Chapter 4: The Man Beside My Father Knew Everything About Me
Chapter 4: The Man Beside My Father Knew Everything About Me
I stared at the photograph until my eyes began to burn.
My father was standing in the middle.
Daniel was on his right.
And the man from the black sedan stood on his left.
My father was smiling.
Not the weak, exhausted smile I remembered from the last years of his life.
This was different.
He looked healthy.
Confident.
Alive.
The date printed beneath the photograph was six years ago.
Six years.
The same year my father was supposedly preparing for the end of his life.
The same year Daniel had supposedly met me under completely different circumstances.
I slowly lifted my eyes toward Michael.
“Who is he?”
Michael didn’t answer.
I pointed at the photograph.
“The man beside my father. Who is he?”
Michael glanced at Vanessa.
That tiny exchange told me everything.
They knew.
“You know him.”
Michael sighed.
“Yes.”
My heart pounded.
“His name.”
“Thomas Gray.”
I repeated the name silently.
It meant nothing to me.
“Who is Thomas Gray?”
“My father’s former security consultant.”
“Former?”
Michael nodded.
“He disappeared shortly after your father did.”
I looked back at the photograph.
“Then why is he following me?”
“We don’t know if he’s following you.”
“He was outside the hotel.”
“He could have been watching us.”
“That isn’t better.”
Michael didn’t argue.
I put the photograph on the table.
“Tell me everything.”
He sat down again.
“Thomas worked for your father for almost eight years. He handled security, transportation, and private investigations.”
“Why would my father need that much security?”
“Because of the money.”
I shook my head.
“Fourteen million dollars again.”
Michael nodded.
“Your father wasn’t the only person connected to it. Several investors were involved. Some of them were legitimate. Some weren’t.”
“And my father?”
“He wanted out.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He realized the people behind the operation were using his companies to hide money.”
I stared at him.
“So my father discovered a criminal operation?”
Michael chose his words carefully.
“That’s one interpretation.”
“Then what’s your interpretation?”
“That he became a liability.”
Silence filled the space between us.
My father’s death suddenly looked different.
I remembered the last time I had seen him.
He had been sitting in his study.
He had looked tired.
He told me not to worry about anything.
He told me Daniel was a good man.
He told me I should trust my husband.
At the time, I thought it was simply a father trying to comfort his daughter.
Now I wondered whether he had been giving me instructions.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because you were safer not knowing.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently being ignorant was his definition of safe.”
Vanessa leaned forward.
“He wasn’t wrong.”
I turned toward her.
“Don’t defend him.”
“I’m not.”
She looked at me seriously.
“I’m telling you what happened.”
Before I could answer, Michael’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression immediately changed.
“Who’s calling?”
He stood and walked several steps away.
I watched him.
He answered quietly.
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then:
“No. She has it.”
Another pause.
His eyes moved toward me.
“She knows about Thomas.”
I felt my stomach drop.
Michael continued.
“I understand.”
He hung up.
I stood.
“Who was that?”
“No one.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
He didn’t respond.
I stepped closer.
“Who was that?”
Michael looked exhausted.
“Someone who wants the drive.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
At least he was honest.
I reached into my purse and pulled out the USB.
“I’m opening it.”
Michael immediately shook his head.
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone is monitoring the drive, they’ll know the moment you access it.”
I stared at him.
“Then where?”
“Somewhere Daniel prepared.”
My chest tightened.
“Daniel prepared?”
Michael nodded.
“He knew this day might come.”
“Then take me there.”
Vanessa stood.
“I’ll go with you.”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if we’re being watched, three people moving together will attract attention.”
I looked at both of them.
“I don’t care anymore.”
Michael stared at me.
“You should.”
I picked up my coat.
“I’m done being afraid of people whose names I don’t even know.”
We left through the hotel’s side entrance.
The street was unusually quiet.
I looked around.
No black sedan.
No mysterious man.
Nothing.
That somehow frightened me more.
Michael led me toward a parking garage two blocks away.
Halfway there, my phone vibrated.
I stopped.
Another unknown number.
You’re making the same mistake your father made.
I showed Michael.
His face hardened.
“What mistake?”
I looked at him.
“You tell me.”
He didn’t answer.
Another message appeared.
Daniel knew the truth.
Then:
He chose you anyway.
I felt something inside me shift.
For eleven years, I had believed my marriage was built on love.
Then I discovered it might have begun as an assignment.
Now someone was telling me Daniel had known everything and still chosen me.
That should have comforted me.
Instead, it made everything more complicated.
We reached the garage.
Michael stopped beside a silver SUV.
“This belongs to Daniel.”
I stared at him.
“Daniel’s car?”
“He keeps it for emergencies.”
He unlocked it.
I got into the passenger seat.
As Michael started the engine, I noticed something taped beneath the dashboard.
A small envelope.
My name was written on it.
Again.
My heart stopped.
I pulled it free.
Michael saw it.
“Don’t.”
I opened it anyway.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Only three sentences.
If you’re reading this, I failed.
I couldn’t keep you out of it anymore.
But I need you to know one thing: I never married you because your father ordered me to.
I stopped breathing.
There was something else written beneath the message.
A final line.
I married you because I fell in love with you before I ever understood why he wanted me near you.
My eyes filled with tears.
For the first time that morning, I couldn’t tell whether I wanted to believe Daniel or hate him.
Then Michael suddenly slammed on the brakes.
I looked up.
A black sedan was blocking the garage exit.
The same one.
The driver’s door opened.
Thomas Gray stepped out.
He wasn’t holding a weapon.
He wasn’t running.
He simply stood there and looked directly at me.
Then he raised one hand.
In it was an old photograph.
He held it against the windshield.
My father.
But this time, there was something different.
Written across the bottom was a date.
And beneath that date were four words:
The day he disappeared.
Thomas walked toward the car.
Michael locked the doors.
I stared at the approaching man.
He stopped beside my window.
Then he leaned down.
His voice was barely audible through the glass.
“Your father didn’t disappear six years ago.”
I lowered the window slightly.
Thomas looked directly into my eyes.
“He disappeared eleven years ago.”
I froze.
Eleven years.
The exact year I married Daniel.
Thomas continued.
“And your husband knows exactly where he went.”
Before I could ask another question, a loud crash echoed through the parking garage.
The lights went out.
Everything became completely dark.
And somewhere behind us, I heard another car starting.
