Chapter 4 - The Secret Daniel Hid From Me
For the next thirty seconds, nobody spoke.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
The kind of silence that comes after someone drops a bomb and walks away.
I stared at the front door where Kelsey had disappeared.
“Margaret.”
My voice sounded different.
Smaller.
“What happened three days before Daniel died?”
Margaret didn’t answer.
And that scared me more than anything.
Because Margaret Sloan always had an answer.
She was the woman who could walk into a courtroom full of powerful people and make them nervous.
She never hesitated.
Never.
But now she looked away.
“Emily…”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“Don’t protect me from the truth.”
She sighed.
“I promised Daniel I would only tell you when the right time came.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“The right time?”
Margaret looked around the room.
Then she picked up the damaged photograph from the desk.
“Three days before the accident, Daniel came to my office.”
I swallowed.
“What did he say?”
“He was worried.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
The answer hit me harder than I expected.
I looked down.
“Daniel knew?”
Margaret nodded.
“He knew Richard had been asking questions about the company.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Questions about ownership. Assets. Accounts.”
My hands curled into fists.
“So my father was planning this before Daniel died.”
“Yes.”
The word hung in the air.
I walked toward the window.
Outside, the neighborhood looked exactly the same.
Cars passing.
Neighbors walking their dogs.
People living normal lives.
But my world had changed.
“Why didn’t Daniel tell me?”
Margaret’s voice softened.
“Because he didn’t want you afraid.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Instead, he left me unprepared.”
“No.”
Margaret shook her head.
“He left you protected.”
She opened her folder again.
“There’s something else.”
I turned around.
“What?”
“Daniel suspected someone inside your family was helping Richard.”
My heart sank.
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
“Did he suspect Kelsey?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The way Kelsey watched the house.
The way she talked about Daniel’s money.
The way she looked at me like I was an obstacle.
“She married my father because of this.”
Margaret didn’t deny it.
“She may have.”
A cold feeling spread through my body.
My father was sixty.
Kelsey was twenty-four.
Everyone thought their marriage was strange.
But I never imagined it was a business arrangement.
“Daniel knew he was in danger.”
Margaret nodded.
“He created a backup plan.”
“What kind of backup plan?”
She reached into the folder.
A small flash drive sat inside.
“He gave me this.”
I stared at it.
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
I picked it up.
“It contains copies of documents, recordings, and information Daniel collected.”
“Why didn’t you show me before?”
“Because Daniel gave me strict instructions.”
Margaret looked at me.
“He said, ‘If anything happens to me, don’t give Emily everything at once. Give her enough time to grieve. Then give her the truth.’”
My eyes burned.
Daniel knew.
Somewhere deep down, he knew something could happen.
And he was trying to protect me.
I held the flash drive tightly.
“Play it.”
Margaret looked surprised.
“Emily—”
“Play it.”
We connected the drive to Daniel’s computer.
A single video file appeared.
Created five days before his death.
My hands started shaking.
Margaret clicked.
Daniel appeared on the screen.
My husband.
Alive.
Smiling sadly.
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
“Emily,” he said.
I covered my mouth.
Because hearing his voice again broke something inside me.
“If you’re watching this…”
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“I’m sorry.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“I wanted to tell you everything myself.”
He paused.
“But if you’re seeing this, it means I didn’t get the chance.”
My heart shattered.
Daniel leaned closer.
“There are people around us who don’t want you and our child to have what I built.”
I stopped breathing.
“Your father is one of them.”
The room went cold.
Margaret looked at me.
But I couldn’t look away.
Daniel continued.
“Emily, I need you to do something.”
His expression became serious.
“Trust nobody who suddenly acts like they’re protecting you.”
The screen flickered.
Then Daniel said the words that changed everything.
“The person who betrayed me is someone you would never expect.”
The video stopped.
The screen went black.
I stared at it.
“Who?”
Margaret whispered.
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Then Daniel’s computer made a sound.
A new message appeared.
Incoming file.
Sender:
Daniel Mercer.
May you like
Created:
Three hours after his death.
