Chapter 4 — The Con Man in the Garage
By noon, the story had already spread.
Not online yet. Not publicly.
But inside certain offices.
Inside certain phones.
Inside rooms where people didn’t like loose ends.
A man in a glass tower in Chicago said Daniel Carter’s name once and then underlined it twice.
Back in Dayton, a different storm was building.
Victoria walked through Daniel’s shop without permission this time.
Emma watched from behind a toolbox, silent.
“You live here?” Victoria asked.
“No,” Daniel said. “I work here.”
“You sleep on the couch in the office.”
“That’s still not living here.”
Her eyes moved across the cracked walls, the outdated tools, the handwritten invoices.
“This place is barely surviving.”
“Thanks for the update.”
“I didn’t mean it as an insult.”
“Most truths sound like insults when you’re broke.”
That made her pause.
For the first time, she looked less like a billionaire and more like a woman trying to solve something that didn’t fit neatly into spreadsheets.
“My company handles logistics contracts,” she said. “One of our divisions deals with government transport security. If someone wanted access to my movements, they would need proximity.”
Daniel leaned against a workbench.
“You think I’m involved.”
“I think you were too close to be random.”
Emma stepped out then.
“Dad didn’t do anything bad,” she said firmly.
The entire shop went still.
Daniel turned immediately. “Emma—”
But Victoria looked at the girl.
Really looked.
And something changed in her expression again.
Because children don’t fake that kind of certainty.
Not even for their parents.
“I believe you,” Victoria said quietly.
Daniel exhaled slightly.
But the suited man in the corner did not look convinced.
May you like
And outside, one of the SUVs had already left.
Without being told.
