Chapter 2 - The Man Who Didn’t Exist
Emma slept for exactly forty-three minutes.
At eight the next morning, she was standing barefoot in her kitchen drinking coffee she could barely taste while Sophia examined the photograph again.
“This isn’t edited,” Sophia said.
“You’re sure?”
“I ran it through three programs.”
Emma stared at the teenage boy standing beside Arthur Carter.
Daniel had been younger.
Thinner.
Less controlled.
But it was him.
“Five years ago,” Emma said, “Daniel Brooks suddenly appears in every official database.”
Sophia nodded.
“And that photo is at least fifteen years old.”
“So Daniel existed.”
“Just not as Daniel Brooks.”
Emma’s phone displayed the unknown message.
ASK HIM WHAT YOUR GRANDFATHER DID TO HIS FAMILY.
She hated the wording.
Not what happened.
What your grandfather did.
It implied guilt.
Arthur Carter had not been a perfect man. Emma knew that.
He had been ruthless in business.
Stubborn.
Demanding.
Sometimes emotionally impossible.
But cruel?
She had never believed that.
Sophia closed the laptop.
“We don’t go to that address alone.”
“We?”
“Yes. We.”
“He’ll notice.”
“I hope he does.”
At 9:58 a.m., they parked outside an old stone building near the river.
No company name.
No receptionist.
No security desk.
Only a brass number above the door.
Emma stepped inside.
Daniel was waiting.
Black shirt.
Dark trousers.
No tie.
No surprise when Sophia entered behind her.
“You came.”
Emma held up the old photograph.
“So did this.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Emma noticed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Anonymous number.”
Daniel walked toward her.
“Show me the message.”
She did.
His jaw tightened.
Sophia noticed.
“You know who sent it?”
“No.”
“You’re lying,” Emma said.
Daniel met her gaze.
“I suspect.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer you’re getting until I know whether this building is compromised.”
Sophia looked around.
“Your paranoia is impressive.”
Daniel glanced toward her.
“So is your concealed microphone.”
Sophia froze.
Emma turned.
“You’re recording?”
“For safety.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“Turn it off.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
Emma held out her hand.
Sophia reluctantly removed a small device from inside her jacket and switched it off.
Daniel led them downstairs.
Behind a steel door was a room full of files.
Photographs.
Legal documents.
Old newspaper clippings.
And one enormous family tree mounted on the wall.
Carter.
Brooks.
Hale.
Whitmore.
The names were connected by lines Emma didn’t understand.
“What is this?” she whispered.
“My real life,” Daniel said.
Emma turned.
“What’s your real name?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Daniel Brooks.”
“You didn’t exist.”
“My name wasn’t always Brooks.”
“What was it?”
His eyes hardened.
“Daniel Hale.”
Sophia quickly searched the name on her phone.
Daniel watched her.
“You won’t find much.”
Emma looked at the family tree.
“Hale.”
One line connected the Hale family to Carter Holdings.
“What did my grandfather do?”
Daniel walked toward an old photograph.
A man stood outside a manufacturing plant.
“My father was Thomas Hale.”
Emma recognized the name.
Barely.
“Hale Manufacturing.”
Daniel nodded.
Arthur Carter had acquired the company almost twenty years earlier.
Emma remembered hearing adults discussing it when she was young.
The acquisition had been brutal.
Thomas Hale had lost everything.
Months later, he died.
Emma’s throat tightened.
“Your father…”
“Killed himself.”
Sophia stopped searching.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“My grandfather bought his company.”
“My father believed Arthur stole it.”
“Did he?”
Daniel stared at the files.
“For most of my life, I believed he did.”
Emma heard the distinction.
“Believed?”
Daniel handed her a folder.
Inside were accounting reports.
Emails.
Wire transfers.
Documents dated two decades earlier.
“My father’s business partner was stealing from him,” Daniel said. “Millions.”
Emma read the name.
Richard Mercer.
She knew it.
Her uncle’s closest adviser.
Daniel continued.
“Mercer manipulated the company into insolvency, then convinced my father Arthur Carter had engineered everything.”
