Homeless Boy Shouts ‘Don’t Eat That!’ Billionaire Freezes When He Finds Out Why
Chapter 6
The restaurant lights went out.
Everyone froze.
Daniel immediately moved Lily behind him.
“Stay down.”
The first window shattered.
Glass exploded across the dining room.
Security guards rushed forward.
Detective Harris drew his weapon.
Another window broke.
Then another.
Daniel pulled Lily toward the kitchen.
Sam followed.
“Where’s the back door?” Daniel asked.
Lily pointed.
They ran.
The restaurant’s kitchen was empty.
Daniel pushed open the rear exit.
A narrow alley stretched behind the building.
They ran into the snow.
Footsteps followed.
Daniel looked back.
Two men emerged from the restaurant.
“Keep moving!”
They ran toward the street.
A car screeched to a stop.
The passenger door opened.
A familiar voice shouted:
“Get in!”
Daniel stopped.
Ethan Vale was behind the wheel.
Daniel stared.
For ten years, he had imagined this moment.
He had imagined anger.
Questions.
Maybe violence.
Instead, he felt something else.
Relief.
Ethan shouted again.
“Daniel!”
They got inside.
Ethan accelerated.
Lily sat beside Daniel.
Sam crouched in the back.
Police sirens echoed behind them.
Daniel stared at Ethan.
“You’re alive.”
Ethan nodded.
“I know.”
“Why did you disappear?”
“Because Martin wanted me dead.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Martin?”
“Martin built the entire conspiracy.”
Ethan explained.
Years earlier, Martin had been stealing from Mercer Holdings.
Ethan discovered it.
He confronted him.
Martin framed Ethan using forged documents.
When Ethan threatened to expose him, Martin arranged an attack.
Ethan survived.
But he had been forced to disappear.
He spent years investigating Martin from the shadows.
Then he found Laura.
She was terrified.
She had discovered that Martin was planning to destroy Daniel’s company.
But she had also discovered something worse.
Martin believed Daniel had a hidden heir.
A daughter.
He intended to use the child as leverage.
Laura gave Lily to Grace.
Then staged the child’s disappearance.
But Martin eventually found traces of her.
Ethan had spent years protecting Lily.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Ethan looked at him.
“Because Martin was inside your company.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“What happened to Laura?”
Ethan’s voice softened.
“She died protecting Lily.”
Lily began crying.
“She never told me.”
“She wanted you to have a normal life.”
Daniel looked at her.
“She should have told me.”
Ethan nodded.
“She was afraid you would come looking.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I would have.”
“I know.”
The car became silent.
Then Sam spoke.
“Martin isn’t the real boss.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Sam looked at Ethan.
“Ethan knows.”
Ethan’s face changed.
“How do you know that?”
Sam pulled a small notebook from his backpack.
“I found this.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside were names.
Payments.
Locations.
Dates.
At the bottom was one name.
Richard Mercer.
Daniel froze.
Richard Mercer was his father.
Dead for fifteen years.
Ethan stared at the page.
“That’s impossible.”
Sam shook his head.
“Maybe he’s not dead.”
Daniel looked at him.
His father’s death certificate had been issued fifteen years earlier.
His funeral had been attended by hundreds.
Daniel had watched the coffin lowered into the ground.
But now another possibility emerged.
Maybe the man behind everything had been dead only on paper.
And maybe Daniel’s entire life had been built on a lie.
