Months.
You've been taking it for months.
Daniel looked at his dinner.
Then he pushed the plate away.
Vivian's voice suddenly became desperate.
"Daniel, don't embarrass me over a homeless boy's story."
He looked up sharply.
The boy froze.
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know he's homeless?"
Vivian said nothing.
The boy stared at her.
Daniel's blood seemed to turn to ice.
She hadn't asked.
No one had said it.
And suddenly, Vivian understood what she had revealed.
A tiny mistake.
But Daniel had built an empire by noticing tiny mistakes.
"Security," Daniel said.
Vivian took a step backward.
"Daniel."
"No one leaves."
His voice echoed through the ballroom.
The security guards stopped.
Daniel looked toward the hotel manager.
"Lock the kitchen."
Then he looked at Vivian.
"And call the police."
For the first time that evening, Vivian Whitmore looked genuinely afraid.
But Daniel still didn't know the truth.
Not really.
He didn't know what was in the food.
He didn't know who the boy was.
And he didn't know that the child standing before him had spent three years searching for Daniel Whitmore.
Because Daniel wasn't the boy's target.
Vivian was.
And the little bottle was only the beginning.
Chapter 2 — The Boy With No Name
The police arrived before the banquet guests were allowed to leave.
Daniel stood in a private conference room with two detectives while technicians collected the untouched plate from the ballroom.
Vivian sat across from him.
She had stopped crying.
Daniel noticed that too.
At first, she had been hysterical.
Then angry.
Then pleading.
But after Detective Rachel Monroe informed her that the food would be tested, Vivian became quiet.
Too quiet.
Daniel sat opposite her.
"Tell me the truth."
Vivian stared at him.
"I have told you the truth."
"No."
Daniel leaned forward.
"You've told me nothing."
Her eyes hardened.
"You are humiliating me."
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"Humiliating you?"
"Three hundred people just watched a child accuse me of poisoning you."
"Allegedly."
Vivian folded her arms.
"You don't know what was in that food."
"Neither do you?"
Her eyes flashed.
Daniel saw it.
Just for a second.
Fear.
Then anger replaced it.
"I loved you before you had money," Vivian said.
Daniel stared at her.
"That isn't an answer."
The conference-room door opened.
Detective Monroe entered.
Behind her walked the boy.
He had been cleaned up.
Someone had given him a bottle of water and a sandwich.
Without the dirt covering his face, he looked even younger.
Daniel gestured toward the chair.
"Sit down."
The boy hesitated.
"You're not in trouble," Daniel said.
He sat.
"What is your name?"
The boy looked at the table.
"Leo."
"Last name?"
Leo didn't answer.
Detective Monroe spoke.
"He says he doesn't have one."
Daniel frowned.
"Everyone has a last name."
Leo shook his head.
"Not everyone."
Daniel studied him.
"Where are your parents?"
The boy looked away.
"My mom died."
"And your father?"
"I don't know."
Daniel's expression softened.
"How long have you been on your own?"
Leo remained silent.
Detective Monroe answered quietly.
"Long enough."
Daniel looked at the boy's hands.
Small.
Thin.
Covered with old scratches.
"You said you saw my wife."
Leo nodded.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Leo took a deep breath.
"I was behind the hotel."
"Why?"
"I was looking for leftovers."
Daniel glanced down.
Leo continued.
"The kitchen door opened. A lady came out."
"My wife."
"Yes."
"How did you know who she was?"
"I saw her picture on the big screen."
At the banquet entrance, a giant display showed photographs of Daniel and Vivian.
Leo continued.
"She was holding a little glass bottle."
"What color?"
"Brown."
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
"What did she do?"
"She looked around."
Leo glanced toward Vivian.
"Then she poured something into a bowl."
Vivian laughed from the other side of the room.
"This is ridiculous."
Leo flinched.
Detective Monroe immediately turned.
"Mrs. Whitmore."
Vivian went silent.
Daniel looked back at Leo.
"Was anyone else there?"
"A man."
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"What man?"
"He wore a white kitchen jacket."
"The chef?"
"I don't know."
Leo shook his head.
"But he was scared."
"Did he see you?"
"I think so."
Daniel looked toward Detective Monroe.
"Find him."
She nodded.
Leo suddenly reached inside his jacket.
"I have something."
He placed a small object on the table.
A silver pendant.
Daniel stared at it.
His breathing stopped.
The pendant was shaped like a small compass.
He knew it.
He had bought it twelve years earlier.
For his younger sister, Maya.
Maya had disappeared three years later.
Everyone believed she had died in a car accident.
Daniel slowly reached for the pendant.
"Where did you get this?"
Leo looked terrified.
"My mom gave it to me."