Chapter 7 - The Corporate Shadow
Daniel slammed the folder shut, causing the landlord to jump back in alarm.
""Keep the cash,"" Daniel said coldly, tossing the thick wad of bills onto the messy desk. ""And if anyone asks about me or this little girl, you never saw us. Understand?""
The landlord snatched the money greedily, nodding frantically. ""Crystal clear, mister. I don't see nothin', I don't know nothin'.""
Daniel scooped Mia up into his arms, ignoring her slight gasp of surprise, and carried her swiftly out of the building into the cool autumn air. He buckled her securely into the backseat of his parked sedan, locking all the doors before sliding into the driver's seat.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, expecting a message from his office assistant, but instead saw an incoming secure encrypted alert from his private investigator, Marcus.
Daniel tapped the screen and hit speakerphone.
""Marcus. Talk to me,"" Daniel said, his voice tense.
“Boss, you’re not going to believe what we just dug up from the international transit archives,” Marcus’s voice came through crisp and urgent. “Remember when your wife’s plane went down in the Swiss Alps three years ago, and your uncle Arthur handled the entire estate settlement?”
""Yes,"" Daniel gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. ""Get to the point.""
“There were no bodies recovered, Daniel. None. The Swiss coroner’s report was sealed under a federal national security exemption requested by Vance Enterprises. Your uncle didn't bury your wife. He hid her.”
Daniel stared straight ahead through the windshield at the decaying brick buildings. The pieces were snapping together with terrifying, brutal precision.
""Why?"" Daniel whispered. ""Why would Arthur hide her?""
“Because of the primary voting shares in Vance-Sterling Global,” Marcus explained rapidly. “Your wife inherited thirty percent of the parent company from her grandfather—shares that your uncle desperately needed to complete the hostile merger. If she died intestate, those shares reverted to the corporate trust under his control. If she lived... he was ruined.”
""She didn't die,"" Daniel said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register. ""She survived the crash. She lost her memory—trauma amnesia. And somehow, she ended up living in a basement two miles from my office.""
“Boss, if Arthur finds out you found her... he’ll eliminate the loose ends. Both of them.”
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Daniel looked into the rearview mirror. Mia was peering back at him with big, worried eyes, sucking nervously on her thumb.
""He won't get the chance,"" Daniel vowed. ""Send a secure extraction team to Pine Street immediately. We're moving them to the safehouse in the hills tonight.""
