Chapter 12 - THE NAME ON THE DOCUMENT
Elena was discharged two weeks later.
Daniel offered her a suite at the mansion.
She refused.
“I can't live there.”
He understood.
Too many memories.
Too much fear.
Instead, Daniel arranged a quiet house near the hospital.
He didn't move in.
He didn't assume she wanted him there.
He visited.
He brought groceries.
He assembled a crib badly.
Elena laughed for the first time in months when he installed one side backward.
“You run a billion-dollar company.”
Daniel stared at the instructions.
“This diagram is criminally unclear.”
“You're holding it upside down.”
He looked.
She was right.
Elena laughed again.
Daniel smiled.
For a few minutes, they were simply two people waiting for their daughter.
Then Elena became serious.
“What happens after she's born?”
Daniel put down the screwdriver.
“Whatever you want.”
“What do you want?”
He looked at her.
“To be her father.”
“And us?”
Daniel was quiet.
“I don't expect you to trust me because I discovered the truth.”
Elena's expression softened.
“I want to earn that.”
She looked down at her belly.
“You didn't cause what happened.”
“I know.”
“But I wasn't there when you needed me.”
“You didn't know.”
Daniel nodded.
“I still want to be there now.”
Elena reached across the table.
Her fingers touched his.
It wasn't forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was a beginning.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
Rachel.
“We found something in your father's legal files.”
“What?”
“A revised ownership document.”
Daniel frowned.
“Ownership of what?”
“Whitmore Industries.”
Daniel stood.
Rachel continued.
“Your father changed the succession structure before he died.”
“To whom?”
Rachel paused.
“Elena.”
Daniel looked across the room at her.
“What?”
“Charles transferred fifteen percent of his personal shares into a trust.”
“For Elena?”
“No.”
May you like
Rachel corrected him.
“For her unborn child.”
