CEO Asked a Single Dad for a Ride—Then Froze at What Hung From His Mirror
Chapter 8
Daniel wanted to call the police.
Marcus stopped him.
“Not yet.”
Daniel glared.
“My daughter is being threatened.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you stopping me?”
“Because we don’t know who we can trust.”
Victoria agreed.
“My father’s original investigation proved there were people inside law enforcement involved.”
Daniel paced the room.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Do what your father did.”
“Disappear?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Think three moves ahead.”
Daniel looked at the photograph of Lily.
His daughter was the only thing that mattered.
They created a plan.
Victoria would pretend to cooperate.
Daniel would stay hidden.
Marcus would locate the people watching Lily.
But there was a problem.
The missing lighthouse charm.
Without it, they couldn’t open the final compartment of the safe.
Then Daniel remembered something.
Lily had once told him she kept “Mommy’s special things” in her bedroom.
He called the school.
Lily was still with the teacher.
He asked her about the lighthouse.
“I gave it to you, Dad.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know if Mommy had another one.”
Lily thought.
Then said:
“She had a blue one.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“A blue lighthouse.”
Victoria heard.
“Where?”
Lily answered:
“In Mommy’s jewelry box.”
Daniel realized the third charm hadn’t disappeared.
There were more than three.
Emily had made copies.
They returned home.
Inside the jewelry box, beneath old photographs, they found a blue wooden lighthouse.
It contained another compartment.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Daniel inserted it into a laptop.
A video appeared.
Emily sat in front of the camera.
Daniel stopped breathing.
It was the first time he had seen her since her death.
She looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this, then something happened to me.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
Emily continued.
“I didn’t tell you the truth because I was afraid.”
She explained everything.
Thomas Sterling had discovered the network.
Daniel’s father had helped him.
Emily had been recruited to protect Victoria.
But after Thomas disappeared, Emily realized the network had not been destroyed.
It had moved deeper underground.
She married Daniel because she loved him.
But she also knew that anyone connected to the old investigation could become a target.
“I wanted to tell you.”
Emily’s voice broke.
“But I couldn’t risk Lily.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
Then Emily said something that changed everything.
“There is someone you must never trust.”
A name appeared on the screen.
Daniel stared.
It was the current CEO of Sterling Dynamics.
Victoria’s uncle.
He had been the person controlling the company since Thomas disappeared.
Victoria looked horrified.
“My uncle?”
Emily nodded in the recording.
“He betrayed Thomas.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I suspected.”
Emily continued.
“He is the person who has been searching for the ledger.”
Then the recording ended.
The room was silent.
Victoria looked at Daniel.
“We know who is behind this.”
Daniel nodded.
But then Lily walked into the room.
She was holding another envelope.
“Dad, this came for you.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
His late father.
Thomas Sterling.
Emily.
And a fourth person.
Victoria’s uncle.
On the back were five words:
You never knew your father.
