Chapter 14 - THE LAST PERSON THEY EXPECTED
Edward spent the next forty-eight hours investigating the message.
Every camera.
Every employee.
Every person connected to Hayes Corporation.
Nothing.
No trace.
No identity.
No explanation.
It reminded him of the same feeling from twenty years ago.
Someone watching from the shadows.
Someone waiting.
Emma noticed the change in him.
“Dad.”
Edward looked up.
“Yes?”
“You’re scared.”
He stayed silent.
Because she was right.
Not for himself.
Never for himself.
He was afraid of losing his daughter again.
“I promised I would protect you.”
Emma sat beside him.
“You already did.”
Edward looked surprised.
“How?”
“You came home.”
Those three words broke something inside him.
Because she was right.
The night he opened that front door changed everything.
If he had arrived one day later…
He didn’t want to imagine it.
Then Marcus entered.
“Edward.”
One look at his face told them something was wrong.
“What happened?”
Marcus placed a file on the desk.
“We found the source of the message.”
Edward opened it.
Inside was a name.
A name he never expected.
Daniel Hayes.
Emma frowned.
“Who is that?”
Edward stared at the page.
“Your grandfather’s younger brother.”
Another family member.
Another secret.
“But he died years ago.”
Marcus shook his head.
“That’s what everyone believed.”
Edward felt the same cold feeling return.
“How?”
Marcus opened another document.
“Because someone has been using his identity.”
Emma looked at her father.
“Dad…”
Edward closed the file.
“I thought we were finished.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the document.
“This person has been moving money through your company for years.”
Edward’s eyes narrowed.
“Find him.”
Hours later, they tracked the person to an old family property.
The same property where Edward’s father had kept his private records.
Edward, Emma, and Marcus entered the abandoned house.
Inside, everything was covered in dust.
Then Emma stopped.
“Dad.”
On the wall was a photograph.
A photograph of Edward as a child.
Beside him was his father.
And another person.
A young man.
Daniel.
But there was something strange.
On the back of the picture was a handwritten note.
Edward turned it over.
The message made his blood run cold.
“The child you raised was never yours.”
Emma looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Edward couldn’t answer.
Because the handwriting…
belonged to his father.
And suddenly, a terrifying possibility appeared.
The secret was not about money.
Not about the company.
Not about Sarah.
It was about Edward himself.
Then the lights went out.
A voice came from the darkness.
“You finally found the truth.”
Edward turned.
A man stepped forward.
Older.
Scarred.
But alive.
Daniel Hayes.
And he said:
May you like
“Hello, Edward.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
