“No.”
“He did.”
“He left you with a choice.”
“What choice?”
“To become whoever you wanted without the company deciding your future.”
Emily didn't know what to say.
Then Daniel opened another folder.
Inside were documents.
Old contracts.
Ownership records.
Bank statements.
And one name appearing repeatedly.
Thomas Carter.
Emily stared at the numbers.
“What am I looking at?”
Daniel answered.
“Your father's original ownership interest.”
“But he sold it.”
“Part of it.”
Emily looked at Walter.
“Part?”
Walter nodded.
“Some of the transfer records were never completed properly.”
Daniel continued.
“There are indications that a portion of your father's shares were moved into holding companies without his full authorization.”
Emily stared at him.
“How much?”
Neither man answered immediately.
She asked again.
“How much?”
Daniel finally said:
“At today's valuation, the disputed interest could be worth hundreds of millions.”
Emily laughed.
It wasn't a happy laugh.
It was the sound of someone whose entire understanding of her childhood had just collapsed.
“My father had that kind of money?”
“He could have,” Walter said.
“And he didn't know?”
“He suspected something before he died.”
Emily's expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel looked at Walter.
Walter nodded.
“Your father contacted us shortly before his death.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Three weeks before the accident.”
“What did he say?”
“He told us he had found evidence that his original shares had been diverted.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he was frightened.”
“Of what?”
Walter looked directly at her.
“Of the people who had benefited from the arrangement.”
That night, Walter finally told Emily why he had been coming to the bakery.
He hadn't discovered her by accident.
He had been searching for her.
For months.
He had learned where she worked.
He had watched from a distance.
He had wanted to know what kind of woman Thomas's daughter had become.
Emily was furious.
“You've been investigating me?”
“Yes.”
“You sat here pretending to be some lonely old man.”
“I never pretended to be lonely.”
Despite herself, Emily almost smiled.
Walter continued.
“I needed to know whether you were safe.”
“And?”
“I wasn't sure.”
“Why?”
“Because someone else had started looking for you.”
Emily's smile disappeared.
“What?”
Daniel placed another document on the table.
It contained records of private investigators.