Chapter 3
Victor stared at the broken glass.
“That authorization was forged.”
Dad did not blink.
“The digital signature is yours.”
“Then someone stole it.”
Marcus shook his head.
“The transfers came from your office terminal.”
Victor’s face reddened.
“You think I paid Ryan to marry Emily?”
“I think you owe us an explanation,” Dad said.
Mom stepped between them.
“Daniel, this is your brother.”
“And Emily is my daughter.”
Victor placed both hands on the desk.
“I made those payments, but not for what you think.”
Silence filled the study.
I felt as if the floor had disappeared beneath me.
“How long have you known Ryan?” I asked.
Victor avoided my eyes.
“About four years.”
Ryan and I had been married for three.
Victor explained that Ryan had approached him with evidence of illegal sales inside the company.
Someone was shipping restricted technology through fake medical suppliers.
Ryan demanded money to keep quiet.
Victor paid him.
“You let a criminal into our family?” Dad shouted.
“I didn’t introduce them!”
“But you recognized him when Emily brought him home.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
Victor’s voice cracked.
“He threatened to expose everything.”
“What exactly were you afraid he would expose?” I asked.
Victor looked at Mom.
She began crying.
Dad turned toward her.
“Margaret?”
Mom lowered herself into a chair.
The truth came slowly.
Years earlier, Victor had borrowed money from the company to cover her private medical treatment.
She had been diagnosed with a heart condition and needed an experimental procedure overseas.
Insurance refused to pay.
Mom had begged Victor not to tell Dad because Dad was already recovering from a serious injury.
Victor moved the money through false accounts.
Ryan discovered it.
“He said Daniel would lose the company,” Mom whispered. “He said Victor would go to prison.”
Dad looked wounded.
“You lied to me for six years.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“No. You gave Ryan a weapon.”
Mom covered her face.
I wanted to comfort her, but anger held me in place.
Everyone had hidden something.
Everyone had decided the truth was too dangerous for me.
Meanwhile, I had married the man they feared.
A phone rang in the hallway.
Marcus answered it.
His expression hardened.
“That was the police.”
Ryan had been released on bail.
I could not breathe.
“How?” Dad demanded.
“His attorney argued that your team used excessive force and entered the house illegally.”
“He was attacking my daughter.”
“The recording from Emily’s ring should prove that, but the police say the audio file is damaged.”
I looked at Marcus.
“You said it recorded everything.”
“It did.”
“Then how is it damaged?”
He checked his tablet.
The signal had reached the company server, but someone had erased twenty-three seconds from the recording.
The missing section began when Ryan raised the belt.
Without it, the file contained only my slap, Dad’s entry, and Ryan’s arrest.
Ryan had turned my rescue into evidence against us.
“There’s a leak on the security team,” Marcus said.
Dad immediately ordered every employee’s access suspended.
Then the lights went out.
Mom screamed.
A crash came from the back of the house.
Dad pulled me down behind the desk.
Marcus used his phone flashlight.
The security system was dead.
“Stay here,” Dad ordered.
He and Marcus moved into the hallway.
I heard the back door slam.
Then an engine roared outside.
By the time power returned, Victor was gone.
So was the flash drive.
Dad’s face became stone.
“He ran.”
Mom shook her head.
“No. Victor wouldn’t betray us.”
“He already did.”
I looked through the window.
A dark car disappeared beyond the front gate.
My phone vibrated.
The message came from Ryan.
Did your father tell you the whole truth?
A photograph followed.
It showed Victor sitting in the passenger seat of Ryan’s car.
Ryan was smiling behind the wheel.
Then another message appeared.
Come home tomorrow at noon. Alone.
If you bring your father, Uncle Victor dies.
I showed Dad.
“We’re calling the police,” he said.
“No.”
“Emily—”
“Ryan has someone inside the department. He got released, and our evidence disappeared.”
“You are not meeting him.”
“He doesn’t want me. He wants Project Ruby.”
Dad shook his head.
“He wants both.”
Mom grabbed my arm.
“You can’t risk your life for Victor.”
I stared at her.
“You risked our entire family to protect him.”
Her hand fell away.
I went upstairs and locked myself in my childhood bedroom.
For the first time, I allowed myself to cry.
My marriage was a lie.
My uncle had betrayed us.
My mother had hidden the truth.
And my father had built the technology that started it all.
Then I noticed something beneath my bedroom door.
A white envelope had been pushed inside.
On the front, someone had written my name.
May you like
Inside was a photograph of me sleeping in that same room.
It had been taken less than an hour earlier.
