The photograph remained on my phone as we drove back toward headquarters.
Daniel Voss was standing beside Thomas Reed outside the warehouse, exactly as the message had claimed. His silver hair was unmistakable, even in the poor light. He looked older than the man in my mother's photograph, but his posture was the same.
He was smiling.
That bothered me more than anything else.
He did not look like a man who had spent eleven years hiding from the world. He looked like a man who had been waiting for a particular moment and had finally decided it had arrived.
Victor enlarged the image.
“There's a timestamp.”
“Six months ago,” I said.
My father stared at it.
“That was before Thomas was confronted.”
“And before Andrew admitted knowing Daniel was alive,” Victor added.
I looked at him.
“Then Daniel has been operating inside the company for years.”
“Possibly.”
My father rubbed his forehead.
“No. Not possibly.”
He pointed toward Thomas's photograph.
“Thomas didn't act alone.”
Victor glanced at him.
“How certain are you?”
“Thomas was loyal to Daniel before he ever joined my company.”
The words landed heavily.
I turned toward my father.
“You knew Thomas before he worked for you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was recommended by Daniel.”
I stared at him.
“And you hired him anyway?”
“I didn't know Daniel was involved.”
My father looked toward the passing city.
“Or I convinced myself I didn't.”
We reached headquarters shortly after seven.
The building was nearly empty, but the security team had already received Victor's instructions. No employee could access the executive floors without authorization.
I carried the original trust documents inside a sealed case.
Victor insisted on it.
“This is the only physical copy we have,” he said.
My father's office was locked.
When Victor opened it, we found the lights already on.
Nobody had been there.
At least, that was what the security log said.
Victor checked the cameras.
There was a gap of eleven minutes.
Eleven minutes.
Exactly enough time for someone with access to disable the system and search the office.
My father's desk had been opened.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
That was the problem.
A person who wanted to steal something would have made a mess.
Someone who already knew what they wanted would not.
I opened the drawer containing the company seals.
One was missing.
Victor noticed immediately.
“What is that?”
“The corporate authorization seal.”
My father went pale.
“Thomas had access to it.”
Victor checked the records.
The seal had been used at 2:17 that morning.
On a transfer authorization.
My stomach tightened.
“To where?”
Victor opened the record.
An offshore holding company.
The same intermediary connected to the warehouse.
The same one that had paid the investigator.
My father stood.
“They're moving assets.”
“Not anymore,” Victor said.
He contacted the bank.
The transfer was still pending.
It had not cleared.
The bank froze it.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then my phone rang.
Andrew.
I almost ignored him.
Instead, I answered.
“Why are you calling?”
“Because I know where Daniel is.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“I don't know exactly.”
“Then what do you know?”
“He contacted me yesterday.”
“What did he want?”
“You.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“He said the trust documents contain something your mother took from him.”
“Evidence.”
“Yes.”
“How does he know we found the documents?”
Andrew hesitated.
“Because someone told him.”
“Thomas?”
“I don't think so.”
“Then who?”
“My mother.”
I closed my eyes.
“Margaret?”
“She has been speaking to Daniel.”
I looked at my father.
He heard the name.
“When?”
“Before the necklace incident.”
My father swore quietly.
Andrew continued.
“My mother believed Daniel could restore the family fortune.”
“And Brenda?”
“She was brought in to create pressure.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
“Andrew.”
“I swear.”
I believed he was frightened.
I did not know whether that made him trustworthy.
It only made him useful.
“Where is Margaret now?”
“At the mansion.”
“The mansion is supposed to be empty.”
“I know.”
I ended the call.
Victor immediately understood.
“We need to go.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“If Daniel is there, she could be in danger.”
“Or she's working with him.”
I knew he was right.
We drove to the mansion with two security vehicles behind us.
The gate was open.
The lights were on.
The front door stood slightly ajar.
Victor raised one hand.
Nobody moved.
Then a voice came from inside.
“Mariana.”
Margaret.
I stepped forward.
She stood in the foyer alone.
Her face was pale.
Her hands were shaking.
“Where is he?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“I don't know.”
“You spoke to Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought he could help Andrew.”
My father stepped forward.
“You endangered my daughter.”
Margaret began crying.
“I didn't know what he wanted.”
“You knew enough.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Victor searched the house.
He returned after several minutes.
“No one.”
Margaret looked at me.
“He left something for you.”
She pointed toward the dining room.
A small black box sat on the table.
I did not touch it.
Victor opened it.
Inside was a recording device.
He activated it.
Daniel's voice filled the room.
“Mariana, if you're listening to this, you've found the trust.”
My skin prickled.
“You probably believe your mother created it to protect you.”
He paused.
“She did.”
My father looked surprised.
Daniel continued.
“But she also used it to hide what she stole from me.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the device.
Victor checked it.
No other message.
My father looked at me.
“He wants us to know he believes the evidence is still inside the trust.”
Margaret whispered, “What evidence?”
I looked at her.
“You really don't know?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Then her eyes moved toward the box.
“He told me he only wanted the documents.”
I believed her.
Not because she deserved trust.
Because she looked genuinely terrified.
A noise came from upstairs.
Victor reached for his weapon.
We froze.
A door slammed.
Then footsteps.
Someone ran down the hallway.
Security moved first.
They caught the man near the back entrance.
It was one of the mansion's former maintenance workers.
He carried a small drive.
Victor took it.
“Who sent you?”
The man refused to answer.
Then he saw Daniel's photograph on my phone.
His face changed.
“He said I only had to watch the house.”
“When?”
“Months.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Voss.”
I stared at him.
“Did he ever come inside?”
The man nodded.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
My father's expression hardened.
“What did he do?”
“He went into Mrs. Escalante's old study.”
My mother's study.
“What did he take?”
The man shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“What did he leave?”
He hesitated.
“A photograph.”
“Which photograph?”
“The one of your mother.”
My heart began racing.
“Where is it?”
“In the study.”
We rushed upstairs.
The photograph sat on my mother's desk.
It showed her standing beside my father.
But someone had written something across the bottom.
Look beneath what she loved.
I knew immediately.
The cedar cabinet.
The hidden compartment.
Victor checked beneath it.
There was another panel.
Inside was a small metal cylinder.
My father stared.
“That wasn't there before.”
Victor opened it.
Inside was a microfilm reel.
I looked at my father.
He whispered, “She hid the evidence.”
The truth was finally within reach.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
You have one hour.
Below it was an address.
A private airfield outside the city.
And a final line.
Come alone, Mariana, or the evidence disappears forever.
I looked at Victor.
“No.”
My father answered before I could.
“You're not going.”
I held the phone tightly.
“He knows exactly where to hurt us.”
Victor shook his head.
“He wants you isolated.”
I looked at the microfilm.
“Then we won't give him what he wants.”
I placed the cylinder inside my bag.
“We'll give him what he thinks he wants.”
Victor looked at me.
“What are you planning?”
I stared at Daniel's message.
“For four years, everyone has assumed I was the person they could push around.”
I closed my bag.
“Let's let him keep believing that.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 10: I Went to Daniel’s Meeting With a False Trust Document, While Victor Quietly Prepared the Trap Daniel Never Saw Coming
The Night He Ordered Me Out Was the Night His Perfect Life Began Slipping Through His Fingers
Part 9 of 12
