Chapter 4 - The Secret Daniel Took With Him
For several seconds, Claraara could hear nothing except her own heartbeat.
Maya is Gabriel's daughter.
The sentence didn't belong in reality.
It floated somewhere outside the hospital room, absurd and impossible.
Claraara looked at Gabriel.
Then Daniel.
Then back at Gabriel.
“No.”
Daniel's expression twisted with regret.
“Clara—”
“Don't call me that.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Gabriel remained silent.
Claraara turned on him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
“I didn't.”
His answer came immediately.
For some reason, she believed him.
That made everything worse.
Daniel struggled upright.
“Seven years ago, Victor Halpern hosted a charity gala.”
Claraara remembered.
She had been twenty-two.
Working temporary catering jobs.
A friend had convinced her to attend the after-party.
She remembered champagne.
Music.
A handsome stranger who looked deeply unhappy despite everyone around him trying to impress him.
Gabriel.
She stared.
“You.”
Recognition moved through his face too.
“The rooftop.”
Claraara remembered.
They had talked for hours.
Not names.
Not jobs.
Just two strangers hiding from a party.
One night.
Then morning.
She had left before he woke.
Six weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant.
By then, Daniel had entered her life.
Kind Daniel.
Patient Daniel.
Daniel who told her the baby didn't change how he felt.
Daniel who offered his name.
“You knew?” Claraara whispered.
Daniel nodded.
“I found the clinic paperwork.”
“And you never told me?”
“I wanted to be her father.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Every day.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Why did Halpern pay you?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because Victor discovered who Maya's father was.”
Claraara frowned.
“Why would he care?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Because he hated Gabriel.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
Victor Halpern had spent years trying to undermine Rossy's businesses.
Maya became leverage.
Daniel continued.
“Victor paid me to keep Maya hidden. At first, I told myself I was protecting her.”
“And later?” Gabriel asked.
“I discovered what Victor was doing with the accounts.”
“The twenty-two million.”
“More than that.”
Daniel reached toward the bedside table.
“There's a ledger.”
The hospital alarm continued outside.
Footsteps rushed past.
Daniel suddenly looked toward the door.
“That's not a fire alarm.”
Gabriel's posture changed.
He pulled out his phone.
No signal.
“Someone killed communications.”
Claraara's fear returned.
“Maya.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“She’s safe.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Elena is with her.”
A nurse appeared.
“Everyone needs to evacuate this floor.”
Gabriel studied her.
Something about her badge.
Wrong color.
He moved between Claraara and the doorway.
“We'll use the stairs.”
They left through the opposite exit.
No violence.
No gunfire.
Just urgency.
By the time they reached the parking garage, Daniel was breathing heavily.
A black SUV waited.
Inside, Gabriel called Elena.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Claraara grabbed his sleeve.
“You said she was safe.”
“She is.”
“You don't know that.”
Gabriel made another call.
Finally.
Elena answered.
Maya's voice came through the background.
“Mr. Gabriel!”
Claraara nearly cried.
“Maya!”
“Mommy?”
“I’m here, baby.”
Gabriel closed his eyes briefly.
Safe.
They returned to the penthouse.
Maya ran toward Claraara.
Then stopped when she saw Daniel.
“Daddy?”
Daniel broke.
He sank to his knees.
“Maya.”
She stood still.
Three years was a long time for a child.
“Where were you?”
Daniel couldn't answer.
Maya looked at Claraara.
“Is he staying?”
Claraara swallowed.
“I don't know.”
Daniel slept in a guest room.
Maya slept beside Claraara.
Gabriel didn't sleep at all.
At three in the morning, Claraara found him standing before the windows.
“You really didn't know?”
“No.”
“Would you have wanted to?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
One word.
No hesitation.
Claraara's eyes burned.
“I spent six years doing this alone.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
“You're right.”
That answer disarmed her.
Gabriel looked toward the room where Maya slept.
“I missed six birthdays.”
Claraara thought about the cake.
“You gave her the sixth.”
A faint smile.
Then Daniel appeared.
He carried a folder.
“I found what Victor wants.”
He placed documents on the table.
A trust.
Established by Gabriel's late father.
Claraara didn't understand.
Gabriel did.
His face went pale.
“My sister.”
Daniel nodded.
“What about her?” Claraara asked.
Gabriel stared at the papers.
“My father created a trust after Sofia died. He put several properties and companies into it.”
“For you?”
“No.”
“For any surviving child in our bloodline.”
Daniel looked toward Maya's bedroom.
Claraara understood.
“Maya.”
“Yes.”
The assets were worth nearly eighty million dollars.
Victor hadn't returned merely for the stolen ledger.
He needed Maya's identity hidden because proving Gabriel had a daughter transferred control of several companies away from Victor's network.
Claraara felt sick.
“All this because of money?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Power.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“What haven't you told us?”
Daniel hesitated.
Gabriel's voice lowered.
“What haven't you told us?”
Daniel reached into his pocket.
He placed another photograph on the table.
A woman.
Older.
Elegant.
Claraara didn't recognize her.
Gabriel did.
He stopped breathing.
“My mother.”
Daniel nodded.
Gabriel stared at him.
“My mother died fifteen years ago.”
“No.”
Gabriel's eyes lifted.
Daniel continued.
“Victor made you believe she did.”
Claraara watched Gabriel's face lose all expression.
“Where is she?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She's alive.”
Then he pointed to an address written beneath the photograph.
May you like
And Claraara realized the address was less than two miles from Russo’s Patisserie.
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