Single Dad Stopped to Help a Struggling Old Man… Then He Met the Daughter Who Changed His Life
Chapter 3
Daniel returned the next morning because Arthur called him at seven.
Not because of the proposition.
Not because of Sophia.
Because Arthur sounded frightened.
“I need you to come.”
Daniel arrived at the Bennett estate twenty minutes later.
Sophia was already outside.
“What happened?”
She pointed toward the garage.
Someone had broken into Arthur’s car.
Nothing obvious had been stolen.
Daniel crouched beside the driver’s door.
“Who has access?”
“Security. Staff. Family.”
“Anyone else?”
Sophia shook her head.
Daniel examined the damaged lock.
“This wasn’t a robbery.”
“How do you know?”
“No broken glass.”
He pointed to the lock.
“Someone knew exactly what they were doing.”
Sophia frowned.
“Why would someone break into my father’s car?”
Arthur appeared behind them.
“Because of me.”
Sophia turned.
“Dad.”
Arthur sighed.
“I was going to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Arthur looked at Daniel.
“Can we go inside?”
In the study, Arthur closed the door.
He opened a drawer and removed an old photograph.
It showed three men standing outside a factory.
Arthur.
Another older man.
And Daniel’s father.
Daniel stared.
“My dad?”
Arthur nodded.
“You knew him.”
“Very well.”
Daniel looked confused.
“My father worked at a shipping company.”
“He did.”
“For you?”
Arthur hesitated.
“For me and several other people.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
“When was this?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“What were they doing?”
Arthur sat.
“Building something.”
Sophia frowned.
“What?”
Arthur looked at his daughter.
“Something I should have protected better.”
Daniel felt uneasy.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Arthur reached into the drawer again.
He removed a small metal key.
“Your father left this with me.”
Daniel took it.
“Why?”
“He told me to give it to you when the time was right.”
“When is the right time?”
Arthur looked at him.
“Now.”
Sophia stared.
“Dad, what is going on?”
Arthur sighed.
“Twenty years ago, your father and I helped build a logistics company.”
Daniel listened.
“Then money started disappearing.”
Sophia’s expression changed.
“How much?”
“Millions.”
Daniel looked at her.
Arthur continued.
“Your father discovered it wasn’t ordinary theft.”
“Then what?”
“Someone was purchasing our competitors through shell companies.”
Sophia frowned.
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
Arthur looked at Daniel.
“Your father did.”
Daniel’s heart started beating faster.
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
Silence.
Daniel swallowed.
His father had supposedly died in a boating accident.
That was what he’d been told.
“You said he disappeared.”
Arthur nodded.
“I was there.”
Sophia looked shocked.
“Dad…”
“I tried to help him.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing I could prove.”
Arthur slid a second document across the desk.
It was a letter.
Daniel recognized the handwriting immediately.
His father’s.
He opened it.
Arthur,
If they ever come looking for Daniel, don’t tell him the truth until he is ready.
Daniel’s hands began to shake.
Sophia looked at him.
“What does it say?”
Daniel read the next line.
The key opens the account.
Arthur nodded.
“What account?”
“The Brooks Family Account.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I don’t have an account.”
“You don’t know about it.”
“How much?”
Arthur hesitated.
“$4.7 million when it was created.”
Daniel stared.
“Four point seven million?”
Sophia looked shocked.
Arthur nodded.
“It was meant to protect your family.”
Daniel couldn’t speak.
Then a loud crash came from downstairs.
Sophia ran toward the hallway.
A security guard shouted.
Someone had broken through the back door.
Daniel followed.
By the time they reached the entrance, the intruder was gone.
Only a small envelope remained on the floor.
Sophia picked it up.
Inside was another note.
Stop looking for the account.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at Arthur.
The old man whispered,
“They know.”