“So Grandpa didn’t destroy your family.”
“No.”
“Then why did you change your identity?”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“Because after my father died, someone tried to kill my mother.”
The room went silent.
Emma lowered the folder.
“What?”
“Car accident. Officially.”
“Unofficially?”
“Brake line.”
Sophia’s attention sharpened.
Daniel continued.
“My mother survived. We disappeared. New names. New cities. No records connecting us to Hale.”
“And five years ago?”
“My mother died.”
Emma softened.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel nodded once.
“After that, I came back.”
“To investigate Mercer?”
“And Arthur.”
“You thought Grandpa might have been involved.”
“Yes.”
Emma felt anger spark.
“You got close to him while suspecting he murdered your family?”
“I got close enough to learn the truth.”
“And what truth was that?”
Daniel’s voice quieted.
“Your grandfather had been protecting us.”
Emma stared.
Daniel opened another folder.
Monthly payments.
Medical expenses.
Security invoices.
All authorized by Arthur Carter through shell companies.
“For fifteen years,” Daniel said, “Arthur paid for my mother’s protection.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because the person who attacked her was still inside his circle.”
Emma thought of the anonymous warning.
Don’t trust anyone who knows about the will.
“What does any of this have to do with me getting married?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to find out.”
“You knew about the will.”
“Arthur told me there would be a test.”
“A test?”
“He contacted me three months before he died.”
Emma’s eyes filled with disbelief.
“My grandfather talked to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“He said you would hate him.”
“That sounds accurate.”
“He said you would be angry.”
“Also accurate.”
“And he said if everything happened the way he expected, you would come looking for me.”
Emma stepped closer.
“He expected me to marry you?”
“No.”
“Then why are you involved?”
Daniel reached into a locked drawer.
He removed a sealed envelope.
Emma recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her name.
Arthur’s handwriting.
FOR EMMA.
“When were you going to give me that?”
“When I knew you weren’t being followed.”
Emma ripped open the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Emma,
If you are reading this, then the first part worked. You are angry with me. Good. Anger keeps you alert.
Despite herself, Emma almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like Arthur.
She continued.
The inheritance is real. The deadline is real. But the marriage is not about money. Someone inside our family has been waiting for me to die.
Emma’s smile vanished.
They believe controlling your spouse means controlling you. They have already prepared someone they expect you to choose.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“The best candidates,” she whispered.
Sophia went still.
Emma continued reading.
Do not choose anyone who approaches you too easily. Do not trust anyone who knows details they should not know. And most importantly, understand this: you are not the only person being pressured into marriage.
Emma remembered Daniel’s words.
You’re not the only one looking for a husband.
She continued.
There is another heir.
Emma stopped breathing.
Sophia moved closer.
“What?”
Emma read the next sentence aloud.
“Someone in this family has hidden a daughter for twenty-eight years.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Emma kept reading.
If she marries before you do, she can challenge your claim to half the estate.
Emma stared at Daniel.
“My grandfather had another granddaughter?”
“Apparently.”
Sophia whispered, “Who?”
The letter answered.
Her name is Claire Mercer.
Emma felt the floor disappear beneath her.
Mercer.
Richard Mercer.
The man who destroyed Daniel’s father.
The man who had been her uncle’s closest adviser for decades.
Emma read faster.
Claire believes she is Richard Mercer’s daughter. She is not.
Emma’s fingers trembled.
At the bottom of the letter, Arthur had written one final line.
Emma, before choosing your husband, find out who Claire’s father really is. When you do, you will understand why someone is willing to kill for this inheritance.
A loud knock echoed upstairs.
Daniel immediately moved.
“No one should know we’re here.”
Sophia reached for her bag.
Emma froze as three heavy knocks sounded again.
Then a woman’s voice came through the intercom.
“Daniel?”
Emma looked at him.
Daniel’s face had gone pale.
The woman continued.
“My name is Claire Mercer.”
Emma’s heart stopped.
Claire spoke again.
“And I need your help.”
A pause.
May you like
“Because they’ve given me seven days to find a husband too.”
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