Chapter 2 — The Secret Behind His Silence

Elena waited until Damian returned home.

She placed the investigation folder on the dining table.

“Explain this.”

Damian stopped walking.

For the first time since she had met him, she saw genuine surprise in his eyes.

“You found it.”

“You’ve been investigating my father’s death.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t know who I could trust.”

Elena stepped closer.

“You could have trusted me.”

Damian looked at her for several seconds.

“Could I?”

She hated the question because she knew what he meant.

Someone inside her father’s company had helped cover up the truth.

Someone had erased security footage.

Someone had transferred millions of dollars from accounts shortly before Adrian died.

And someone had convinced the police that the crash was an accident.

Damian opened another file.

“Your father was preparing to expose someone.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“But you suspected someone.”

Damian handed her a photograph.

It showed Adrian standing beside Elena’s uncle, Victor Vale.

Elena’s hands trembled.

“My uncle?”

“Three days before your father died, Adrian transferred control of an offshore account.”

“To whom?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

Elena shook her head.

“My uncle raised me.”

“That doesn’t mean he isn’t hiding something.”

She wanted to reject his words.

But then she remembered something.

The night before her father’s death, she had heard Adrian arguing with Victor.

She had forgotten most of the conversation.

Except one sentence.

“If anything happens to me, the truth will destroy you.”

Elena suddenly felt cold.

That night, Damian showed her the evidence he had collected over eight months.

There were bank records.

Phone calls.

Photographs.

Missing security footage.

And a mysterious woman named Clara Reed.

Clara had been Adrian’s financial adviser.

She had disappeared two days after his death.

“Where is she now?” Elena asked.

“I found her.”

Damian slid a piece of paper across the table.

An address.

Elena looked up.

“You found her?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

But they never reached Clara’s house.

On the way there, their car was forced off the road.

Damian immediately grabbed Elena and pulled her down.

A bullet struck the windshield.

Another shattered the side mirror.

Someone was trying to stop them.

Damian drove through a narrow alley and finally escaped.

When they stopped, Elena’s hands were shaking.

Damian turned toward her.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

He reached for her face.

She instinctively moved away.

Then she saw blood on his sleeve.

“You’ve been shot.”

“It’s nothing.”

“It is not nothing.”

She tore a piece of fabric from her dress and wrapped his arm.

For a moment, neither spoke.

The hatred Elena had carried for months suddenly became complicated.

Damian had risked his life to protect her.

Later that night, they found Clara.

She was hiding in a small coastal town.

The woman looked terrified when she saw Damian.

Then she saw Elena.

“You’re Adrian’s daughter.”

“Yes.”

Clara began to cry.

“Your father knew he was going to die.”

Elena’s breath caught.

“What?”

Clara opened an old metal box.

Inside was a letter.

Adrian had written it three days before his death.

If my daughter ever reads this, tell her not to trust the people closest to her.

Elena looked at Damian.

Clara continued.

“Your father discovered that someone had been stealing money from the company for years.”

“Who?”

Clara’s face went pale.

“He discovered the money was being transferred into an account controlled by…”

She stopped.

Footsteps sounded outside.

Damian immediately stood.

Someone was approaching the house.

Then the lights went out.

A voice came from the darkness.

“Elena.”

She recognized it.

It was her uncle.

Victor Vale.