Chapter 11 — The Scholarship That Changed Everything
The meeting was scheduled at a private restaurant.
Linda arrived first.
Emily sat beside her.
Robert remained in another room with the recording equipment.
Daniel Price entered at exactly eight.
He smiled.
"Linda."
Linda didn't return the smile.
"Daniel."
He looked at Emily.
"So this is your daughter."
Emily remained silent.
Daniel sat down.
"You look exactly like your father."
Linda's eyes narrowed.
"Don't mention him."
Daniel smiled.
"Still angry."
"I'm not angry."
"Then why did you disappear for twenty-three years?"
Linda leaned forward.
"Because I knew you were stealing from me."
Daniel laughed softly.
"You never proved it."
"Not yet."
His smile disappeared.
Emily watched both of them.
Daniel looked at her.
"Your mother told you everything?"
"No."
"Of course she didn't."
Linda's voice sharpened.
"Why are you here?"
Daniel placed an envelope on the table.
"Because I can give you something you want."
Linda opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her husband.
Alive.
Standing outside a hotel.
The photograph was recent.
Emily gasped.
"That's my father."
Daniel nodded.
"He's alive."
Linda's face went completely still.
"Where?"
Daniel leaned closer.
"Give me control of Morgan Holdings."
Linda laughed.
"You kidnapped him?"
"I didn't say that."
"Where is he?"
Daniel smiled.
"Transfer the company."
Linda stared at him.
"And then?"
"You'll see him."
Emily suddenly understood.
Her mother wasn't protecting her from the company.
She was protecting the company from someone.
Daniel stood.
"You have forty-eight hours."
He walked away.
Emily looked at Linda.
"Mom..."
Linda stared at the photograph.
For the first time, tears filled her eyes.
Then she whispered:
"He's alive."
But there was something else in the photograph.
May you like
A detail neither Emily nor Linda had noticed.
In the background stood a woman.
