Chapter 8 — Daniel's Revenge
Chapter 8 — Daniel's Revenge
The warehouse was empty by sunrise.
Richard had disappeared.
So had the men who came with him.
The police arrived too late to catch anyone.
Mary stood in the middle of the warehouse, holding the blue file against her chest.
She had spent the entire night believing she was finally close to the truth.
Instead, every answer had created another lie.
Her mother was alive.
Her father had disappeared and been found.
Victoria had a daughter.
Vanessa was Victoria's daughter.
Ethan wasn't Richard's biological son.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it was a secret called Project Orchid.
Mary looked at her father.
“Who is Daniel?”
Her father's expression changed.
Claire noticed immediately.
“You know him?”
Her father looked away.
“Not personally.”
Mary didn't believe him.
“Then why did you react when I said his name?”
Her father was silent.
Mary stepped closer.
“Dad.”
He sighed.
“Daniel Hale's family was involved in Blackstone before Richard took control.”
“What happened to them?”
“They lost everything.”
“Because of Richard?”
“Yes.”
Mary's eyes narrowed.
“Did my mother know?”
Her father nodded.
“She was the first person to discover what Richard had done.”
“And Daniel?”
“He blamed us.”
“Us?”
Her father looked at her.
“Your family.”
Mary stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because from his perspective, it didn't matter who was guilty.”
He swallowed.
“His parents were dead. His company was gone. His childhood home was taken.”
“And we did nothing?”
“We tried.”
“That's not what he thinks.”
“No.”
Her father's voice became quiet.
“Daniel believes your family destroyed his.”
Mary looked down at the blue file.
“And you never told me.”
“I didn't want you involved.”
Mary almost laughed.
“That's becoming everyone's favorite excuse.”
Daniel appeared that afternoon.
Mary hadn't called him.
He simply walked into the hospital waiting room and sat across from her.
He wore a dark coat.
His expression was calm.
Too calm.
Claire immediately stood.
“How did you get in?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I know people.”
Mary didn't take her eyes off him.
“You knew my father.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“My family worked with his.”
“Worked with him?”
“Before Richard destroyed everything.”
Mary leaned forward.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Would you have believed me?”
“I might have.”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
“You trusted Ethan.”
Mary flinched.
Daniel noticed.
“I wasn't trying to hurt you.”
“You were investigating me.”
“I was investigating your family.”
“There's a difference?”
“For me, yes.”
Mary stood.
“Then tell me everything.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“I'd rather speak to Mary alone.”
“No.”
Mary's voice was firm.
“Claire stays.”
Daniel nodded.
“Fine.”
He placed a small envelope on the table.
Mary looked at it.
“What is that?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
“That Ethan has been lying to you since the day you met.”
Mary didn't touch it.
“Give me one reason to trust you.”
Daniel looked directly into her eyes.
“You shouldn't.”
The answer surprised her.
Daniel continued.
“Trust is exactly how Ethan got so close to you.”
Mary slowly opened the envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Ethan meeting Vanessa.
Ethan meeting Richard.
Ethan entering Blackstone offices.
And one photograph that made Mary's blood run cold.
Ethan meeting someone she recognized.
Her own father.
The photograph had been taken six months before Mary's engagement.
She looked at Daniel.
“When was this?”
“Six months ago.”
“Why were they meeting?”
“I don't know.”
Mary turned to the next photograph.
Her father was handing Ethan a folder.
“What was inside?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe you took all these photographs and don't know?”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“I wasn't inside the room.”
“Then who was?”
He said nothing.
Mary stared at him.
“Who?”
Daniel finally answered.
“Victoria.”
Mary stood completely still.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Where?”
“London.”
Mary stared at him.
“Victoria is alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Three years.”
Mary's face hardened.
“Three years?”
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother was alive?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Victoria.”
Mary froze.
“Victoria was the one I knew.”
Daniel took a breath.
