“I really am.”
He ended the call before Daniel could ask anything else.
Over the next two days, the police and Mercer’s security team followed the digital trail.
Michael stayed away from it.
He went to work.
He picked Emily up from school.
He cooked macaroni because it was Wednesday and Emily had decided Wednesdays belonged to macaroni.
Then Daniel returned to his house.
This time Claire came with him.
She looked different in daylight.
Younger, somehow.
Less like the polished daughter of a powerful businessman and more like someone who had not slept properly in three nights.
Emily ran to her before Michael could stop her.
“You’re okay!”
Claire bent and hugged her.
“I am.”
When she stood, her eyes met Michael’s.
“Thanks to both of you.”
Daniel carried the same leather folder.
“We found the leak,” he said.
Michael glanced at Emily.
“Kitchen.
Finish your homework.”
“But—”
“Emily.”
She sighed theatrically and went.
Daniel opened the folder on Michael’s small dining table.
The evidence pointed not to a stranger but to a senior executive inside Mercer Industries, a man involved in negotiations over the sale of a valuable division.
Daniel had refused terms that would have personally benefited several people involved in the proposed transaction.
The executive had apparently believed frightening Claire would pressure Daniel into reopening negotiations.
The two men in the alley had been hired to intimidate her, take her phone, and make the threat unmistakable.
They had gone further than instructed.
That distinction did nothing to soften Michael’s expression.
“He used your daughter as leverage.”
Daniel’s voice was cold.
“Yes.”
“Does Claire know?”
“I’m standing right here,” Claire said.
Michael looked at her.
She did not look frightened now.
She looked furious.
Daniel continued.
“The executive has been suspended.
Police are investigating the financial trail.
The two men have started blaming each other, which has been helpful.”
“And the SUV driver?”
“Identified this morning.
He is cooperating through an attorney.”
The room went quiet.
The danger, at last, had a shape.
Not a shadow in an alley.
Names.
Records.
Calls.
Money.
Evidence.
