CHAPTER 2 — THE SECRET INSIDE THE USB DRIVE
Frank demanded answers.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Hannah's eyes filled with old pain.
"I tried."
"You threw me out before I could."
She reached into her backpack and carefully placed the tiny USB drive on the table.
"I've carried this for ten years."
"No copies."
"No cloud backup."
"Just this."
Frank stared at it.
"What's on it?"
"The reason Daniel died."
Owen quietly squeezed his mother's hand.
Diane whispered,
"Can we watch it?"
Hannah nodded.
Frank connected the drive to the old family computer.
The screen flickered.
A grainy video appeared.
Daniel looked exhausted.
His face was bruised.
Behind him...
factory equipment echoed through the darkness.
"If you're watching this..."
"...I'm probably already dead."
Frank stopped breathing.
Daniel continued.
"The company isn't failing."
"They're stealing."
"They've been replacing safety equipment with counterfeit parts."
"People are dying."
"And management knows."
The video suddenly showed files.
Invoices.
Bank transfers.
Executive signatures.
One name appeared again and again.
Richard Coleman.
The factory owner.
The richest man in Albany.
Then Daniel looked directly into the camera.
"If anything happens to me..."
"Protect Hannah."
"And protect our son."
Frank whispered,
"Our... son?"
Hannah nodded slowly.
"I found out I was pregnant two days before he recorded this."
Then came the sentence that shattered Frank completely.
"Mr. Carter..."
Daniel said into the camera.
"You've always treated me like a son."
"If they convince you I'm reckless..."
"...don't believe them."
Frank covered his face.
May you like
He had failed the young man who trusted him most.
And he had thrown Daniel's pregnant fiancée onto the street.
