Chapter 4 — My Father Finally Revealed Why Everyone Had Betrayed Me
Chapter 4 — My Father Finally Revealed Why Everyone Had Betrayed Me
I couldn’t move.
My father stood ten feet away.
Alive.
My uncle Richard stood behind him.
And Lauren was staring at the floor as though she already knew what was coming.
I looked at my father.
Then Richard.
Then Ryan.
“Someone better start talking.”
Nobody answered.
I raised my voice.
“Now.”
My father finally stepped forward.
“Daniel, I know what this looks like.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You have no idea what this looks like.”
“I know you think I abandoned you.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I had to.”
“You let me believe Mom was dead.”
His expression changed.
“Your mother isn’t dead.”
I froze.
“What?”
My father looked at Richard.
Richard lowered his eyes.
“Your mother is alive too.”
My entire body went numb.
I looked at Ryan.
“You knew?”
Ryan nodded.
“For six months.”
I turned toward Lauren.
“And you?”
She whispered, “Yes.”
I stepped backward.
All four of them had known.
Every person standing in that hallway had known something about my family that I didn’t.
I felt betrayed all over again.
“Why?”
My father took a breath.
“Because your mother wasn’t supposed to survive.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Richard found out that she had the original financial records.”
Richard immediately said, “That’s not what happened.”
My father turned toward him.
“Then tell him.”
Richard stayed silent.
My father looked back at me.
“Eleven years ago, I discovered someone inside my company had been moving money through shell corporations.”
“Richard.”
“Yes.”
“I confronted him.”
Richard shook his head.
“You never understood what was happening.”
“I understood enough.”
My father continued.
“Richard wasn’t stealing from the company for himself.”
I frowned.
“Then who?”
He looked at me.
“For someone else.”
The hallway suddenly felt colder.
“Who?”
My father hesitated.
“Your mother’s brother.”
I frowned.
“Uncle Michael?”
He nodded.
I barely remembered Michael.
He had disappeared from our family years before.
“What did he want?”
“The company.”
Richard finally spoke.
“He wanted control of Carter Construction.”
My father nodded.
“He believed the company should have been his.”
“So you two were fighting over the business.”
“No.”
My father looked directly at me.
“We were fighting over what the business had become.”
He opened an old folder.
Inside were photographs, bank statements and handwritten notes.
“Carter Construction had been used to move money for other companies.”
“Money laundering?”
“Something more complicated.”
He showed me a list.
Politicians.
Developers.
Bank executives.
People whose names I recognized from television.
“They were using our company to hide illegal transactions.”
I stared at the documents.
“And Richard was helping them?”
Richard shook his head.
“I was trying to expose them.”
My father looked at him.
“You were too late.”
“I tried to warn you.”
“You tried to take control.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Because I knew you were going to disappear.”
My father didn’t answer.
I looked between them.
“So which one of you is lying?”
Neither responded.
Then Lauren spoke.
“Both.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She wiped her eyes.
“I found the original file.”
My father looked surprised.
“Where?”
“In your old office.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
I stared at her.
“You found it before you met me?”
She nodded.
“That was why I was sent to Daniel.”
My father looked at her.
“Who sent you?”
Lauren hesitated.
“Richard.”
My uncle closed his eyes.
I looked at him.
“You recruited my wife.”
“Yes.”
“To spy on me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father had hidden the final documents.”
“What documents?”
“The ownership transfer.”
My father suddenly looked worried.
“Richard…”
He shook his head.
“It’s time.”
Richard turned toward me.
“Your father didn’t disappear because of the money.”
“Then why?”
“Because he knew you were the legal heir.”
I frowned.
“I inherited a construction company.”
“No.”
Richard’s voice was quiet.
“You inherited the holding company behind it.”
My father stepped closer.
“Daniel, the company was worth far more than you were ever told.”
“How much?”
Richard answered.
“Enough that several people were willing to kill for it.”
Silence.
I thought about the mysterious photographs.
The surveillance.
The envelope.
Lauren.
Ryan.
Everything suddenly had a different meaning.
“But why me?”
My father looked at me.
