Chapter 3 - The Daughter Clare Had Never Met
Daniel reached his house at 2:42 a.m.
Evelyn’s security team had arrived first. The black SUV was gone, but a camera across the street had captured its license plate.
It belonged to an Astron subsidiary controlled by Malcolm’s office.
Mrs. Garland opened the door before Daniel knocked.
Sophie ran into his arms.
“Dad!”
He lifted her despite his exhaustion.
She wore purple pajamas and clutched a stuffed rabbit Rachel had given her.
“There was a man outside,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“Did you do something bad?”
“No.”
“Then why was he watching us?”
Daniel looked at Evelyn, who had followed him inside.
“Because somebody else may have done something bad,” he told Sophie. “And they think I know about it.”
Sophie studied his face with the serious expression she had inherited from her mother.
“Do you?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel introduced Evelyn as a lawyer helping a sick woman from work. He did not explain the bribery, the board vote, or the company surveillance.
Sophie looked at his soaked shirt.
“Is the sick woman your boss?”
“Yes.”
“Is she mean?”
Daniel thought about Clare threatening to fire him while he carried her through the rain.
“Sometimes.”
“Are you still helping her?”
“Yes.”
Sophie nodded as though the matter were obvious.
“Mom said mean people still need doctors.”
Evelyn turned away for a moment.
Daniel felt his throat tighten.
By 3:20, Sophie was asleep again under Mrs. Garland’s supervision. Evelyn arranged for two licensed guards to remain outside the house.
Daniel returned to the hospital.
Clare was still unconscious.
The neurologist explained that the bleeding had been controlled, but swelling remained a concern. No one could predict how much function she would recover until she woke.
Daniel sat beside her bed in the intensive care unit.
Machines monitored every heartbeat.
Without the tailored suits, precise makeup, and controlled posture, Clare looked smaller than she did at Astron.
Human.
Daniel placed her wedding-ringless left hand beneath the blanket.
He knew almost nothing about her private life.
Only that she had built a company, lived alone, and frightened rooms full of executives.
“Your attorney has the board handled,” he said quietly. “Your laptop is secure. Malcolm tried to buy me.”
Clare did not move.
“He offered five hundred thousand dollars.”
Still nothing.
“I said no. I want that included in my next performance review.”
A faint sound came from the doorway.
Sophie stood there beside Mrs. Garland.
Daniel rose.
“What are you doing here?”
“You forgot your phone charger,” Sophie said, holding it up.
Mrs. Garland gave him an apologetic look.
“She insisted.”
Daniel took the charger.
“You should be home.”
Sophie peered around him.
“Is that your boss?”
“Yes.”
“Can she hear us?”
“Maybe.”
Sophie stepped cautiously into the room.
“She looks lonely.”
Daniel looked at Clare.
“She probably is.”
Sophie placed her stuffed rabbit on the chair beside the bed.
“For when she wakes up,” she said.
Daniel’s eyes stung.
“You don’t have to leave Mr. Rabbit.”
“I have others.”
That was not true.
Mr. Rabbit had slept beside Sophie every night since Rachel died.
Before Daniel could stop her, Sophie reached for Clare’s hand.
Clare’s fingers moved.
Daniel froze.
“Sophie, do that again.”
His daughter held Clare’s hand more firmly.
Clare’s eyelids fluttered.
Daniel called the nurse.
Within seconds, the room filled with medical staff.
Clare slowly opened her eyes.
Her gaze moved across the lights, the doctors, and Daniel.
Then it settled on Sophie.
“Who…” Clare whispered.
Her voice was weak, but clearer than before.
“That’s my daughter,” Daniel said. “Sophie.”
Clare looked at the stuffed rabbit.
“Did she bring security?”
Sophie smiled.
“She’s still mean,” she announced.
Daniel laughed for the first time all night.
Clare’s recovery had begun.
But at 4:11 a.m., while doctors assessed her speech and movement, Evelyn received an urgent call from Astron.
Someone had entered the seventh-floor conference room using Daniel’s maintenance credential.
The laptop was gone.
Security footage showed Daniel’s badge at the door.
Daniel held the physical badge in his hand.
A duplicate had been made.
Minutes later, the company’s entire board received an email from Clare’s account.
It accused Daniel of stealing corporate secrets and causing the medical emergency that nearly killed her.
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Malcolm had not only taken the evidence.
He was turning the man who saved Clare’s life into the person who tried to destroy it.