“Your mother was different.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Mary stepped closer.
“You keep giving me half-answers.”
“Because I don't have all the answers.”
“Then why should I listen to you?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because Ethan is trying to kill the evidence.”
Mary's expression changed.
“What evidence?”
“Project Orchid.”
Mary tightened her grip on the blue file.
“You know about it.”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Mary almost lost her patience.
“Then what do you know?”
Daniel looked at the file.
“It wasn't created to steal money.”
Mary frowned.
“Then what was it for?”
“To erase identities.”
The room became silent.
Daniel continued.
“Eight years ago, several people connected to Blackstone disappeared from the financial records.”
Mary stared.
“Disappeared?”
“Not physically.”
“Their names.”
Their ownership.
Their companies.
Their assets.
Everything.
Someone rewrote the legal history.
Mary looked at the blue file.
“Why?”
Daniel said:
“Because someone wanted to create a new family.”
“What family?”
“The Carter family.”
Mary shook her head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Your father didn't build the empire.”
Mary remembered Richard saying the same thing.
“Who did?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Your mother.”
Mary's chest tightened.
“And Richard?”
“He took credit.”
“And Ethan?”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“Ethan is the reason Project Orchid was created.”
Mary stared.
“Why?”
“Because your mother discovered that Ethan was being used as a legal heir.”
“By whom?”
“Richard.”
“But Ethan isn't Richard's son.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Mary's mind raced.
“If Ethan wasn't his biological son, why would Richard use him?”
“Because blood doesn't matter in corporate law.”
Daniel placed another document on the table.
“Ethan was legally adopted.”
Mary looked at it.
“By Richard's wife.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Then Richard used him as the perfect heir.”
Mary whispered:
“Why me?”
Daniel's answer was immediate.
“Because your mother owned the shares Richard couldn't reach.”
Mary stared.
“And marriage was the easiest way to reach them.”
Daniel nodded.
“But there was a problem.”
“What?”
“You.”
Daniel explained.
Mary had inherited her mother's voting rights.
As long as she remained unmarried, those rights were protected.
But after marriage, the original shareholders' agreement allowed the spouse to gain partial control.
Ethan didn't need Mary's money.
He needed her signature.
And Richard didn't need Mary to love Ethan.
He needed her to trust him.
Mary looked at the forged contract.
“So the wedding was a corporate takeover.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Bait.”
Mary closed her eyes.
“She was meant to make me leave.”
Daniel nodded.
“Why?”
“Because Ethan realized you were investigating him.”
Mary looked up.
“When?”
“Three weeks before the wedding.”
Mary's heart sank.
“That was when I found the financial discrepancy.”
Daniel nodded.
“Ethan knew.”
“How?”
“Someone inside your company told him.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at her.
“That's what I've been trying to find out.”
Mary stared at Daniel.
“You've been investigating Ethan for three years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His expression changed.
“My family.”
“You said Richard destroyed them.”
“He did.”
“Then this is revenge.”
Daniel didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
Mary stood.
“So I was part of your revenge.”
Daniel's eyes met hers.
“At first.”
Silence.
Claire watched them carefully.
Mary's voice became colder.
“When did that change?”
Daniel looked away.
“I don't know.”
“That's not an answer.”
“It changed slowly.”
“When?”
“When I realized you weren't your family.”
Mary's expression softened despite herself.
Daniel continued.
“You were the first person from the Carter family who ever asked what happened to mine.”
Mary remembered.
Years earlier.
Before Ethan.
Before the engagement.
She had met Daniel at a charity event.
She had asked him why he never attended family functions.
He had smiled and said:
“Some families aren't worth going home to.”
She had thought he was joking.
She hadn't known.
Daniel pulled out another document.
“This is the first payment Ethan made to Vanessa.”
Mary looked at the date.
“Three months ago.”
“Yes.”
“And the second?”
“Two months later.”
“And the third?”
