Chapter 2 - The Face Nobody Was Allowed to See

Emilia could not stop staring.

Daniel’s real face was handsome, though that hardly mattered.

What mattered was the lie.

Twelve years.

Photographs.

Newspaper articles.

Rumors.

A billionaire supposedly disfigured beyond recognition.

All false.

—Who tried to kill you?

Daniel picked up the prosthetic.

—My brother.

Emilia blinked.

—I thought you were an only child.

—That is what most people think.

He poured himself water.

“My older brother, Adrian, was supposed to inherit Beaumont Industries.”

Daniel explained that their father had built one of the country’s largest logistics and pharmaceutical empires.

Adrian had always been the public heir.

Daniel preferred working behind the scenes.

Then their father discovered something.

Millions were disappearing through subsidiaries.

False invoices.

Shell companies.

Illegal contracts.

Adrian was involved.

When their father threatened to remove him from the company, Adrian blamed Daniel.

—Why?

—Because I found the accounts.

Daniel walked toward the window.

“Twelve years ago I was supposed to meet my father at our country house. Adrian arrived first.”

The house burned that night.

Two bodies were discovered.

One belonged to Daniel’s driver.

The other was never conclusively identified.

Daniel survived because he had been pulled from the rear of the building by a groundskeeper.

He had minor burns.

Nothing like the injuries the public later saw.

—Then why create the scars?

—My father’s security chief convinced me that whoever arranged the fire would try again if they knew I survived intact and had evidence.

—So you pretended?

—At first only while investigators worked.

—For twelve years?

Daniel gave a bitter smile.

—Then my father died.

—And Adrian?

—Disappeared.

The official story said Adrian died overseas two years later.

Daniel never believed it.

—Someone kept trying to access company records. Witnesses disappeared. One accountant died in what police called a robbery.

Emilia wrapped her arms around herself.

—What does this have to do with me?

Daniel looked at her.

—That is the question I have been asking since yesterday.

Her stomach tightened.

—What do you mean?

Daniel walked to a desk.

He opened a drawer and removed a photograph.

He placed it in front of Emilia.

The image showed Emilia leaving the hospital three weeks earlier.

She was holding paperwork.

Standing across the street was a man in a dark coat.

Watching her.

—Who is he?

—We don’t know.

Another photograph.

Her apartment.

The same man.

Another.

Her father’s workplace.

Emilia’s breathing changed.

—Why was someone following us?

Daniel sat opposite her.

—Your father’s employer is a Beaumont subsidiary.

She stared.

—No.

—Yes.

—My father works in warehouse maintenance.

—He did.

—Did?

Daniel hesitated.

—Your father collapsed after entering a restricted archive room.

Emilia stood abruptly.

—You said he had a heart problem.

—He does.

—Then what are you saying?

—That his collapse may not have been random.

Emilia’s fear returned.

Only now it had nothing to do with Daniel’s face.

—Did you know this when you offered to marry me?

—No.

—When did you find out?

—This morning.

She laughed once, without humor.

—Wonderful wedding gift.

Daniel ignored the sarcasm.

“My security team reviewed your family after you accepted the proposal. Standard procedure.”

—You investigated us.

—Yes.

—Without telling me.

—Yes.

She glared at him.

—You say “yes” to terrible things very easily.

—Lying would not improve them.

That infuriating honesty again.

Daniel continued.

“Your father accessed a set of archived shipping records. Records connected to the same accounts Adrian used twelve years ago.”

Emilia slowly sat.

—Why would Dad do that?

—I don’t know.

Then Daniel said something worse.

—But someone apparently believed he found something.

Emilia looked toward the hospital report.

Her father was alive.

Stable.

Surrounded by doctors.

Suddenly that no longer felt safe enough.

—We have to go there.

—My security is already at the hospital.

—That’s not enough.

Daniel studied her.

A few hours earlier she had screamed when he approached.

Now she was standing in front of him demanding action.

—Emilia.

—Take me to my father.

He nodded.

—Get your coat.

As she moved toward the door, Daniel stopped her.

—One more thing.

She turned.

He was holding the prosthetic face.

—Outside this room, I need to wear this.

—Why?

—Because whoever is watching you may also be watching me.

He began applying it carefully.

Piece by piece, the handsome stranger disappeared.

The scarred billionaire returned.

Emilia watched in silence.

Five minutes later, Daniel Beaumont once again looked like the frightening man the world knew.

But now Emilia understood something everyone else did not.

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The terrifying face was not hiding a monster.

It was hiding a target.