PART 2 – THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A DEAD MAN
The ballroom remained frozen.
The old photograph trembled in the maid's hand.
The groom stared at it.
His face lost all color.
The man in the picture was standing beside a fishing boat, smiling into the camera.
A man Ethan knew.
A man who was supposed to have died fifteen years ago.
"My father," the maid whispered.
Ethan slowly looked up.
"No..."
Anna nodded.
"My father was Daniel Hart."
The name struck Ethan like lightning.
Guests exchanged confused glances.
Only one person in the room looked terrified.
The bride.
Sophia.
Years earlier, Daniel Hart had worked as chief accountant for Sophia's wealthy father.
Then one night Daniel was found dead after supposedly driving drunk into a river.
The case was closed within days.
Accident.
Nothing suspicious.
Forgotten.
Except Anna never believed it.
For fifteen years she searched for answers.
And six months ago she finally found them.
She looked toward Sophia.
"You know exactly what happened."
Sophia stepped backward.
"She's insane."
Anna opened another file on her phone.
A recorded conversation filled the ballroom speakers.
A man's voice.
Sophia's father's voice.
"Daniel found the missing money."
Another voice answered.
"What should we do?"
A long pause.
Then:
"Make sure he never talks."
Gasps spread through the crowd.
Ethan felt his knees weaken.
Because the second voice belonged to Sophia.
The woman he loved.
The woman standing beside him in a wedding dress.
The woman who had just tried to poison him.
And suddenly he understood.
Daniel Hart had discovered a massive financial fraud.
Sophia and her father had silenced him.
Now Ethan had discovered evidence hidden inside a company merger.
And he was about to expose everything.
May you like
Just like Daniel.
Which meant Ethan was next.
