“She said, ‘Dad, he just needs a chance. He’s got something good, he just needs someone to believe in him. Please.’”
I looked Daniel in the eyes.
“I didn’t do it for you,” I said. “I did it for her.”
I explained nothing he didn’t already know, but now he was finally listening.
“I provided the initial funding,” I went on. “I accepted the legal risks. I agreed to remain invisible, because you said that having another name publicly associated with the venture might ‘confuse investors’ and ‘complicate the brand.’ I accepted that. My name never appeared in interviews, never in social media posts, never in those idiotic magazine profiles where you talked about being ‘self-made.’”
He flinched again.
“But the contract,” I said, “was crystal clear. You signed it. The lawyers explained it to you line by line. You were aware. You just chose to forget, because it was convenient.”
He wiped a hand over his face.
“I thought…” He laughed once, a dry, humorless sound. “I thought you were just helping Laura. Helping us. I never imagined…”
“No,” I said quietly. “You never imagined that the quiet old man in the corner could be the one who truly held the power.”
Silence settled between us.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Outside, through the thin window, I could hear the muffled sounds of the bakery downstairs—plates clinking, a coffee machine hissing, someone laughing at a joke. Life going on, as always.
“I’m not here to destroy you, Daniel,” I said at last.
His head snapped up, eyes filled with surprise and something like hope.
“You’re… you’re not?” he stammered.
“I’m not a vengeful man,” I answered. “If I had wanted revenge, I wouldn’t be sitting in this small office talking to you. I would have let the lawyers do their work quietly and watched from a distance while everything collapsed around you.”
He swallowed.
“What do you want, then?” he asked.
I considered the question. What did I want?
I wanted Laura back. But that was impossible.
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