CHAPTER 4 — THE DAUGHTER NO ONE MENTIONED
Khloe stared at the photograph until the letters blurred.
Emma Cole.
The baby would now be thirty-four years old.
Harrison examined the broken window while the police searched the property.
“Dad didn’t have another daughter,” he said.
“You sound certain.”
“I lived with him. I worked with him. I handled his estate.”
“That doesn’t mean you knew everything.”
Harrison looked at her sharply.
Khloe immediately regretted the words.
But the photograph remained between them.
Their father had hidden Khloe’s ownership of a billion-dollar company for six years after his death.
A secret daughter no longer seemed impossible.
The police found no fingerprints.
The security cameras had stopped recording eleven minutes before the break-in. Whoever entered the house had known exactly how to disable the system.
Harrison contacted a private investigator named Lena Ortiz, a former federal agent who had worked with him on financial crime cases.
By sunrise, Lena had located Meridian Land Holdings.
The company had not dissolved.
It had simply moved.
Its ownership passed through four shell corporations before ending with an investment account in Wilmington, Delaware.
The account holder’s name was Emma Cole.
“She exists,” Lena said during a video call.
“Where is she?” Khloe asked.
“Until six months ago, she lived in Boston. She worked as a forensic accountant.”
“For whom?”
“The Justice Department.”
Harrison leaned forward.
“And now?”
“She resigned without explanation. Her apartment is empty, her phone is disconnected, and her banking activity stopped fourteen weeks ago.”
Khloe looked toward the staircase.
Hope was upstairs with her nanny.
“Could she have broken into my house?”
“Possibly,” Lena answered. “But there’s something else.”
She shared a document on the screen.
It was a property map showing dozens of parcels surrounding the company’s largest redevelopment site.
Every parcel was owned by Meridian Land Holdings.
Cole Urban Development had planned to build a medical center, affordable apartments, and a public school on that land.
Without the Meridian parcels, the project could not proceed.
“How much are they worth?” Khloe asked.
“Approximately four hundred million dollars.”
Harrison’s expression hardened.
“Richard must have known.”
Lena shook her head.
“I don’t think he did. I searched the recordings and financial files from his prosecution. Meridian never appeared.”
Khloe thought about her father’s letter.
Richard must never learn about it.
“Then who took the letter?”
No one answered.
That afternoon, Khloe received a call from the reception desk.
A woman had arrived without an appointment.
She carried no purse and wore a simple gray coat despite the warm weather.
“She says her name is Emma Cole,” the receptionist said.
Khloe’s heart pounded.
“Send her up.”
Harrison positioned himself beside the door.
A minute later, the woman entered.
She was tall, with dark auburn hair and Daniel Cole’s unmistakable green eyes.
Khloe felt the truth before Emma spoke.
“You look like him,” Khloe whispered.
“So do you.”
Emma placed a brass key on the desk.
“I believe this belongs to you.”
Harrison stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
Emma looked at him for a long moment.
“I’m the daughter your father paid to disappear.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I have the birth certificate.”
She removed a folded document from inside her coat.
Harrison did not touch it.
Emma turned to Khloe.
“I didn’t come for your home, your company, or your daughter’s inheritance.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Daniel Cole left me twenty-four percent of the family trust.”
Khloe remained silent.
Emma continued.
“And someone is killing every person who knew the agreement existed.”
She placed a list of six names beside the brass key.
Five had been crossed out.
May you like
The final name belonged to Harrison Cole.
