PART 6 — The Secret Behind Our First Meeting

I couldn’t take my eyes off the photograph.
It showed me standing beside my father outside a small coffee shop in downtown Chicago.

I remembered that day.
I remembered the rain.

I remembered my father introducing me to a man he called “a business contact.”

But the man in the photograph wasn’t the stranger I remembered.
It was Marcus Reed.
I looked at him.
“You were there.”

Marcus smiled.
“Yes.”
“Why don’t I remember you?”
“Because your father didn’t want you to.”
Daniel stepped between us.
“Enough.”
Marcus barely looked at him.
“You’ve had nine years to tell her.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I was protecting her.”

Marcus laughed.
“You were protecting yourself.”
I turned toward Daniel.
“Tell me everything.”

He didn’t answer.
“Now.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
Then he finally spoke.
“Your father hired me.”
I frowned.
“For what?”
“To watch you.”
The words made my stomach drop.
“Watch me?”

“Protect you.”
“From whom?”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“From him.”
Marcus laughed.

“Still pretending?”
I stared at both men.
“Why would my father need someone to protect me?”
Daniel took a breath.
“Because after your father discovered the offshore accounts, he realized someone inside the company was feeding information to Marcus.”
“And he thought I was in danger?”
“Yes.”

“So you approached me?”
Daniel nodded.
“You didn’t meet me by accident?”
“No.”
“You knew who I was?”
“From the beginning.”
I felt tears burning my eyes.
“And our first date?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Planned.”
“Our wedding?”
“I fell in love with you.”

I shook my head.
“Don’t say that.”
“It became real.”
“Then why did you keep lying?”
“Because every time I tried to leave, they threatened you.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”

Daniel turned.
“You threatened her.”
Marcus smiled.
“I gave you an opportunity.”
“To do what?”
“To prove your loyalty.”
I looked between them.
“What opportunity?”
Marcus answered.
“Take control of Prescott Logistics.”
My stomach turned.

“And my father?”
“He tried to stop us.”
“Did you kill him?”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.

“No.”
“Then who did?”
He didn’t answer.
Daniel whispered, “I don’t know.”
I looked at him.
“You’re lying.”
“I swear.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
“I found your father after the crash.”
The room seemed to disappear.

“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he was still alive.”
I covered my mouth.
Daniel continued.
“He grabbed my hand.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel looked at the red file.
“He said, ‘Don’t let Claire trust anyone.’”
I felt my heart break.
“Anyone?”
Daniel nodded.

“He meant everyone.”
Marcus suddenly laughed.
“Thomas always was dramatic.”
I turned toward him.
“You knew my father.”
“Very well.”
“Then why did he fear you?”
Marcus didn’t answer.

Instead, he looked at the photograph.
“Your father discovered something that could have destroyed several companies.”

“What?”
“A list.”
“What list?”
“Names of people who had been using Prescott Logistics to move money.”
Nina had been right.
The company wasn’t simply a shipping business.
It had been used as a financial network.
But then I remembered something.
“Why am I the majority shareholder?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Because your father knew you would eventually have to control it.”
I shook my head.
“I never wanted it.”
“That was the point.”

Daniel stepped closer.
“Claire, your father believed that if you controlled the company, no one could legally take it from you.”
“But you tried.”
“I was trying to get you out.”
“You called me a freeloader.”
“I needed everyone to believe you were insignificant.”
“So you could protect me?”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“And the money?”
Daniel hesitated.

“Some of it was protection money.”
“For whom?”
Marcus answered.
“For people who don’t forgive betrayal.”

I stared at him.
Then I noticed something strange.
Marcus wasn’t looking at Daniel anymore.
He was looking at the red file.
His eyes were fixed on it.
“You want this,” I said.
Marcus smiled.
“I need it.”
“Why?”
“Because that file contains evidence that can destroy me.”
I held it tighter.
“And that’s why you came here.”

“Yes.”
“You could have taken it.”
“I could.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Marcus’s smile faded.
“Because your father built a protection clause into it.”
I looked at Daniel.
“What protection clause?”

Marcus said quietly:
“If the file is removed from your possession by force, every document inside it is automatically released.”
My eyes widened.
“Released to whom?”
“Federal investigators.”

Silence.
Marcus stared at me.
“That is why you are still alive.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Claire, give me the file.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I can keep you safe.”

“You’ve been saying that for nine years.”
“I know.”
“Why should I believe you now?”
“Because I finally have nothing left to lose.”
Marcus suddenly pulled out his phone.
He showed us a message.

It was from an unknown sender.
THE WOMAN KNOWS.
Marcus’s expression changed.
“Someone else knows.”
I looked at him.

“Who?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel whispered, “There was never supposed to be anyone else.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Apparently there is.”
Then the basement door slammed shut.
We all turned.
Nina stepped into the room.
She was holding her phone.
“Actually,” she said, “there is.”
Daniel stared at her.
“How did you get here?”
Nina smiled.
“You left your GPS-enabled company vehicle outside the building.”
Daniel looked confused.
Nina walked toward me.
“I traced the corporate security system.”
Then she held up a second folder.

“I also found something.”
“What?”
She opened it.

Inside was a photograph.
Not of my father.
Not of Marcus.
Not of Daniel.

It was Melissa.
Standing beside Marcus.
Six years ago.
I stared at the picture.
Melissa wasn’t laughing.
She wasn’t smiling.

She looked terrified.
I looked at Daniel.
“Your sister knew.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“No.”
Nina placed another photograph beside it.
Melissa handing Marcus an envelope.
Then another.

Melissa entering a bank.
Then another.
Melissa signing a corporate transfer.
I felt my chest tighten.
“She wasn’t helping you steal from the company.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“She was working for Marcus.”
Marcus’s expression suddenly changed.
“That isn’t possible.”
Nina looked at him.
“Then you should explain why your own surveillance team photographed her meeting you eleven times.”

Marcus said nothing.
I looked at Daniel.
“You said your family was helping you.”
“They were.”
“No.”
I pointed at the photographs.

“They were helping him.”
Daniel looked completely shattered.
Then his phone rang.
The screen showed Melissa’s name.
He answered.
“Melissa?”
Her voice came through, shaking.
“Daniel…”
“What did you do?”

Silence.
Then she whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“What did you do?”
Melissa began crying.
“I didn’t know how to stop it.”
Marcus stepped closer to the phone.
“Where are you?”
Melissa didn’t answer him.
Instead, she said:
“Claire…”
I took the phone.
“Yes?”

“You need to listen carefully.”
“I am.”
“Dad wasn’t the one who started this.”
I frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Melissa sobbed.
“The person who started everything…”

She paused.
Then whispered:
“…was your father.”
I stared at the phone.
Nina stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at me.
And Marcus suddenly backed away from us.
Because whatever Melissa was about to reveal wasn’t a secret about Daniel.
It wasn’t a secret about Marcus.
It was a secret about my father.
And it could change everything I believed about the man who had raised me.
TO BE CONTINUED IN  PART 7..
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