Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew Daniel Before He Became a BillionaireThe next morning, Daniel received a message from Olivia.
Meet me at Westbrook. Alone.
He almost ignored it.
Then he remembered the note.
By nine o'clock, he was sitting across from her in the university library.
She placed a folder on the table.
“I found something.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside were old reunion planning documents.
Emails.
Invoices.
Photographs.
Then he found the strange image.
It showed Daniel standing outside a small bank branch twelve years earlier.
He was holding a contract folder.
Marcus Hale stood beside him.
Daniel frowned.
“I've never seen this.”
“I know.”
“Who took it?”
“That's what I'm trying to determine.”
Then Olivia placed another photograph on the table.
This one showed Ethan.
Talking to Marcus.
Daniel's blood went cold.
“When was this taken?”
“Fourteen years ago.”
Daniel stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Marcus disappeared thirteen years ago.”
Olivia nodded.
“Exactly.”
Daniel leaned back.
He remembered Marcus.
His first real partner.
Brilliant.
Charming.
Ambitious.
And eventually greedy.
Marcus had convinced Daniel to accept outside investment.
Then the money vanished.
Daniel nearly lost everything.
He had been forced to rebuild from scratch.
He had always believed Marcus had run away after stealing from him.
But now he wondered.
“What if he didn't disappear?”
Olivia looked at him.
“That's what I thought.”
Daniel stood.
“We need to find him.”
“You already did.”
He froze.
“What?”
Olivia slid a newspaper clipping toward him.
A recent photograph.
A man named Michael Hale had been appointed chairman of a private investment group.
The photograph was older.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Marcus.
Daniel sat back down.
“He changed his name.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he's not just connected to Ethan.”
She pointed to the company's board members.
One name stood out.
Richard Blake.
Ethan's father.
Daniel stared.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Ethan hadn't humiliated him because he thought Daniel was poor.
He had humiliated him because he was afraid.
Daniel had unknowingly built a billion-dollar company while sitting on evidence that could destroy the Blake family.
But there was one problem.
Daniel didn't know what that evidence was.
Until Lily came home that evening.
She walked into the kitchen carrying an old cardboard box.
“Dad?”
Daniel looked up.
“What's that?”
“I found it in the storage room.”
She placed it on the table.
“Grandma told me never to throw away your old stuff.”
Daniel opened the box.
Old notebooks.
College papers.
Photographs.
Then he saw it.
A small black flash drive.
His initials were written across it.
D.C.
Daniel stared.
“I've never seen this.”
Lily looked at him.
“Should I leave?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated.
“Dad?”
“What?”
“Whatever is on there, you don't have to face it alone.”
Daniel smiled.
“Where did you learn to say things like that?”
“From you.”
She kissed his cheek.
Then left.
Daniel inserted the drive.
One folder appeared.
PROJECT ORCHARD.
He opened it.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Bank transfers.
Shipping manifests.
Names.
Payments.
And one spreadsheet connecting Richard Blake to Marcus Hale.
Daniel read the final line.
Then stopped.
Because the last transaction had been made fifteen years ago.
The amount was $250,000.
The recipient was Rachel Carter.
Lily's mother.
Daniel stared at the screen.
His hands went cold.
May you like
Rachel hadn't simply left.
Someone had paid her.
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