“Can You Be The Father Of My Baby For One Day?” She Asked… And I Said, “Only If You Tell Me Why”
Chapter 9
The lighthouse was empty when they arrived.
Wind shook the windows.
The sea crashed against the rocks below.
Daniel held the brass key.
Olivia stayed beside him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered.
“Neither should you.”
He smiled.
“Fair.”
They entered the lower room.
A metal door stood beneath the staircase.
Daniel inserted the key.
It opened.
Inside was a small chamber.
A chair.
A desk.
A computer.
And someone tied to the wall.
Olivia screamed.
“Noah!”
He lifted his head.
He was thinner.
Bruised.
But alive.
She ran to him.
Daniel cut the restraints.
Noah looked at Olivia.
“I knew you’d come.”
She cried.
“You idiot.”
He smiled weakly.
“I missed you.”
She slapped his shoulder.
Then hugged him.
Daniel stepped back.
He had expected relief.
Instead, he felt something unexpected.
A strange pain.
Not jealousy.
Not exactly.
The realization that Olivia still loved Noah.
And maybe some part of Daniel had started hoping for something else.
Noah looked at him.
“Daniel.”
“You know me.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Sarah.”
Daniel froze.
“She told me about you.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That you were the safest man she knew.”
Daniel looked away.
“Why did you put my name on the trust documents?”
“Because I knew what was coming.”
“You didn’t know me.”
“I knew your wife.”
Noah looked at Olivia.
“Her mother trusted Sarah.”
“Then why did you disappear?”
“Because I found the people behind the network.”
“Who?”
Noah shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel frowned.
“You don’t know?”
“I found their system, not their names.”
“What did you find?”
“A list.”
“Of what?”
“People they’ve paid.”
Noah looked at Daniel.
“Your name was on it.”
Daniel’s heart tightened.
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they wanted to make you the scapegoat.”
Olivia looked between them.
“Who is they?”
Noah pointed toward the computer.
“Open the file.”
Daniel did.
Hundreds of names.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Security officers.
Politicians.
And one name at the top.
Ethan Black.
Olivia stared.
Her former fiancé.
“No.”
Noah nodded.
“He knew.”
“About the network?”
“Yes.”
“But he didn’t build it.”
“Who did?”
Noah hesitated.
“Your father.”
Richard.
Daniel stared.
“But your mother said—”
“She was protecting him.”
Olivia shook her head.
“My father?”
Noah nodded.
“He created the network.”
“He wanted the trust.”
“And he used the company to finance it.”
Olivia’s eyes filled with tears.
Daniel turned toward her.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“My father wanted to control the trust.”
Noah nodded.
“But he didn’t know the whole system was being used by someone else.”
“Who?”
Noah pointed to the final file.
MERCER GROUP.
Daniel recognized the name.
A private security and investment company.
The same name connected to his false identity.
The same group that had been using his records.
Noah continued.
“Your father was a client.”
“Not the leader.”
“Correct.”
“Then who?”
Noah looked at Daniel.
“Your wife’s death wasn’t an accident.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Noah continued.
“Sarah was investigating Mercer.”
“She found evidence.”
“She was killed.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Three years of grief.
Three years of believing he’d lost his wife to fate.
Now he knew.
Someone had taken her.
Because she knew the truth.
Olivia touched his arm.
“Daniel.”
He opened his eyes.
Noah looked at them both.
“There is one final thing.”
“What?”
“The trust isn’t controlled by Olivia.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then who?”
Noah smiled weakly.
“Her baby.”
“How?”
“Because your grandfather made the child the only legal person who cannot be pressured into signing it away.”
Daniel looked at Olivia.
Her eyes filled with fear.
Noah continued.
“But that’s not the dangerous part.”
“What is?”
“The trust contains evidence.”
“Evidence of Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“Then they want the baby.”
Noah shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Daniel.
“They want you.”
