Single Dad Bought an Old Bakery after Losing Everything—Then the CEO Who Fired Him Walked In
Chapter 9
The next clue came from Sarah’s recording.
There was a number at the end.
Daniel recognized it.
A bakery supplier account.
He frowned.
“That’s my vendor.”
Victoria looked at him.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that vendor didn’t exist four years ago.”
They traced the account.
It belonged to a company that had been dissolved.
The registered address was an old warehouse.
Daniel and Victoria went there with federal agents.
Inside, they found boxes.
Payment records.
Fake invoices.
Old computers.
Photos.
Graham had been running the fraud from the warehouse.
But there was something else.
A wall covered in photographs.
Executives.
Employees.
Daniel.
Victoria.
Sarah.
Lily.
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“He’s been watching everyone.”
Victoria stared at the photographs.
“How long?”
“Years,” an investigator said.
One photograph showed Victoria entering the bakery.
Another showed Daniel and Lily leaving school.
There were dozens.
Then Daniel noticed one picture.
Sarah.
Taken the day before her death.
Standing beside a man.
Daniel didn’t recognize him.
Victoria did.
“Who is that?”
She stepped closer.
“My father.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Richard Hale stood beside Sarah.
He had died years before.
The photograph was recent.
Victoria touched it.
“This can’t be.”
The investigator checked the timestamp.
“Three days before her accident.”
Daniel frowned.
“Your father was alive then.”
Victoria shook her head.
“He died six months earlier.”
The room became silent.
Someone had manipulated the photograph.
Or someone had been pretending to be Richard.
They checked the original file.
It had been altered.
But the background was real.
An abandoned hotel.
Room 214.
Victoria knew the place.
“That’s where my father used to meet private clients.”
Daniel looked at her.
“We go there.”
The room had been sealed for years.
Inside, they found a safe.
Daniel used the access code from the old company records.
It opened.
There was one envelope.
Addressed to Victoria.
She opened it.
A handwritten letter from her father.
Victoria,
If you’re reading this, I wasn’t able to stop Graham.
Do not trust the board.
Do not trust the police.
And whatever happens, protect Daniel Brooks.
Victoria’s hands shook.
Daniel stared.
“Your father knew about me?”
She nodded.
The letter continued.
He is innocent.
Graham chose him because he knew Daniel would keep fighting after everyone else stopped.
Then came the final sentence.
The bakery will give you the last piece.
Daniel looked at Victoria.
“The bakery?”
She frowned.
They returned to Maple Street that night.
Inside the old recipe book, Daniel found a page he had never noticed.
There was a hidden compartment behind the binding.
Inside was a key.
And a photograph.
Sarah was standing beside the previous bakery owner.
Daniel looked confused.
“Why would my wife know him?”
Victoria turned the photograph over.
A note was written on the back.
He promised to keep the evidence safe until Daniel came home.