“Because your grandfather placed the controlling shares in your name.”
“When?”
“The day you were born.”
I stared at him.
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because your grandfather knew someone would eventually come after you.”
“Richard?”
“No.”
My father shook his head.
“Someone much closer.”
The room went silent.
Ryan suddenly looked at Lauren.
She immediately understood.
“Daniel…”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She hesitated.
Then she pulled out her phone.
“There is something you need to see.”
She opened a video.
The recording showed me three years ago.
I was sitting at a restaurant.
Across from me was Lauren.
But she wasn’t alone.
Ryan was sitting at the next table.
I watched the footage.
Lauren was saying something.
Then Ryan leaned toward her.
The recording ended.
I looked at my brother.
“What was that?”
Ryan swallowed.
“The night Lauren was officially assigned to you.”
I felt sick.
“You two were already working together.”
“Yes.”
“So the affair started then?”
“No.”
Ryan looked at Lauren.
“It happened later.”
I stared at him.
“How much later?”
“Almost two years.”
That answer hurt.
But somehow, it wasn’t the biggest thing anymore.
I looked at the video again.
“Who recorded this?”
Lauren answered.
“Your father.”
I turned toward him.
“You were watching me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know whether Richard had reached you.”
“Through Lauren?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Lauren.
She started crying.
“I was supposed to find out if you knew about the shares.”
“And when you fell in love with me?”
“I stopped reporting.”
Richard interrupted.
“She didn’t stop.”
Lauren turned toward him.
“I did.”
“You sent me information.”
“Before I knew the truth.”
Richard looked at me.
“She was still working for me.”
I looked at Lauren.
“Is that true?”
She nodded slowly.
“For a while.”
My chest tightened.
“How long?”
“Until the night I found out what Richard planned to do.”
“What did he plan?”
She looked at Ryan.
Ryan answered.
“He wanted Daniel killed.”
The room went silent.
I stared at Richard.
He didn’t deny it.
My father stepped forward.
“That is why I came back.”
I looked at him.
“To protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why warn me not to trust Ryan?”
My father’s expression hardened.
“Because Ryan made a deal with Richard.”
I turned toward my brother.
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Dan…”
“What deal?”
Ryan finally looked at me.
“Richard promised to erase the evidence against me.”
“What evidence?”
Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small USB drive.
“This.”
I took it.
“What is it?”
“Security footage from the night your father disappeared.”
My hands went cold.
“What does it show?”
Ryan looked at my father.
Then at Richard.
“Everything.”
I inserted the drive into the laptop.
A video appeared.
A warehouse.
My father.
Richard.
My mother.
And another man.
I recognized him immediately.
Michael.
My mother’s brother.
The video showed them arguing.
Then Michael pulled a gun.
Lauren covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
My father pushed my mother behind him.
Richard moved toward Michael.
A struggle followed.
The camera shook.
Then I saw myself.
A child.
Standing outside the warehouse door.
Watching.
My breath caught.
I had been there.
The memory I had spent years trying to understand suddenly returned.
The gasoline.
The red emergency light.
My father’s hand on my shoulder.
And one more thing.
A gunshot.
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
“I remember.”
My father closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“You didn’t die that night.”
“No.”
“Mom didn’t die.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
My father looked at me.
“The man who was supposed to kill us.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Richard spoke quietly.
“Michael.”
I looked at him.
“He died that night.”
I stared at the screen.
Then at my father.
“So why did you disappear?”
My father took a breath.
“Because the person who ordered Michael to kill us was still alive.”
“Who?”
Nobody answered.
Then my father’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
He answered.
A man’s voice came through the speaker.
“Did Daniel finally remember?”
My father went completely still.
The voice continued.
“Good.”
Then the caller said six words that made every person in the room freeze.
“Because now he can inherit everything.”
The call ended.
I looked at my father.
“What did he mean?”
My father stared at me.
Then he said the one thing I had never expected.
“The man who ordered your family’s murder…”
He looked toward Richard.
“…is Ryan’s father.”
I turned toward my brother.
Ryan was already crying.
And suddenly, I understood why he had been terrified of that envelope from the very beginning.