Chapter 4 - Fifty Thousand Dollars
Daniel did not sleep.
At 2:13 a.m., Maria found him in the kitchen staring at his laptop.
“You’re still awake?”
Daniel closed the screen.
“So are you.”
“Sophia kicked me in the ribs.”
“I thought toddlers were supposed to stop doing that after birth.”
Maria smiled.
Usually Daniel would have smiled back.
He couldn’t.
“Everything okay?”
“No.”
Her expression changed.
“Victor?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel studied her.
Maria wore an old gray sweatshirt and pajama pants. Her hair was tied messily behind her head.
She looked nothing like the manipulative woman described in the headlines.
That didn’t mean anything.
Daniel had built his career learning that appearances were worthless.
“Did you speak to any reporters?”
“No.”
“Did anyone offer you money?”
Maria’s face tightened.
“Victor did. Three years ago.”
“Recently.”
“No.”
Daniel held her gaze.
“Are you sure?”
Maria stared at him.
“What are you accusing me of?”
“I’m asking.”
“No, you’re not.”
Daniel remained silent.
Maria’s voice hardened.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
He opened the laptop and turned it toward her.
The bank record filled the screen.
Maria read it.
Her face drained of color.
“What is this?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
“That isn’t my account.”
“It has your name.”
“I don’t care.”
“Your address is attached.”
“I have one checking account. It ends in 4419.”
“This ends in 9082.”
“Then it’s not mine.”
Daniel watched her closely.
Maria took out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
Daniel stopped her hand.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone opened an account in your identity, calling the police before we know who could alert them.”
She pulled her hand away.
“So you do believe me?”
“I don’t know what I believe.”
The hurt in her face was immediate.
Daniel regretted the words.
Maria stepped back.
“You got a DNA result yesterday and suddenly decided you were her father.”
“That’s not fair.”
“No?”
“No.”
“I carried Sophia for nine months. I raised her for two years. I took jobs cleaning houses because I refused Victor’s money. I let strangers online call me a liar for a child I could have hidden forever.”
Daniel stood.
“And I discovered yesterday that I had a daughter.”
“That doesn’t make me your enemy.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Maria turned toward the hallway.
“Maria.”
She stopped.
“I’m trying to understand.”
“So am I.”
She looked back.
“But every time something scares you, you turn cold. Claire warned me about that.”
Daniel flinched.
“What exactly did my wife tell you about me?”
Maria’s anger vanished.
“Enough.”
“No. Tell me.”
“She told me you would rather believe someone betrayed you than admit you were afraid to lose them.”
Daniel said nothing.
Maria walked upstairs.
At seven the next morning, Rachel arrived with an investigator.
The account had been opened online using Maria’s Social Security number and an expired driver’s license.
The contact email was fake.
The withdrawal destination led through three shell companies.
Someone wanted Maria to look guilty.
“Victor,” Daniel said.
Rachel shook her head.
“Too obvious.”
“He already leaked the story.”
“We still don’t know that.”
“He admitted enough.”
“He admitted knowing about it.”
Daniel frowned.
“You think someone else is involved.”
“I think Victor doesn’t usually leave fingerprints.”
The investigator, Marcus Reed, placed another file on the desk.
“The fake account was opened six weeks ago.”
Daniel looked up.
“Before Singapore.”
“Yes.”
“Before Sophia called me Daddy.”
“Yes.”
Maria, sitting across the room, whispered:
“So someone knew this was going to happen.”
Marcus nodded.
“Someone expected the paternity story to surface.”
Daniel thought of Claire’s legal conditions.
“Who knew I was approaching the point when Sophia could be revealed to me?”
Maria answered.
“Claire’s attorney.”
“Name?”
“Jonathan Pierce.”
Rachel frowned.
“Jonathan Pierce died last year.”
Maria looked startled.
“What?”
“Heart attack.”
“No one told me.”
“Who took over his files?”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“I’ll find out.”
By noon, another shock arrived.
Jonathan Pierce’s entire private practice had been acquired after his death by a law firm whose largest corporate client was Whitfield Technologies.
