Billionaire CEO Froze as Her Paralyzed Daughter Ran to a Single Dad—A Hidden Navy SEAL
Chapter 6
Claire spent the next forty-eight hours reviewing confidential company records.
She found nothing.
No military contracts.
No classified projects.
No connection to Daniel’s unit.
Then an old acquisition file caught her attention.
Twelve years earlier, Bennett International had purchased a small technology company called Orion Systems.
The company had developed advanced communications equipment.
The transaction had been handled by Claire’s father.
She remembered it vaguely.
“Why would my company be connected to the Navy?”
Daniel looked through the documents.
“This equipment.”
He pointed.
“This frequency-hopping technology was used by special operations teams.”
Claire frowned.
“Legally purchased?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Daniel found an invoice.
One vendor name appeared repeatedly.
Black Harbor Logistics.
His face changed.
“I know them.”
“Who are they?”
“An intermediary.”
“For the military?”
“Sometimes.”
Daniel kept reading.
Then he found a shipment date.
His expression hardened.
“That can’t be right.”
“What?”
“This equipment was shipped six months before my unit’s operation.”
“What operation?”
Daniel looked at her.
“The mission that ended my career.”
Claire waited.
Daniel finally told her.
Six years earlier, his unit had been sent to rescue a group of humanitarian workers trapped overseas.
The mission had gone wrong.
Someone had leaked their location.
Two team members were killed.
Daniel survived.
He had never learned who betrayed them.
“Why does that connect to my company?”
“I don’t know.”
He continued searching.
A payment from Bennett International had gone to Black Harbor three weeks before the mission.
Claire’s face went pale.
“My father approved that payment.”
Daniel nodded.
“But that doesn’t prove he knew what the money was used for.”
Claire sat down.
Her father had died four years earlier.
She had spent her life believing he was a difficult but honorable businessman.
Now something didn’t fit.
They contacted an old accountant.
She remembered the transaction.
“Your father told us it was for emergency communications equipment.”
“Who requested it?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Was anyone else involved?”
The accountant hesitated.
“A man named Victor Shaw.”
Claire froze.
“Who?”
“Your father’s chief security adviser.”
Daniel recognized the name.
“Victor Shaw.”
He stood.
“He was military intelligence.”
Claire looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“He recruited me once.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
A distorted voice said:
“Stop looking.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Victor?”
Silence.
Then:
“You still remember.”
The call ended.
Claire stared at him.
“Was that him?”
“I think so.”
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
“Where are you going?”
“To find him.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You don’t understand what you’re getting into.”
Claire stepped closer.
“My daughter is walking because you helped her.”
Daniel softened.
“You’re welcome.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t get to save my daughter and then disappear when the danger comes back.”
Daniel stared at her.
For the first time, he didn’t have an answer.
