They drove until the storage facility disappeared behind them.
Nobody spoke for nearly ten minutes.
Rain began again, tapping against the windshield in a steady rhythm. Daniel kept both hands on the wheel, his knuckles pale. Elena sat behind him, staring through the window. Mara held the folder against her chest and watched the road.
Finally she said, “Victor had the photograph.”
Daniel nodded.
“I saw.”
“He wanted us to know he has it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Elena did.
“Because he wants us frightened.”
Mara turned toward her.
“That stopped working years ago.”
Her mother gave a tired smile.
“No. Fear doesn't stop working. People simply learn to hide it.”
They drove another mile before Daniel pulled into an empty roadside parking area. He shut off the engine.
“We can't go home.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if Victor followed us there, he knows where we live.”
Elena shook her head.
“He knows more than that.”
Daniel turned.
“What do you mean?”
“He knows about you.”
“Me?”
“He has known about you since your father's death.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You're saying he watched me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father left something with your father.”
Daniel's brow furrowed.
“My father?”
Elena nodded.
“Your father received evidence from Mara's father. He was supposed to pass it to a lawyer.”
“What happened?”
“He changed his mind.”
“Why?”
“He discovered the lawyer was working for Victor.”
Daniel looked down.
“So my father kept it.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor killed him.”
“I believe so.”
Mara interrupted.
“Then why did Victor tell Daniel that my father destroyed his life?”
Elena looked at her daughter.
“Because Victor needed Daniel angry.”
Daniel's eyes closed.
“He used me.”
“He used your grief.”
Daniel looked at Mara.
“And he used you to get to me.”
The realization settled heavily between them.
Mara thought about their first meeting.
Daniel had approached her at a bookstore.
He had asked about a book she was holding.
She had laughed.
He had remembered her coffee order after their second date.
He had met her friends.
He had sat beside her mother's hospital bed years later when Elena was sick.
Those memories had been real.
But the beginning had been built on information she had never been given.
“Did you ever love me?” Mara asked.
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
The answer came without hesitation.
“When?”
“I don't know.”
“That isn't good enough.”
“I know.”
He swallowed.
“Maybe the first time I realized it was the night you called me because your car wouldn't start.”
Mara remembered.
She had been stranded outside her office in winter.
Daniel had driven forty minutes to get her.
He had arrived with coffee.
“You were shaking,” he said. “Not because you were cold. Because you were embarrassed that you needed help.”
Mara looked down.
“I remember.”
“I remember thinking I didn't want anyone else to be the person you called.”
Her eyes burned.
“That was real?”
“Yes.”
She looked away.
Elena watched them silently.
Then she said, “There is something you both need to hear.”
They turned.
“Your fathers weren't enemies.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“They were brothers.”
Mara stared.
The words seemed impossible.
Daniel laughed once.
“That isn't possible.”
“They had different mothers.”
Mara looked at Elena.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“And you never told me.”
“I promised your father.”
“Which father?”
“Both of them.”
Daniel turned away.
Elena continued.
“Your father and Mara's father discovered the truth about their family after their own fathers died. They found out they had the same biological father.”
Mara's thoughts raced.
“So Daniel and I…”
“Are not related,” Elena said immediately. “Their mothers were different, and neither man was your biological father.”
Mara let out a breath.
Daniel looked stunned.
“Then why keep it secret?”
“Because their father had built Bellweather using stolen money.”
Mara looked at the documents.
“The company?”
“Yes.”
“And Victor?”
“Victor was his closest associate.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My father knew him.”
“He trusted him.”
“And Victor betrayed him.”
“He betrayed both men.”
Elena looked at Mara.
“Your father found evidence that Victor had been stealing from Bellweather for years. Your father wanted to expose him.”
“And Daniel's father?”
“He agreed.”
Mara stared at the ledger.
“So why did my father die first?”
Elena's voice dropped.
“Because Victor discovered the plan.”
Daniel leaned back.
“And my father died six months later.”
“Yes.”
“Why wait?”
“Victor needed him to retrieve something.”
“What?”
Elena looked at the folder.
“The original ledger.”
Mara lifted it.
“This?”
“No. That is a copy.”
Mara's heart sank.
“Then where is the original?”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“Your father hid it.”
“Where?”
“He told me only one person could find it.”
“Who?”
Elena hesitated.
“You.”
Daniel stared.
“Me?”
“He left a clue.”
“What clue?”
Elena reached into her handbag.
She pulled out a small photograph.
It showed Daniel as a child standing in front of his father's office.
On the back was a sentence.
THE BOY WILL KNOW WHEN HE SEES THE DOOR.
Daniel studied the photograph.
Then his expression changed.
“The blue door.”
Mara frowned.
“What blue door?”
“My father's office.”
“You said it was destroyed.”
“The building was demolished.”
Daniel turned the photograph over again.
“The door wasn't part of the building.”
Elena looked at him.
“You remember?”
“I remember my father telling me never to open it.”
Mara stared.
“Where is it?”
Daniel looked toward the highway.
“His childhood workshop.”
They drove before sunrise.
The workshop stood behind an abandoned farmhouse.
The building looked untouched by time.
Daniel unlocked the rusted front door.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Old tools.
Boxes.
A wooden workbench.
And at the back stood a blue door.
Mara felt her pulse rise.
Daniel approached it.
There was no handle.
Only a brass keyhole.
He took the old brass key from Mara.
It fit.
The door opened.
Behind it was a narrow room.
At the center stood a metal cabinet.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a single folder.
He pulled it out.
The first page carried Victor Hale's name.
The second carried his father's.
The third carried Mara's father's.
Then Daniel found the final page.
It was signed by someone neither of them expected.
Elena.
Daniel turned slowly.
His mother looked at the signature.
Her face went white.
“I never signed that.”
Mara took the page.
The signature was unmistakably Elena's.
But beneath it was a handwritten sentence.
I WILL DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO PROTECT MY DAUGHTER.
Daniel looked at her.
“What did you agree to?”
Elena began to cry.
“I made a deal.”
“With Victor?”
“Yes.”
Mara felt the room close around her.
“What did you give him?”
Elena whispered, “Your father's location.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: The Deal Elena Made to Save Her Daughter Finally Comes to Light, and Daniel Must Choose Between Revenge and the Truth
She Smiled for the Photograph, Then Noticed the Envelope Hidden Beneath His Hand
Part 6 of 8