Daniel leaned back in his chair.
“Victor.”
Rachel nodded reluctantly.
“It connects.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Yes.”
He almost smiled.
“I’m not good at them.”
“I noticed.”
“I should not have assumed—”
Maria held up a hand.
“Stop.”
Daniel frowned.
“That was almost a decent apology. Don’t ruin it.”
For the first time that morning, he laughed.
Sophia ran in.
“Daddy!”
She climbed directly into his lap.
Rachel stared at the transformation.
Daniel Whitfield had once ended a conference call because someone’s dog barked twice in the background.
Now he continued reviewing corporate fraud records while a toddler stuck a pink hair clip into his tie.
“You know that’s staying there,” Maria said.
“It is not.”
Sophia frowned.
“Pretty Daddy.”
Daniel looked down at the pink clip.
“It’s staying.”
Maria smiled.
Then the front gate alarm sounded.
Security called Daniel.
“Mr. Whitfield, Victor Whitfield is at the gate.”
“Turn him away.”
“He says he has information regarding Mrs. Alvarez.”
Maria stiffened.
“What information?”
“He won’t say.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
She crossed her arms.
“Let him in.”
“No.”
“I want to hear it.”
“I don’t.”
“Daniel.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
Victor entered ten minutes later carrying a leather folder.
His gaze immediately found Sophia sitting beside Daniel.
“So it’s confirmed.”
Daniel stood.
“You already knew.”
Victor’s expression did not change.
“The clinic records were persuasive.”
“You lied to my face.”
“I suggested caution.”
“You called Maria a fraud while knowing Sophia was mine.”
Victor looked at Maria.
“You have not told him everything.”
Maria went pale.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Victor placed the folder on the desk.
“Ask her where the embryo transfer took place.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
“The clinic.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Which clinic?”
Maria said nothing.
“Maria.”
She swallowed.
“The original clinic transferred the embryo to another facility.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire’s treatment had become public and she wanted privacy.”
Victor opened the folder.
“The second facility was owned by a nonprofit foundation.”
Daniel read the name.
The Claire Whitfield Foundation for Women’s Health.
His wife’s charity.
Victor continued.
“And who became a paid beneficiary of that foundation six months after Sophia’s birth?”
Daniel looked at the paper.
Maria Alvarez.
Annual support: $78,000.
Daniel’s eyes lifted.
Maria spoke quickly.
“That money wasn’t mine.”
“It was paid to an account associated with you.”
“It paid Sophia’s medical expenses and childcare.”
Victor nodded.
“Convenient.”
Maria stared at Daniel.
“Claire established it.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Her trust.”
Victor interrupted.
“The trust containing documents no independent party has verified.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Enough.”
Victor ignored him.
“Ask Maria why she applied to work here.”
Daniel slowly turned.
Maria’s face changed.
Victor smiled.
“She didn’t randomly answer a housekeeping advertisement.”
Daniel felt the betrayal before hearing it.
“Did you?”
Maria whispered, “No.”
The room went silent.
“Why did you come here?”
“Because Sophia kept asking about you.”
“You told me Claire asked you to.”
“She did.”
“Three years earlier.”
“Yes.”
“You waited two years.”
“I was afraid.”
“And then?”
Maria’s eyes filled.
“I wanted you to see her.”
Daniel stepped back.
“So you deliberately entered my home.”
“Yes.”
“With my biological child.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I had instructions.”
“Stop hiding behind Claire.”
Maria flinched.
Victor watched them like a man observing a fire he had started.
Daniel saw it.
He turned on his uncle.
“Get out.”
Victor smiled.
“You deserve the full truth.”
“I’ll get it without you.”
“You may want this first.”
Victor slid one final document across the desk.
It was an employment application.
Maria’s.
Attached to it was a recommendation letter.
Daniel read the signature.
Jonathan Pierce.
Claire’s attorney.
The recommendation was dated fourteen months ago.
Jonathan had died twelve months ago.
Meaning the letter had been written only weeks before his death.
Daniel looked at Maria.
“You spoke to him.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Maria looked toward Sophia.