Daniel pointed to the last transaction.
“Two days before the wedding.”
Mary frowned.
“Why three payments?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because the first two were for information.”
“And the third?”
“To make sure you walked into that hotel room.”
Mary felt sick.
“Who ordered it?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Mary looked at him.
“You know.”
“I suspect.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Mary's face hardened.
“My father?”
Daniel nodded.
“He paid Vanessa through a company account.”
Mary shook her head.
“Why would he do that?”
“To expose Ethan.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if he knew the wedding was dangerous.”
Mary remembered her father's confession.
He had known Ethan was moving money.
He had known Richard was involved.
Maybe Daniel was right.
Her father hadn't been protecting Ethan.
He had been trying to expose him.
Mary looked at Daniel.
“Then why did you say Richard was behind it?”
“Because Richard was.”
“What?”
“He was behind the entire plan.”
“But my father paid Vanessa.”
Daniel nodded.
“Because he was trying to sabotage Richard's plan.”
Mary stared.
“So everyone was manipulating everyone.”
Daniel smiled bitterly.
“Welcome to your family.”
That evening, Mary visited her father's hospital room.
He was awake.
She closed the door behind her.
“You paid Vanessa.”
He didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To expose Ethan.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I knew you wouldn't stop.”
“You were right.”
He looked at her.
“I thought if the wedding collapsed publicly, Ethan would lose the legal advantage.”
Mary sat beside him.
“And Richard?”
“He wanted you married.”
“Why?”
“Because he needed your shares.”
Mary looked at him.
“And Mom?”
Her father's eyes filled with pain.
“She tried to stop him.”
“Did Richard hurt her?”
“I don't know.”
“You said she was alive.”
“I said I believed she was.”
Mary froze.
“What does that mean?”
Her father looked away.
“Your mother disappeared the night before the accident.”
“What accident?”
“The accident that everyone thought killed her.”
Mary's heart pounded.
“So whose body was found?”
Her father didn't answer.
Mary stood.
“Dad.”
He whispered:
“We never identified her.”
Mary's blood ran cold.
“What?”
“The body was burned.”
She stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you told me she died?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of the person who replaced her.”
Mary's voice shook.
“Who?”
Her father looked directly at her.
“I don't know.”
Later that night, Mary met Daniel again.
They stood on the balcony of her hotel suite.
The city lights stretched beneath them.
Mary looked exhausted.
“I don't know who to trust.”
Daniel nodded.
“Good.”
She looked at him.
“Good?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment you stop trusting people blindly, they lose their greatest weapon.”
Mary smiled faintly.
“You sound like you've been waiting a long time to say that.”
“I have.”
She looked at him.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Did you ever use me?”
He was silent.
Then:
“Yes.”
Mary looked away.
“At first, I approached you because of Ethan.”
“What did you want?”
“To know what you knew.”
“And?”
“You knew nothing.”
She laughed bitterly.
“I was useful.”
“No.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You were innocent.”
Mary looked at him.
“And that made you feel guilty?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew I was lying to you.”
She stared at him.
“What else did you lie about?”
Daniel hesitated.
Mary's heart sank.
“There is something else.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a photograph.
Placed it in her hand.
Mary looked at it.
It showed Ethan.
Vanessa.
Richard.
And Daniel.
All standing in the same room.
Mary's eyes widened.
“You.”
Daniel nodded.
“When was this?”
“Three years ago.”
“Why were you meeting Ethan?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I wasn't working with him.”
“Then why?”
“To make a deal.”
“What deal?”
“I would help him destroy Richard.”
Mary stared.
“And what did Ethan give you?”
Daniel's expression became cold.
“Information about my family.”
Mary looked at the photograph again.
“You worked with Ethan.”
“For a short time.”
“And you never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you'd never trust me.”
Mary put the photograph down.
“You were right.”
Daniel accepted it.
“I know.”
Before either could say more, Mary's phone rang.
