Chapter 12 - NATALIE’S SECRET
Grant traced the call to an abandoned warehouse district near the river.
Daniel wanted to go immediately.
Grant refused to let him go alone.
Adrian drove.
Two unmarked security vehicles followed at a distance.
Natalie had sent Daniel one final text.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
Daniel ignored that part.
He had spent too many years trusting instructions from people hiding things.
The warehouse appeared empty.
Daniel entered through a side door.
“Natalie?”
A light turned on.
Natalie stood beside an old wooden table.
She looked thinner than Daniel remembered.
Older.
But alive.
Daniel stopped several feet away.
“You were here last week.”
“Yes.”
“You saw Lily.”
“Yes.”
“You hid Elena’s memory card.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s anger surfaced.
“And then you disappeared again.”
Natalie’s eyes hardened.
“I disappeared because your family lawyer tried to have me killed.”
Daniel said nothing.
Natalie lifted her shirt slightly.
A long scar ran along her side.
“Five years ago, someone forced my car off a mountain road.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I was in the hospital under a false name for two months.”
“When I recovered, Owen already had documents claiming I had voluntarily left the country.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I tried.”
She laughed without humor.
“Ethan intercepted my calls.”
“Owen intercepted my mail.”
“Vanessa watched your house.”
Daniel looked down.
Everyone had been around him.
Yet he had been completely isolated.
Natalie continued.
“I spent four years collecting evidence.”
“Why return now?”
“Because Owen changed his plan.”
Daniel frowned.
Natalie opened a laptop.
A financial structure appeared.
“At first he was stealing.”
“Then Elena found him.”
“After Elena died, he started preparing for something larger.”
“What?”
“To take control of Reed Holdings after your death.”
Daniel stared at her.
“He can’t inherit my company.”
“He doesn’t need to.”
Natalie enlarged several documents.
“He needs the company bankrupt.”
“Then one of his shell companies buys the debt.”
“Ethan’s hidden loans made that possible.”
Daniel understood.
Ethan thought he was saving the company.
In reality, every loan had pushed Reed Holdings closer to Owen’s trap.
Natalie continued.
“Lily’s trust was the last clean pool of assets.”
“Twelve million already left.”
“I know.”
“You need to get it back before midnight.”
“Why midnight?”
“Because once it hits the offshore clearing account, it splits into twenty-seven transfers.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
Adrian.
He answered.
“Sir, we have movement at the mansion.”
“What movement?”
“Owen Pierce is inside.”
Daniel froze.
“That’s impossible.”
“He was on a jet.”
“The jet was a decoy.”
Daniel turned toward Natalie.
Adrian continued.
“Someone used an internal emergency override to unlock the west gate.”
Daniel’s heart dropped.
“Where is Lily?”
A pause.
May you like
Then Adrian said the words Daniel feared most.
“She’s missing.”