“He told me time was running out.”
“For what?”
“I didn’t understand then.”
Victor answered instead.
“For the trust deadline.”
Daniel frowned.
Victor took a seat as though the mansion belonged to him.
“Your grandfather’s descendant clause activates only if biological paternity is established before your thirty-eighth birthday.”
Daniel felt the floor shift beneath him.
His birthday was in nine days.
Victor smiled without warmth.
“If Sophia becomes your legally recognized daughter before then, my branch loses its future claim permanently.”
Daniel stared at Maria.
She shook her head.
“I didn’t know.”
Victor leaned forward.
“But Jonathan Pierce did.”
Daniel suddenly understood.
This was why everything had surfaced now.
Maria’s arrival.
Sophia’s photographs.
The pressure.
The leaked story.
The fake bank account.
Someone had been moving pieces toward a deadline.
“Who benefits if I don’t establish paternity by my birthday?” Daniel asked.
Victor smiled.
“I do.”
“Then why tell me?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Because somebody is trying to make you believe I’m the one stopping it.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Aren’t you?”
“No.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Daniel, someone forged Maria’s bank account. Someone leaked sealed clinic documents. Someone made sure she entered your house before the trust deadline.”
He glanced toward Sophia.
“And that person isn’t trying to keep your daughter away from you.”
Daniel frowned.
Victor finished quietly:
“They’re trying to force you to claim her.”
Maria whispered, “Why would that be dangerous?”
Victor looked at Daniel.
“Because the moment Sophia becomes the legal Whitfield heir, she inherits not only your future shares.”
He opened another document.
“She gains immediate beneficial ownership of Claire’s private trust.”
Daniel looked down.
The number on the page nearly stopped his heart.
$2.8 billion.
Maria gasped.
Victor’s voice dropped.
“And whoever controls Sophia until she turns eighteen controls that money.”
Everyone looked at Maria.
She stood abruptly.
“No.”
Victor’s gaze remained on her.
“You are currently Sophia’s sole legal guardian.”
Maria backed away.
“No.”
Daniel understood the trap.
Someone had made Maria look like she had secretly engineered Sophia’s paternity claim.
If Daniel acknowledged Sophia—
Maria appeared to gain control of nearly three billion dollars.
The story would destroy her.
Possibly criminally.
Victor stood.
“Now do you see why I told you to be careful?”
Daniel stared at the documents.
Maria shook her head.
“I never knew about the money.”
“I believe you,” Daniel said.
She looked at him in surprise.
Victor did too.
Daniel closed the folder.
“But someone did.”
His phone rang.
Marcus Reed.
Daniel answered.
“What did you find?”
Marcus spoke urgently.
“We traced the fake account.”
“To who?”
“Not Victor.”
Daniel looked at his uncle.
Victor’s face remained unreadable.
Marcus continued.
“The authorization came from inside Whitfield Technologies.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Whose credentials?”
A pause.
Then:
“Yours.”
Daniel went still.
Someone had used Daniel’s executive credentials to frame Maria.
His computer access.
His authority.
His identity.
And only three people had permanent access to his executive authentication system.
Daniel himself.
Victor.
And the person Daniel had trusted with his life for eleven years.
His chief of staff.
Rebecca Lane.
At that exact moment, Rachel’s phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Then slowly raised her eyes.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Rebecca just picked Sophia up from preschool.”
Maria screamed.
Daniel’s blood turned to ice.
“She isn’t at preschool.”
Rachel looked confused.
“What?”
Maria grabbed her phone.
“She’s upstairs.”
They all turned.
The house was suddenly too quiet.
Maria ran.
“SOFIA!”
Daniel followed.
Upstairs.
Down the hall.
The nursery door stood open.
The bed was empty.
The window was unlocked.
On Sophia’s pillow sat her stuffed rabbit.
And underneath it was a single white envelope.
Daniel picked it up with shaking hands.
His name was written across the front.
May you like
Inside was one sentence.
SIGN THE SINGAPORE MERGER BEFORE MIDNIGHT, OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR DAUGHTER AGAIN.
