Daniel could not look away from the rear window.
The man standing outside the warehouse had disappeared behind the corner, but his face remained fixed in Daniel's mind.
His father.
Not a resemblance.
Not a stranger with similar features.
His father.
The same narrow jaw. The same gray eyes. The same slight tilt of the head whenever he listened before answering.
Daniel's breathing became shallow.
“My father died eight years ago,” he said.
No one answered.
Maya sat beside him, still clutching the ledger.
Robert stared straight ahead.
Claire drove without speaking.
Ethan looked from one face to another.
Finally, Maya said, “I know what I saw.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You saw someone who looked like him.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand exactly what I saw.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“My father was in a coffin.”
Maya's voice softened.
“You saw a body.”
“I identified him.”
“Did you?”
Daniel stopped.
The question landed harder than she intended.
He remembered that day.
The hospital.
The police.
His mother crying in a corridor.
A funeral arranged within forty-eight hours.
He remembered being told not to look closely because the accident had damaged the body.
He had accepted that explanation because he had been twenty-seven and broken.
Now, eight years later, every detail felt suspicious.
Ethan spoke from the back seat.
“Dan.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You remember the funeral?”
“Of course.”
“Do you remember seeing his face?”
Daniel's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Ethan leaned forward.
“I don't.”
Claire glanced at them through the mirror.
“Neither do I.”
Daniel looked at Robert.
“You knew.”
Robert finally turned.
“I suspected.”
“That isn't good enough.”
“I never had proof.”
“You saw him.”
“Tonight, yes.”
“And before?”
Robert hesitated.
“Once.”
Maya tightened her grip on the ledger.
“When?”
“Six months after the funeral.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Where?”
“Lisbon.”
The car went silent.
Daniel laughed once.
It was an empty sound.
“You saw my father alive and said nothing?”
“I was protecting your mother.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
Robert accepted the accusation without argument.
Maya leaned forward.
“Tell us everything.”
Robert looked at the road.
“Your father approached me.”
“Why?”
“He wanted the ledger.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Why would he need it?”
“Because he believed it contained evidence that could destroy him.”
“Did it?”
“Eventually.”
Maya opened the ledger.
“What did he do?”
Robert looked at her.
“He didn't simply help build the network.”
Robert paused.
“He designed part of it.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
His father had always been the man who taught him that business was about discipline.
Every Sunday morning, he had told Daniel that a man's word was worth more than a contract.
Now the contradiction was almost unbearable.
“What was his name in the network?” Daniel asked.
Robert answered quietly.
“David Hayes.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“That is his real name.”
“No.”
Robert looked at him.
“His name in the network was Daniel Hayes.”
Maya stared.
Daniel went still.
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“He used my name?”
“He used your identity.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to create a clean successor.”
Maya understood.
“The reason those transactions appeared under Daniel's identity.”
Robert nodded.
“He planned for you to inherit everything.”
Daniel looked at the ledger.
“And the debt?”
“Would have followed you.”
Maya's eyes narrowed.
“So your father intended to make Daniel the legal owner of the network.”
“Yes.”
Daniel whispered, “Why?”
Robert's answer was simple.
“Because you were the one person nobody would suspect.”
Ethan looked down.
“That explains the bank footage.”
Maya turned.
“What?”
“The man pretending to be me.”
Robert nodded.
“Your father's people had access to old photographs, records, signatures, and biometric information.”
Ethan's face tightened.
“Victor collected my fingerprints.”
“Yes.”
“Because they needed someone young enough to impersonate.”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at Daniel.
“Why Ethan?”
Robert answered.
“Because Daniel's identity was already too visible.”
Ethan looked at his brother.
“So they used me as the second layer.”
Robert nodded.
The car slowed as Claire approached a red light.
Maya looked down at the ledger.
One page had been folded at the corner.
She opened it.
There was a handwritten note.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Daniel's father.
Maya read aloud.
“Daniel must never know until the transfer is complete.”
Daniel's face went white.
The transfer.
He understood.
“The trust.”
Robert nodded.
“Your father wanted the trust transferred into the network.”
“But my mother stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“And that's why she disappeared.”
“Yes.”
Maya turned to her mother.
“You knew he was alive.”
Her mother looked at Daniel.
“I knew he might be.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You lied to me.”
“I was afraid.”
“You watched me mourn him.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I watched you survive.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
She looked down.
“I know.”
Daniel turned toward the window.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then his phone rang.
The investigator.
Daniel answered.
“Hello?”
The man's voice was urgent.
“We need you to come in.”
“Why?”
“We found something in Adrian Cross's files.”
“What?”
“A death certificate.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“For who?”
The investigator paused.
“David Hayes.”
Daniel looked at Maya.
The investigator continued.
“The certificate was altered.”
Daniel whispered, “What does that mean?”
“It means your father's death may have been staged.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The call ended.
Maya placed her hand over his.
He did not pull away.
The gesture was small.
But it mattered.
The car turned toward the investigators' office.
Then Claire suddenly slammed on the brakes.
Everyone lurched forward.
A black SUV had pulled across the road.
Three men stepped out.
Robert immediately reached for the door.
“Stay inside.”
One of the men raised a weapon.
Claire reversed.
The tires screamed.
The SUV moved toward them.
Claire turned sharply onto a side road.
The men followed.
Maya held the ledger against her chest.
Daniel grabbed the seat.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere crowded,” Claire said.
Robert looked behind them.
“They're not trying to stop us.”
Maya looked at him.
“What are they trying to do?”
Robert's expression darkened.
“They want the ledger.”
The pursuit lasted less than five minutes.
Claire drove into a police station parking lot.
The black SUV stopped at the entrance.
The men immediately turned away.
Police officers came running.
The SUV disappeared.
Claire exhaled.
Maya looked at Robert.
“You knew they would come.”
“I expected them eventually.”
“No.”
She held up the ledger.
“They came because someone told them we had this.”
Robert said nothing.
Maya's eyes narrowed.
“Who knew?”
Robert looked at her.
“You.”
“Daniel.”
“Ethan.”
“Claire.”
“Your mother.”
“Me.”
Robert nodded.
“And the investigator.”
Maya went still.
Someone had leaked their location.
Daniel looked at his phone.
A new message had arrived.
No number.
Only four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED ME.
Daniel showed Maya.
She stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
ASK ROBERT ABOUT THE SECOND LEDGER.
Robert's expression changed.
Maya saw it.
“You have another one.”
Robert looked away.
“You do.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
He answered quietly.
“Your mother's house.”
Maya's heart sank.
They had left it unguarded.
And suddenly she knew where the attackers were going next.
Click Here to continue read next: PART14: The Second Ledger Was Hidden Beneath Maya’s Childhood Home, Where One Final Record Revealed Who Had Ordered Her Mother’s Disappearance
The Receipt in Her Hands Revealed a Number That Made the Man Outside Forget What He Had Promised Her
Part 13 of 16
