CHAPTER 13: THE FATHER'S SECRET
CHAPTER 13: THE FATHER'S SECRET
The name on the screen refused to disappear.
I stared at it.
Over and over again.
THOMAS HALE.
My father.
The man who taught me honesty.
The man who told me that family was everything.
The man whose old letter had warned Daniel Cross to protect me.
And now...
His name was attached to a file called:
VICTORIA HALE - ORIGINAL TARGET PROFILE.
I couldn't breathe.
"No."
The word came out quietly.
Almost like a denial.
Almost like a prayer.
Natalie looked at me carefully.
"Victoria..."
"No."
I shook my head.
"My father wouldn't do this."
Emily didn't speak.
And somehow...
That silence hurt more than words.
Because Emily knew something.
I turned toward her.
"You knew?"
She looked away.
"Not this."
"Then what?"
Emily hesitated.
"I knew your father was involved in something bigger than Daniel told you."
I felt betrayed.
"Everyone knew something except me."
Nobody answered.
Because it was true.
My entire life suddenly felt like a story everyone else had already read.
Except me.
I took the laptop.
I opened the file myself.
Inside were pages of information.
My childhood.
My education.
My career.
My relationships.
Every major event in my life.
It was detailed.
Too detailed.
My hands tightened.
"This isn't possible."
Natalie leaned closer.
"Why?"
"Because some of this information is from after my father died."
The room became silent.
Emily looked at me.
"Are you sure?"
I pointed.
"This date."
My finger landed on the screen.
"Three years after he passed away."
Natalie frowned.
"Then someone continued the file."
Exactly.
Someone had access.
Someone had been watching me.
But who?
The next document answered one question.
And created ten more.
It was a letter.
From my father.
But not the same letter Daniel had.
This one was addressed to someone else.
To the person protecting my daughter.
My heart raced.
I opened it.
The words appeared:
If you are reading this, then I am no longer able to protect Victoria myself.
I stopped.
My eyes blurred.
My father knew he was in danger.
He knew something would happen.
The letter continued.
I created this file not to harm my daughter, but to protect her.
I looked at Emily.
"Protect me?"
She nodded slowly.
"Keep reading."
The letter continued.
Daniel Cross is not the only threat.
My heart sank.
Another threat?
The greatest danger is not the man seeking revenge. It is the person who taught him how.
I read the sentence again.
The person who taught him.
Richard Cross?
Maybe.
But then came the next line.
And everything changed.
I discovered that someone inside my own family was working with Richard Cross.
I froze.
My family?
No.
That couldn't be right.
I kept reading.
I could not reveal the truth without putting Victoria in danger.
The letter ended with one sentence:
The person she trusts most may be the person she should fear.
I closed the laptop.
My hands were shaking.
"My father knew."
Emily nodded.
"He was trying to protect you."
"But he lied to me."
"Sometimes people hide the truth because they believe it's safer."
I looked at her.
"And sometimes they hide it because they're guilty."
Nobody spoke.
Because that possibility existed too.
That night, I went back to my childhood home.
It had been empty since my father's death.
I hadn't returned in years.
Too many memories.
Too many unanswered questions.
The house felt smaller than I remembered.
But the silence felt heavier.
I walked into his office.
The room smelled like old books.
Like him.
For a moment, I almost expected him to walk in.
Almost.
I opened drawers.
Checked shelves.
Looked behind paintings.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
My father had a habit.
Whenever he hid something important...
He never hid it where people searched.
He hid it where memories lived.
I walked toward the old family photograph on the wall.
Behind it was a small compartment.
My hands froze.
Inside was a key.
And a note.
Only three words.
"For Victoria. Alone."
My heart pounded.
The key opened a small safe under his desk.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A recording device.
And one file.
The name on it made my blood run cold.
DANIEL CROSS.
The first page was dated twenty years earlier.
My father had been investigating Daniel since he was young.
Not because Daniel was dangerous.
Because he believed Daniel was being manipulated.
I read faster.
My father discovered Richard Cross's crimes.
He discovered the financial fraud.
The lies.
The manipulation.
But then he discovered something else.
A relationship.
Between Richard Cross and someone in my family.
Someone close.
Someone who helped him hide everything.
I reached the final page.
The name was covered.
Not removed.
Covered.
As if my father wanted me to discover it only when I was ready.
I lifted the paper.
And underneath...
Was a name.
My mother's.
I dropped the file.
No.
Impossible.
My mother had died when I was young.
She was the person who taught me kindness.
The person who loved my father.
The person I barely remembered.
"This can't be real."
But the evidence was there.
My father had investigated my mother.
The recording device had one file.
I pressed play.
My father's voice filled the room.
Older.
Tired.
Broken.
"Victoria..."
I closed my eyes.
Hearing him again almost destroyed me.
"If you are hearing this, then you finally found the truth."
A pause.
"I wanted to tell you everything."
His voice shook.
"But I was afraid."
The recording continued.
"Your mother was not who you believed she was."
I felt my chest tighten.
"She made choices that hurt our family."
A pause.
"But she also tried to fix them."
I whispered:
"What did you do?"
My father's voice continued.
"She was the reason Richard Cross discovered my investigation."
I froze.
"She was the reason Daniel's father knew I had evidence."
My hands covered my mouth.
But then my father said something unexpected.
"And she was also the reason I saved Daniel."
The recording ended.
I sat alone in the dark.
My entire understanding of my family had collapsed.
Daniel wasn't the only person carrying a secret.
My father had secrets.
My mother had secrets.
The Cross family had secrets.
Everyone had been hiding something.
But one question remained.
Why did my father warn Daniel to protect me?
Why did he trust the son of the man who destroyed his life?
And why...
Did my mother help create the disaster that ruined both families?
The next morning, Daniel received a message.
From an unknown number.
One sentence.
"Victoria knows about Eleanor."
His face turned pale.
Because there was one secret he feared more than all the others.
Not the money.
Not the investigation.
Not the company.
Eleanor.
The woman who connected both families.
The woman whose truth could destroy everything.
Daniel looked out the window.
For the first time...
He wasn't planning an attack.
He was afraid.
Because Victoria was no longer searching for answers.
She had found the door.
May you like
And behind that door...
Was the truth that even Daniel Cross had spent his entire life running from.