It was Vanessa.
Mary answered.
“Where are you?”
“I'm hiding.”
“From whom?”
“Ethan.”
Mary's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because I found something.”
“What?”
“Proof that Ethan knew about Victoria.”
Mary looked at Daniel.
“What proof?”
“I have a recording.”
“Send it.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan has my sister's daughter.”
Mary froze.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“My daughter.”
Mary's heart stopped.
“You said you didn't have a daughter.”
“I lied.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“Who has her?”
“Ethan.”
Mary's voice hardened.
“How do you know?”
“Because he sent me a photograph.”
A pause.
Then Vanessa whispered:
“She was taken from me when she was a baby.”
Mary's blood ran cold.
“Who took her?”
“I thought it was Richard.”
“And now?”
“I know it wasn't.”
“Who was it?”
Vanessa began crying.
“Mary…”
“What?”
“The woman who took my daughter…”
Her voice broke.
“…was your mother.”
Mary froze.
The line went dead.
Daniel looked at her.
“What happened?”
Mary slowly lowered the phone.
“She says my mother took her daughter.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Victoria's daughter?”
Mary nodded.
“And she says my mother is the one who took her.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
Mary looked at him.
“Is it?”
An hour later, Mary and Daniel returned to the old Carter estate.
The blue file was still on the table.
Mary opened it again.
This time, she noticed something she had missed.
A page had been glued to the back cover.
Daniel carefully removed it.
Behind it was a handwritten note.
Mary recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her mother's.
Daniel,
If Mary ever finds the blue file, do not let her trust you.
Mary stared.
Daniel went pale.
There was more.
You came to this family for revenge.
I know.
But revenge will eventually make you just like Richard.
Mary looked at Daniel.
He couldn't speak.
The final line was written underneath.
If you truly care about my daughter, tell her the truth about what happened the night I disappeared.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Mary's voice was quiet.
“You know.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“What happened that night?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I was there.”
Mary's heart stopped.
“You saw my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Daniel swallowed.
“At the old Blackstone warehouse.”
“Who else was there?”
He hesitated.
“Richard.”
“Ethan?”
“No.”
“Victoria?”
“No.”
Mary waited.
Daniel looked directly into her eyes.
“Your mother.”
Mary stepped closer.
“She was alive.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Daniel's face became grim.
“She gave me the blue file.”
“And then?”
“She told me to run.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward the dark window.
“Because someone was coming.”
“Who?”
He whispered:
“Ethan.”
Mary froze.
Daniel continued.
“And he wasn't alone.”
Before Mary could ask anything else, the lights in the house went out.
The same darkness.
The same silence.
Then the front door slammed.
Mary reached for Daniel.
“Who's there?”
A voice came from the hallway.
Calm.
Familiar.
Female.
“Mary?”
Mary stopped breathing.
Daniel stared toward the doorway.
The voice came again.
“It's me.”
Mary's eyes filled with tears.
She knew that voice.
Her mother's voice.
“Mom?”
A woman stepped into the dim light.
Mary couldn't move.
She was older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Elena Carter.
Alive.
Mary whispered:
“Where have you been?”
Her mother looked at her.
“Running.”
“From who?”
Elena looked past Mary.
Toward Daniel.
Then toward the blue file.
Finally, she said:
“From my son.”
Mary's heart stopped.
“Ethan?”
Her mother's face filled with fear.
“No.”
She whispered:
“From the man pretending to be Ethan.”
The lights suddenly came back on.
But Elena was gone.
Only a single photograph remained on the floor.
Mary picked it up.
It showed Elena standing beside a young boy.
The boy was Ethan.
But on the back was a date.
And beneath it, four words:
That isn't his real name.
Mary stared at the photograph.
Daniel whispered:
“Now you understand.”
Mary looked at him.
“No.”
May you like
She closed her hand around the photograph.
“Now I have even more questions.”
