Chapter 7 - The Name Hidden In The Recording
The video stopped.
But nobody moved.
The last image remained burned into my mind.
The person standing behind Jessi.
The person who had been close enough to touch her shoulder.
The person whose face appeared for only one second.
I knew that face.
Everyone in that room knew that face.
And that was the part I couldn't accept.
Because the person behind my wife was not a stranger.
It was someone who had walked through my front door.
Someone who had sat at my dinner table.
Someone who had held my daughter.
Someone I had trusted.
Wendy whispered:
"No..."
Her voice was barely audible.
I turned toward her.
"You knew."
She shook her head immediately.
"No, Daniel."
"Don't."
My voice stopped her.
I had heard enough explanations.
Enough excuses.
Enough people telling me they were protecting me.
"Everyone keeps saying they were trying to protect me."
I looked around the room.
"But somehow I'm always the last person to know anything."
Nobody answered.
Mark remained silent.
That bothered me.
Because Mark was never silent.
He always had an answer.
A solution.
A way to make things sound reasonable.
But now he looked nervous.
For the first time in eight years...
Mark looked afraid.
I stepped toward him.
"You know who that was."
Mark didn't respond.
"Tell me."
Still nothing.
I grabbed the front of his jacket.
"Tell me who was standing behind my wife."
Ethan moved closer.
"Daniel."
I didn't look away from Mark.
"No."
My voice was shaking.
"I need to hear it from him."
Mark looked at me.
And for a moment, I saw something I had never seen before.
Regret.
Not guilt.
Regret.
Like he wished he could go back.
Like he knew the damage had already been done.
Finally, he spoke.
"Your wife found out about the organization behind your company."
I frowned.
"What organization?"
"The people who funded your first expansion."
I shook my head.
"That's impossible."
Mark looked down.
"No, Daniel."
He took a breath.
"What's impossible is that you believed everything you built belonged only to you."
The words hurt because a part of me feared they were true.
I had spent years thinking success was the reward for my sacrifice.
But now I was wondering if my entire life had been guided by someone else's plan.
"Who are they?"
Mark didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Ethan.
"Ethan knows."
I turned.
"Ethan?"
Ethan's face tightened.
"I know pieces."
"Then give me the pieces."
He walked toward the computer.
"Your father discovered the network before you were old enough to understand it."
My jaw tightened.
"Again with my father."
Ethan nodded.
"Because everything goes back to him."
I hated hearing that.
My father had been gone for most of my life.
I had spent years trying to escape the shadow of his mistakes.
Now it felt like the past was reaching through the years and dragging me back.
Ethan opened another file.
"This was found in Jessi's research."
A scanned document appeared.
A handwritten note.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
My father's.
My heart stopped.
The note was short.
Only one sentence.
"If Daniel ever finds this, it means they failed to stop him."
I stared at the screen.
"What does that mean?"
Ethan continued.
"Your father knew someone would eventually come after you."
I shook my head.
"No."
I stepped back.
"My father died before any of this happened."
Mark looked at me.
"That's what you were told."
The room went silent.
I turned slowly.
"What did you just say?"
Mark looked uncomfortable.
"Daniel..."
"No."
I pointed at him.
"You don't get to do this."
My voice rose.
"You don't get to take every memory I have and tell me it was fake."
Nobody spoke.
Then Wendy quietly said:
"Your father didn't die because of an accident."
I looked at her.
My body went cold.
"What?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"He was trying to expose them."
The room blurred.
My father.
The man I remembered as a hardworking businessman.
The man who left behind debts and unanswered questions.
The man everyone told me to stop talking about.
Had been fighting something I never knew existed.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Wendy looked away.
"Because they were afraid."
"Of what?"
She answered quietly.
"Of what would happen if they found out you knew."
I laughed.
But there was no humor in it.
"They?"
I looked around.
"Who are they?"
Nobody answered.
Then Ethan's computer made a sound.
A new notification appeared.
Incoming file.
Everyone looked at the screen.
Nobody touched anything.
The file opened automatically.
The title appeared.
JESSI'S FINAL MESSAGE
My heart stopped.
Ethan clicked.
The video began.
Jessi appeared again.
But this time she wasn't afraid.
She looked exhausted.
Like someone who had been running for years.
"Daniel..."
Hearing my name from her mouth almost broke me.
"If you are seeing this, then you finally found the device."
I moved closer.
She continued.
"I know you have questions."
A small sad smile appeared.
"I know you are angry."
I whispered:
"Yes."
The video continued.
"But you need to understand something."
She looked directly into the camera.
"I never left you."
My eyes filled.
Eight years.
Eight years believing she chose to disappear.
Eight years believing she abandoned us.
"I was trying to get back."
She looked down.
"But someone made sure I couldn't."
The video shook slightly.
Like she was holding the camera herself.
"Daniel, the person you trust the most..."
She stopped.
Her eyes moved toward something outside the frame.
Then she whispered:
"They are closer than you think."
The video froze.
A message appeared underneath.
PLAY SECOND PART?
Ethan stared.
"There's another file."
He clicked.
A second video appeared.
The date was from three days ago.
My breathing stopped.
Three days ago.
Jessi had recorded something three days ago.
The video opened.
This time, she wasn't alone.
Someone sat beside her.
Their face was hidden.
But their voice was clear.
"Daniel needs to know the truth."
I froze.
Because I recognized that voice.
It belonged to someone who was standing in the warehouse with us.
Someone who had spent years pretending to help.
Wendy covered her mouth.
"No..."
The person in the video continued.
"I should have told him sooner."
My eyes moved toward Wendy.
The video continued.
"I should have stopped you before you destroyed his family."
Wendy stepped backward.
Everyone looked at her.
Then the hidden person in the video finally moved into the light.
The screen revealed their face.
And my entire world stopped.
Because the person sitting beside Jessi was someone I thought had been dead for twelve years.
My mother.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
A new message appeared.
One sentence.
"Daniel, don't trust Wendy. She is not the one you should be afraid of."
Then another message arrived.
A location.
My old family home.
The house where my father died.
May you like
And beneath the address were four words:
"She is waiting there."
