CHAPTER 16 — THE ENEMY WHO WAS WATCHING
The picture stayed on my phone screen.
A picture of Lily.
My daughter.
Taken without my permission.
Without my knowledge.
Without me noticing.
That was the part that frightened me the most.
Not the message.
Not the threat.
The fact that someone had been close enough to watch us.
Close enough to take a photograph.
Close enough to know exactly where we were.
I looked at Daniel.
For once, neither of us had an answer.
The man who once believed he controlled everything now looked just as lost as I felt.
Rachel immediately took my phone.
“Do not delete anything.”
“I won’t.”
She examined the image carefully.
“Look at the background.”
I leaned closer.
At first, I saw only Lily.
Her tiny face.
Her blanket.
Her sleeping expression.
Then I noticed something behind her.
A reflection.
A mirror.
Someone standing in the corner of the hotel hallway.
My heart tightened.
“Can you zoom in?”
Rachel tried.
The image became blurry.
But there was enough.
A dark jacket.
A familiar shape.
A person watching.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Is that…”
He stopped.
I looked at him.
“Who?”
His face changed.
“It looks like Mark.”
The room became silent.
My father immediately stood.
“Are you sure?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
But his voice lacked confidence.
Because he knew.
Mark was not just running.
He was still watching.
Rachel looked at the photo details.
“The image was taken two hours before the message was sent.”
She looked at me.
“Someone wanted you to know they were there.”
A cold feeling moved through my body.
“This isn’t just intimidation.”
Rachel nodded.
“No.”
She placed the phone down.
“It’s psychological.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever is doing this wants you afraid.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Afraid enough to make mistakes.”
Nobody spoke.
Because we all understood.
Fear was the weapon.
The same weapon Mark had used from the beginning.
Fear that Daniel would lose his company.
Fear that Lily was not his.
Fear that his marriage was ending.
Fear made him vulnerable.
And someone had used that vulnerability perfectly.
I looked at Daniel.
“Did Mark ever threaten you directly?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
My eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“A week before Lily was born.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel sat down slowly.
“He told me I needed to make a decision.”
“About what?”
“About my future.”
I waited.
“He said I was too distracted.”
“By what?”
Daniel looked at me.
“By you.”
The words hurt.
Even now.
Even after everything.
Because I knew what he meant.
Mark had seen me as a weakness.
A responsibility.
Something that made Daniel harder to control.
Daniel continued.
“He said family made people vulnerable.”
My father clenched his fist.
“That sounds exactly like him.”
I looked at my father.
“You knew him well?”
A strange silence followed.
My father looked away.
Again.
Another secret.
I felt the frustration rising.
“Dad.”
He sighed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
My father took a deep breath.
“Because Mark worked for me years ago.”
Everyone froze.
Daniel stared at him.
“What?”
My father nodded.
“Before he joined your company.”
The room changed.
This was no longer a coincidence.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
My father looked ashamed.
“Because I thought I had dealt with it.”
“What did you deal with?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Mark was fired.”
“Why?”
“Because he was stealing.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“He stole from you?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
My father looked down.
“Enough that he almost destroyed my company.”
Silence.
The pattern became obvious.
Mark did not suddenly become dangerous.
He had always been dangerous.
He simply found new people to manipulate.
Rachel immediately asked:
“Did you report him?”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted it to disappear.”
I looked at him.
“And it didn’t.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“It followed me.”
Daniel stood.
“Why would he target me?”
My father looked at him.
“Because you were easier to break.”
The words were harsh.
But true.
Daniel looked away.
Because he knew.
Mark had found every weakness.
His ambition.
His fear.
His need to be admired.
And his relationship with Chloe.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
Everyone froze.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
Rachel immediately said:
“Answer it.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then pressed the button.
“Hello?”
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then a recording played.
A voice.
Mark.
“Daniel.”
Everyone became still.
“You always thought you were smarter than everyone else.”
A pause.
“You weren’t.”
Daniel tightened his grip on the phone.
“What do you want?”
Mark laughed quietly.
“What do I want?”
Another pause.
“I already told you.”
“You wanted a family.”
“You wanted a perfect life.”
“You wanted to believe you were a good man.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Mark continued.
“But good men don’t survive in business.”
Rachel moved closer.
Trying to record the call.
Mark continued.
“You should have listened when I told you to let go.”
Daniel’s voice became angry.
“You manipulated me.”
“No.”
Mark replied calmly.
“You manipulated yourself.”
The words hit harder because they were partially true.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Mark continued:
“You were already unhappy.”
“You were already looking for an escape.”
“Chloe was just the door.”
I watched Daniel.
Because even Mark’s cruelty contained truth.
He had not created every weakness.
He had only used them.
Then Mark said something that made my blood run cold.
“But Jennifer…”
The sound of my name changed everything.
“She was always the real problem.”
I stepped closer to the phone.
“What did you do?”
A pause.
Then Mark answered.
“I made sure you would lose everything.”
The call suddenly became silent.
Then:
“You have forty-eight hours.”
Daniel frowned.
“For what?”
Mark laughed.
“To decide whether you want your company…”
Another pause.
“Or your family.”
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Forty-eight hours.
A deadline.
A threat.
A choice.
I looked at Daniel.
And for the first time, I understood something.
Mark had spent months trying to separate us.
He wanted us divided.
Angry.
Distrustful.
Because divided people were easy to defeat.
But now the situation had changed.
The truth was finally out.
The question was whether Daniel and I could work together long enough to stop him.
Or whether the damage between us was already too deep.
Rachel broke the silence.
“We need a plan.”
Daniel looked at me.
I looked back at him.
The man who betrayed me.
The man who lied to me.
The man who still had a chance to prove whether he was only a victim…
Or whether he was finally ready to become accountable.
I took a deep breath.
“First, we protect Lily.”
Daniel nodded.
“Second?”
I looked at him.
“We destroy every lie Mark built.”
For the first time in months…
Daniel and I were standing on the same side.
But neither of us knew if that was enough.
Because somewhere out there…
May you like
Mark Ellis was waiting.
And he had already planned his next move.
