He Lost His Job, His Wife Left Him… Then He Found a Fortune He Forgot
Chapter 4
Sarah answered on the fourth ring.
“Daniel?”
He hadn’t heard her voice in three months.
For a moment, he couldn’t speak.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Emily?”
“She’s at school.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I need to see you.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“I can’t explain over the phone.”
Sarah hesitated.
“Daniel, if this is about getting back together…”
“It isn’t.”
That hurt more than he expected.
“I just need you to listen.”
They agreed to meet at a small café.
Daniel arrived early.
Sarah came twenty minutes later.
She looked tired.
“You look different.”
“So do you.”
He almost laughed.
Then he remembered why.
He placed a folder on the table.
Sarah opened it.
Her expression changed.
“What is this?”
“My father’s.”
She read the first document.
Then another.
Then another.
Her hands began trembling.
“Daniel…”
“I didn’t know.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She stared at him.
“Your father left you a fortune?”
“Apparently.”
Sarah leaned back.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
She looked at him carefully.
“Who else knows?”
“My father’s attorney.”
“Anyone else?”
“Someone named Richard Voss.”
Sarah froze.
Daniel noticed.
“You know him?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Daniel’s heart sank.
“Sarah.”
She looked down.
“I’ve heard the name.”
“From where?”
“I don’t remember.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Please.”
She finally whispered:
“Your old company.”
“What about it?”
“Before you were fired, I received an anonymous email.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“What did it say?”
“That you were going to be blamed for something.”
“What?”
“Financial fraud.”
Daniel stared at her.
“When?”
“Two weeks before you were fired.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought it was a threat.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel sat silently.
Sarah began crying.
“I was scared.”
“For yourself?”
“For Emily.”
Daniel looked away.
“Why did you leave?”
She wiped her eyes.
“Because someone sent me photographs of Emily leaving school.”
Daniel’s head snapped toward her.
“What?”
“They said if I didn’t leave you, something would happen.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Who sent them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You should have told me.”
“I thought leaving would protect her.”
Daniel stared at the table.
For three months, he had believed Sarah had abandoned him because he was unemployed.
She had believed she was saving their daughter.
Neither had known they were being manipulated.
Daniel reached across the table.
“Come home.”
Sarah looked at him.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone is watching us, going back to the house puts Emily in danger.”
Daniel understood.
He had spent months mourning a marriage that hadn’t actually ended.
Someone had pushed them apart.
And now Daniel knew why.
His father hadn’t simply left him money.
He had left him something people were willing to destroy a family to obtain.
