Chapter 5: Daniel Finally Revealed Where My Father Had Been Hidden
Chapter 5: Daniel Finally Revealed Where My Father Had Been Hidden
The parking garage went completely dark.
For one terrifying second, nobody moved.
Then I heard the engine behind us.
A car accelerated.
“Get down!” Michael shouted.
I ducked instinctively.
A vehicle shot past our SUV and disappeared into the darkness.
The sound of tires screeching against concrete echoed through the garage.
Then silence.
Michael turned on his phone flashlight.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“What happened?”
“Someone cut the power.”
Thomas was still standing beside my window.
He looked strangely calm.
“Start the car,” he told Michael.
Michael hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because you’re not the only people in this garage.”
That was enough.
Michael started the engine.
Thomas stepped away.
The emergency lights flickered on, bathing the garage in dim red light.
I looked toward the exit.
The black sedan was still there.
But Thomas was no longer beside it.
He had disappeared.
“Where did he go?”
Michael looked through the windshield.
“I don’t know.”
I pulled out my phone.
There was a new message.
Go home.
I stared at it.
Then another appeared.
Daniel is waiting for you.
My heart stopped.
“Michael.”
He looked at me.
I showed him the screen.
He immediately reached for his phone.
“Call Daniel.”
“I don’t have his number?”
I stared at him.
“You’ve been his business partner for eleven years and you don’t have his number?”
“I do.”
“Then call him.”
Michael dialed.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then someone answered.
“Michael?”
It was Daniel.
My breath caught.
Michael put the call on speaker.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Home.”
“Are you alone?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Michael looked at me.
“She’s with me.”
Silence.
Then Daniel said quietly:
“Put her on.”
I took the phone.
“Daniel.”
My voice cracked.
“Where is my father?”
He didn’t answer.
“Daniel, where is my father?”
“I don’t know where he is now.”
“Now?”
That single word told me enough.
“You know where he was.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Yes.”
My eyes closed.
For eleven years, I had trusted this man with everything.
And now every answer seemed to create another question.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you still keeping his secrets?”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“Because the people who wanted him dead didn’t disappear when he did.”
I swallowed.
“Did they kill him?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I found evidence that he was alive four years ago.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Four years ago?”
“Yes.”
“That was the year everyone told me he died.”
“I know.”
“Daniel…”
My voice broke.
“Was his death fake?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Michael looked away.
“So my father is alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what do you mean by a fake death?”
“Someone wanted you to believe he was dead.”
“Why?”
“Because if you knew he was alive, you would have looked for him.”
“And if I looked for him?”
“They would have found you.”
I pressed my palm against my forehead.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t have a complete answer.”
“You’ve had eleven years.”
“I know.”
“Eleven years, Daniel!”
My voice echoed inside the SUV.
“You watched me believe my father was dead.”
“I did.”
“You watched me grieve.”
“I did.”
“And you still came home every night and acted like everything was normal.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“I loved you.”
I froze.
“I loved you,” he repeated. “That was the one thing I was never supposed to do.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Was our marriage real?”
“Yes.”
“From the beginning?”
“No.”
That answer hurt.
I closed my eyes.
“Then when did it become real?”
“I don’t know.”
He paused.
“Maybe the first time you laughed at something stupid I said.”
I almost smiled through the tears.
Daniel continued.
“Maybe the first night you fell asleep on my shoulder.”
His voice shook.
“Maybe when I realized I was no longer watching you because your father asked me to.”
I looked out the window.
“So why the other women?”
“That was part of the protection plan.”
“The fake affairs?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“If people believed our marriage was falling apart, they would stop seeing you as my weakness.”
I didn’t understand.
“Your enemies believed I was protecting you because you were my wife,” Daniel said. “If they thought I was cheating and our marriage was unstable, they might stop monitoring you through me.”
I shook my head.
“But the messages were real.”
“Some were staged.”
“Some?”
Daniel hesitated.
“That woman at one in the morning…”
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“She wasn’t my mistress.”
“I know.”
“She was one of the people helping me.”
I looked at Michael.
“So she knew everything.”
“She knew enough.”
“And Michael?”
Silence.
I immediately looked at him.
“Daniel?”
No answer.
“Is Michael trustworthy?”
Another long pause.
Finally Daniel said:
“Not completely.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“That’s not fair.”
Daniel continued.
“There are things Michael doesn’t know.”
“What things?”
“Things I couldn’t tell him.”
I suddenly remembered the warning on my phone.
Don’t trust Michael.
My stomach tightened.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“I’m coming, Daniel.”
“You can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is already there.”
The call went silent.
I stared at the phone.
“What do you mean someone is already there?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Then I heard something in the background.
A crash.
Daniel whispered:
“They found me.”
The call ended.
I looked at Michael.
“Drive.”
He didn’t move.
“Drive!”
He slammed his foot on the accelerator.
We raced out of the garage.
As we turned onto the main road, I called Daniel again.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then my phone vibrated.
A video had arrived from an unknown number.
I opened it.
The footage showed a dark room.
A man was sitting in a chair.
His face was hidden by shadow.
But I recognized the voice immediately.
My father.
“If you’re watching this,” he said, “then Daniel has finally told you the truth.”
My heart stopped.
He continued.
“I know you believe I’m dead.”
A pause.
“I needed you to believe that.”
I covered my mouth.
“Not because I wanted to abandon you.”
His voice trembled.
“But because someone inside our family betrayed us.”
The video ended.
I stared at the blank screen.
Then another message appeared.
Ask Daniel who betrayed your father.
I looked toward Michael.
He was driving silently.
Too silently.
Then I noticed something.
His right hand was shaking.
And for the first time, I wondered whether the warning had never been about Michael.
Maybe it had been about someone else.
Someone sitting much closer to me.
Someone who had been beside me all along.
I slowly turned toward Michael.
“Where are you taking me?”
He didn’t answer.
“Michael.”
His eyes remained fixed on the road.
Then he said quietly:
“Somewhere Daniel can never find you.”
And I realized we weren’t driving toward my house.
We were heading in the opposite direction.
Towards the airport.
