I Was Dared to Dance With the Quiet Girl—Then She Whispered Something Unforgettable
Chapter 3
I didn’t believe her.
Not completely.
I wanted to.
But my mind rejected the idea.
Why would my father disappear to protect Emily?
She was just a student.
A quiet girl.
Someone who sat alone at lunch and spent her free time reading.
“What happened?” I asked.
Emily looked at the photograph.
“My father died when I was twelve.”
“I know.”
“The official story was that he had a heart attack.”
I said nothing.
“But my mother never believed it.”
She pulled another photograph from her bag.
This one was badly faded.
It showed Daniel Carter inside an office, holding a stack of papers.
Behind him was my father.
On the desk sat several folders.
Emily pointed to one.
“Carter & Mills had been hiding something.”
“What?”
“Money.”
I frowned.
“That’s not possible.”
“My father discovered that construction contracts were being manipulated.”
She explained that several city projects had been awarded to companies connected to Richard Morgan and a group of business partners.
Invoices were inflated.
Materials were billed twice.
Money disappeared through shell companies.
My father had discovered the pattern.
Then he had tried to expose it.
“And my dad?” I asked.
“He helped him.”
I stared at the ground.
“Why didn’t they go to the police?”
“They tried.”
Emily’s voice dropped.
“The detective assigned to the case was one of the people being paid.”
Cold air passed between us.
I looked at her.
“How do you know all this?”
“Because my father left something behind.”
She opened her backpack again.
This time she removed a small black notebook.
“My mother found it after he died.”
I reached for it.
Emily stopped me.
“There is one thing you need to understand.”
“What?”
“Your father didn’t leave you.”
She looked straight into my eyes.
“He was trying to come back.”
