A Man Saved a Female CEO’s Life One Night—Then Walked Into Her Company for an Interview the Very Next Morning
Chapter 10
Daniel didn’t come for Victoria.
He came for Ethan.
Ethan saw him first.
The man stood at the end of the hallway.
Older than the photograph.
But unmistakably similar.
Victoria whispered,
“Daniel?”
He smiled.
“Hello, sister.”
Victoria couldn’t move.
“You’re alive.”
“Obviously.”
“You’ve been stealing from the company.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You attacked me.”
“No.”
“You murdered Thomas.”
“No.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Then why are you here?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because your father asked me to protect you.”
Ethan froze.
“My father?”
Daniel nodded.
“He knew someone would eventually discover Project Phoenix.”
“Who?”
“Your father called him the Architect.”
Victoria frowned.
“Who is that?”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“I never found out.”
He lowered the gun.
“I came back because the Architect is active again.”
Ethan asked,
“Why did Thomas die?”
“Because he knew the Architect’s identity.”
“Who was it?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then looked at Victoria.
“Your father.”
Victoria stared.
“My father?”
“He created Project Phoenix.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He created it legally.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then he discovered what people were doing with it.”
“He tried to stop them.”
Victoria shook her head.
“My father would never steal from his own company.”
“He didn’t.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“But someone used his name.”
Ethan remembered the documents.
“The Halston Legacy Trust.”
Daniel nodded.
“The trust was designed to protect the technology.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Suddenly a shot came from the stairwell.
Daniel pushed Victoria down.
Ethan dove behind a wall.
Security alarms erupted.
Daniel fired toward the attacker.
A brief exchange followed.
Then silence.
The attacker escaped.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Now you understand.”
Ethan stood.
“You knew this would happen.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you warn us?”
“Because I needed the Architect to reveal himself.”
Victoria stood.
“You used us.”
Daniel didn’t deny it.
“I needed bait.”
She slapped him.
Daniel accepted it.
“I deserved that.”
Ethan looked toward the stairwell.
“Who was the shooter?”
Daniel answered,
“Someone inside your company.”
They checked the security logs.
Only three people had entered that stairwell.
One was Daniel.
One was Victoria.
And one was…
Marcus Reed.
Victoria’s security chief.
They stared at the screen.
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
Marcus had protected Victoria for years.
He had saved her from several threats.
But the evidence was undeniable.
Marcus was the only person with access to the security system who could have disabled the cameras.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Now you know why I came back.”
Victoria whispered,
“Marcus.”
Then her phone rang.
Marcus.
She answered.
His voice was calm.
“Don’t trust Daniel.”
Victoria looked at Ethan.
Marcus continued.
“Because he isn’t the man you think he is.”
The line went dead.
Daniel smiled bitterly.
“He’s good.”
Ethan asked,
“What now?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Now we find out which one of us is lying.”
