark looked at me.
“This is your husband.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He’s been investigating people behind my back.”
Daniel said nothing.
Mark continued.
“He doesn’t trust anyone.”
I looked at my husband.
“Is that true?”
Daniel nodded.
“I didn’t trust Mark.”
“Do you trust me?”
His expression softened.
“Completely.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I needed you to behave naturally tonight.”
I remembered my own mistake.
The moment Mark had touched my waist.
The horrible few seconds when I hadn’t immediately stepped away.
I looked down.
Daniel noticed.
“This isn’t about that.”
“It feels like it is.”
“No.”
He came closer.
“Mark was counting on you feeling embarrassed. He thought you would stay quiet because you were afraid I’d blame you.”
I looked at Mark.
His face was unreadable.
Daniel continued.
“That was his biggest mistake.”
Mark laughed.
“You think this is over?”
The compliance officer looked at him.
“You should stop talking.”
Mark ignored her.
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“What am I missing?”
Mark smiled.
“You think I’m the person running this?”
The room went silent.
Daniel’s expression changed.
Mark looked at me.
“Ask your husband why he really wanted that promotion.”
I turned toward Daniel.
“Why?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Mark laughed.
“Because he knew the new project would give him access to the financial division.”
I stared at Daniel.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where the missing money is.”
My stomach tightened.
“Missing money?”
Daniel nodded.
“For almost a year, funds have been disappearing from several projects.”
The compliance officer opened another folder.
“Approximately $2.3 million.”
I stared at the number.
“Two point three million?”
Mark shook his head.
“And Daniel thinks I’m responsible.”
“You are involved,” Daniel said.
“Involved isn’t the same as responsible.”
The man with the briefcase looked up.
“That’s correct.”
Everyone turned toward him.
He removed several pages from the case.
“We traced the transfers.”
“Where did they go?” Daniel asked.
The man placed the documents on the table.
“To an account controlled by a shell company.”
Mark looked at the papers.
Then he smiled.
“I told you.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Mark pointed at one line.
“That’s not my company.”
I looked closer.
The company name meant nothing to me.
But the registered address did.
It was an office building only ten minutes from our house.
Daniel looked at the compliance officer.
“Who owns it?”
She hesitated.
Then answered:
“We don’t know.”
Mark laughed.
“Exactly.”
Daniel stared at the documents.
Then the man with the briefcase spoke again.
“We do know one thing.”
“What?”
“The account was opened using information belonging to someone inside Daniel’s household.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Daniel turned toward me.
I felt a chill.
“What information?”
The man looked at me.
“Your Social Security number.”
I couldn’t speak.
My husband immediately stepped in front of me.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Mark leaned back in his chair.
Then he smiled.
“I told you this wasn’t about me.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Then who?”
Mark didn’t answer.
The compliance officer’s phone suddenly buzzed.
She checked the screen.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She showed Daniel the message.
I couldn’t see the entire screen.
But I saw one sentence.
The wife knows more than she thinks.
Daniel looked at me.
I felt my stomach drop.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Then my own phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
It was a picture of me standing in our kitchen earlier that evening.
Taken from inside the house.
My blood ran cold.
Someone had been watching us.
But the photograph wasn’t the frightening part.
In the background, on the counter, was my purse.
Next to it was a small envelope.
I had never seen that envelope before.
A message appeared underneath the photograph.
Check your purse.
I looked down.
My purse was still sitting on the kitchen counter.
Daniel reached it first.
“Don’t touch it.”
But I already knew.
Someone had put something inside.
Daniel carefully opened the purse.
He reached into the side pocket.
Then pulled out a small USB drive.
Mark stared at it.
His face went completely pale.
Daniel looked at him.
“You recognize this?”
Mark didn’t answer.
The compliance officer did.
“That drive was reported missing from the company three months ago.”
I stared at the USB.
Daniel turned it over.
There was a handwritten label on it.
Three words.
PROJECT EAST COAST.
Daniel looked at me.
Then at Mark.
Then toward the front door.
Because suddenly, the question wasn’t who had put the USB in my purse.
It was how they had gotten inside our house.
And why they wanted Daniel to find it tonight.
