Chapter 5 - Daniel’s Real Name
Daniel kept staring at his forged signature.
“They’re setting me up.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Because whoever controlled Darren wanted every possible witness contaminated.
If Daniel testified that my children abandoned me, their lawyers could claim he had financial motives.
If his name appeared in guardianship paperwork, they could suggest he had secretly coordinated with them.
Simple.
Effective.
Cruel.
Then Naomi discovered something strange while verifying Daniel’s identity.
“Evelyn,” she said carefully, “Daniel Reyes wasn’t always Daniel Reyes.”
He stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
Naomi continued.
“Your legal name changed when you were twenty-three.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Daniel Alvarez.”
I waited.
He had given me no reason to distrust him.
But after my own children, trust had become something I handled carefully.
“My father’s name,” he said.
His biological father was Hector Alvarez, a union accountant who disappeared twenty-two years earlier after accusing a construction consortium of pension theft.
Daniel’s mother changed their surname to Reyes after threats began.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I?”
Fair.
Then Naomi went silent.
“Daniel… what construction consortium?”
He answered:
“Holt Infrastructure.”
Darren’s father’s company.
The room changed.
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“No.”
Naomi dug deeper.
Hector Alvarez had been investigating $11 million missing from employee pension accounts.
One company provided cybersecurity support for the consortium.
CrossShield.
My company.
I felt physically ill.
Twenty-two years ago, I had still run almost everything personally.
Yet I remembered no Hector Alvarez.
Then Naomi found an internal memo.
Authored by Thomas Cross.
My late husband.
Subject:
Alvarez Matter — Do Not Escalate.
My hand began trembling.
Daniel saw.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Your husband did.”
I couldn’t deny that.
Thomas had managed operations while I built CrossShield’s technology.
I had trusted him completely.
Perhaps too completely.
Naomi opened another archived file.
Payment approved by Thomas.
Recipient:
Holt Infrastructure.
Daniel stepped away from me.
For the first time since lifting me from the gutter, suspicion entered his face.
“My father disappeared after investigating them.”
“I know.”
“And your husband paid them.”
“Yes.”
The silence hurt.
Then another archived document appeared.
Twenty-two years old.
A scanned photograph.
Thomas.
Darren Holt.
Hector Alvarez.
Standing together.
On the back, someone had written:
CrossShield Acquisition Strategy.
Daniel whispered:
“My father wasn’t investigating your company.”
Naomi enlarged the document.
“No.”
“He was working with it.”
That created an entirely different question.
Why did he disappear?
Then my emergency phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A distorted male voice said:
“Evelyn Cross?”
“Yes.”
“You should stop digging into Hector Alvarez.”
Daniel stared at me.
“Why?”
The caller laughed.
“Because Daniel’s father is alive.”
The line went dead.
Daniel sat down.
Twenty-two years of grief disappeared from his face.
Only shock remained.
Then Naomi said:
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
May you like
She had traced the call.
It originated from Adrian’s mansion.
