Chapter 2 - THE MAN DANIEL NEVER BOTHERED TO KNOW
It took firefighters forty minutes to lift the beam from my leg.
Mason and I were transported to County-USC Medical Center. He had pneumonia complicated by dehydration, but the doctor believed he would recover without lasting damage.
My leg was badly bruised, not broken.
Daniel arrived after midnight.
Vanessa had already been discharged with a severe sprain. Daniel entered Mason’s hospital room wearing a clean shirt someone had found for him. He carried a stuffed bear from the gift shop.
Mason turned his face toward the wall.
“I came as soon as I could,” Daniel said.
“You left in the first ambulance,” I replied.
“Vanessa couldn’t walk.”
“Neither could I.”
His eyes moved to my father, who stood near the window.
Daniel had met Dad only twice during our eleven-year marriage. Both meetings had been brief and uncomfortable. He knew Grant had taught structural engineering at a community college before retiring. He had never asked what Dad had done before that.
Dad stepped forward.
“Grant Whitmore.”
Daniel stared at him.
Whitmore Global privately owned the Halcyon Hotel Group and more than thirty commercial properties across the western United States. Dad had founded the company before I was born, then stepped away from daily management after my mother died.
I had grown up using her last name. After years of fighting with Dad over the life he wanted for me, I had kept my connection to Whitmore Global out of my marriage.
Daniel looked from him to me.
“You knew?”
“I knew who my father was.”
“You let me work for his company without telling me?”
“You worked for a subsidiary. You were hired by people who didn’t know I was his daughter.”
Dad’s voice remained level. “My relationship with Claire is not why we’re here. The annex opened without final structural clearance.”
Daniel glanced toward the document case.
“The engineer was overly cautious. The city inspector approved occupancy.”
“The city file contains a temporary approval based on supplemental information,” Dad said. “Information submitted from your office.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You called him.”
I had.
Three weeks earlier, after finding internal emails about cracked supports and altered construction schedules, I sent copies to Dad. He had ordered an independent review and planned to shut down the opening that afternoon.
The earthquake had struck before he arrived.
Daniel walked toward the bed.
“Mason, buddy, I made the best decision I could.”
Mason kept facing the wall.
Dad’s phone rang. He listened for several seconds, then looked at me.
“The compliance team reached Vanessa’s apartment. She isn’t there.”
“What about the red folder?” I asked.
“They didn’t find it.”
May you like
Daniel’s hand stopped above Mason’s stuffed bear.
For the first time that night, he looked genuinely frightened.
