He Lost His Job, His Wife Left Him… Then He Found a Fortune He Forgot
Chapter 6
Daniel spent the next forty-eight hours reconstructing his dismissal.
He obtained legal copies of the financial report that had destroyed his career.
The report had supposedly been created from his computer.
But the timestamps were wrong.
Daniel had been out of the country that week.
He had proof.
His passport.
Flight records.
Hotel receipts.
Yet someone had accessed his computer remotely.
The same day.
The same hour.
The same account had later transferred money into a company connected to Richard Voss.
Daniel sat back.
“This is it.”
Collins looked at the screen.
“Enough to reopen the investigation.”
“Not enough to convict him.”
“Then find more.”
Daniel did.
He discovered that one of his former coworkers had resigned suddenly two months before his firing.
Her name was Rachel Morgan.
Daniel tracked her down.
She was living in a small town outside Milwaukee.
When Daniel knocked on her door, she almost closed it immediately.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I need your help.”
“I can’t.”
“Rachel.”
She stared at him.
“Did you know I was framed?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because they threatened my son.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Who?”
“Voss.”
She let him inside.
Rachel had kept copies of internal emails.
She had also kept a backup drive.
“I was supposed to destroy this.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I knew someday someone would need it.”
Daniel took the drive.
“What does it contain?”
“Everything.”
They spent hours reviewing the files.
Payments.
Emails.
Instructions.
Names.
And finally, a message from Voss to Daniel’s former supervisor.
Remove Reed. Make the fraud look personal. Once he’s gone, the trust will surface.
Daniel stared.
“The trust.”
Rachel nodded.
“They knew about the inheritance.”
“How?”
“Your father had enemies.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Everything connected.
His firing.
Sarah’s fear.
The surveillance.
His financial collapse.
They had wanted him desperate.
They had expected him to sell everything.
Or disappear.
Or give up.
But they hadn’t expected him to find his father’s warehouse.
Rachel looked at him.
“What are you going to do?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“For the first time in my life?”
He closed the laptop.
“I’m going to stop running.”
When he returned home, Sarah was waiting.
“You look different.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
Daniel handed her the drive.
“We know who did this.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Voss?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Daniel looked toward Emily’s bedroom.
“Now we make sure he can’t hurt us again.”
But neither of them noticed the small camera hidden inside the hallway smoke detector.
Someone was still watching.
And that someone had just heard everything.
