The Manhattan ballroom was already crowded when Daniel Bennett arrived.
A sophisticated woman in a black evening dress immediately approached him.
“Mr. Bennett, you finally made it.”
Daniel greeted her politely, but his attention shifted across the room.
A mysterious woman in a striking red dress stood alone near the balcony.
Daniel stared at her.
The woman noticed and quickly looked away.
“Would you dance with me?” the woman in black asked.
Daniel hesitated.
“Excuse me.”
He walked away.
The woman in red saw him approaching and headed toward the balcony.
Daniel followed.
But just before he reached the doorway, a security officer quietly stepped beside him.
“Sir… we found the person who’s been deceiving you.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Bring them here.”
The woman in red slowly turned around.
For a moment, Daniel was certain security meant her.
He was wrong.
Minutes later, another security officer entered the ballroom with the woman in black.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
A sealed envelope was placed in his hands.
Inside were copies of financial records and photographs.
Someone had apparently been using Daniel’s name and connections to manipulate several of his business partners.
The woman in black immediately protested.
“This isn’t what it looks like.”
A voice came from behind Daniel.
“It’s worse.”
The woman in red had returned from the balcony.
She explained that she had spent months quietly collecting information. She was also the person who had anonymously alerted Daniel’s security team.
Daniel looked at her.
“Why didn’t you come directly to me?”
“Because I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
Then she reached into her purse.
She pulled out an old photograph.
Daniel took it—and went completely still.
The picture showed his father decades earlier, standing beside a young woman Daniel had never seen.
On the back was a handwritten date.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
It was his birthday.
He slowly raised his eyes.
“Who are you?”
The woman in red swallowed hard.
“That’s the real reason I came tonight.”
Daniel looked again at the photograph.
Suddenly, whatever had happened with the woman in black seemed almost insignificant.
Because the stranger in red apparently knew something about Daniel’s own family that had been hidden from him his entire life.
