Little Girl’s Cry Echoed Through the Hall—Until Her CEO Father Saw What the Stepmom Hid
Chapter 5
Daniel had buried his father himself.
Or at least, he believed he had.
The official story was simple.
Robert Carter had died in a private plane accident when Daniel was nineteen.
There had been wreckage.
Identification.
A funeral.
A grave.
Daniel had spent two decades believing there was nothing left to question.
Now Victoria was telling him otherwise.
“You’re lying,” he said.
Victoria looked exhausted.
“I wish I were.”
Marcus raised his phone.
“I can verify the photograph.”
“Do it.”
Marcus stepped aside.
Daniel kept staring at Victoria.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Emily told me not to.”
Daniel flinched.
“What?”
“Emily knew something was wrong before she died. She contacted me.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You knew my wife?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Victoria looked toward the floor.
“We worked together.”
Daniel felt the world tilt.
“Emily was a financial investigator.”
“I know.”
“She never told me.”
“She couldn’t.”
Victoria took a breath.
“Your father didn’t die in that accident.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Then whose body was buried?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus returned.
“The photograph is authentic.”
Daniel turned.
“How?”
“The metadata places it six years ago.”
Daniel looked at Victoria again.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Someone named Adrian Blake.”
Daniel recognized the name.
Adrian Blake was a former executive at Carter Technologies.
He had resigned eight years earlier after accusing several senior managers of fraud.
Daniel had thought he was bitter.
“He’s alive?”
Victoria nodded.
“And he’s the person Emily was investigating.”
Daniel suddenly remembered the blue envelope.
“Where is it?”
Victoria looked at him.
“What?”
“The envelope Emily mentioned.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Daniel noticed.
“You’ve seen it.”
“I found it after Emily died.”
“Where is it?”
Victoria said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where?”
She whispered, “I destroyed it.”
Silence.
Then Lily screamed upstairs.
Daniel ran.
He reached the bedroom and found the window open.
The curtains were blowing in the wind.
Lily was gone.
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“LILY!”
Marcus ran behind him.
The backyard was empty.
Then Daniel saw the note taped to the window.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR WIFE.
His hands shook.
Victoria appeared behind him.
Daniel turned on her.
“Where is my daughter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took her?”
“I don’t know.”
But her voice cracked on the last word.
Daniel looked at the note.
Then at Victoria.
For the first time, he saw genuine fear on her face.
Someone had taken Lily.
And whoever it was knew exactly what Emily had discovered.
