2
I was lucky to be raised by the Callahans.
Sure, I wasn’t their blood, but they treated me
like their own.
I married Barb when I was in my twenties, and
we had Mikey.
Then Chris showed up, all smiles and charm,
worming his way into everyone’s good graces.
I even tried to be nice to him, since I figured I
owed him something.
L
I was wrong about him. Underneath that nice
guy act, Chris was rotten to the core.
He framed me, started messing around with
Barb, and buttered up Mikey. He even
poisoned my parents against me.
Barb and Mikey got colder and colder, always
complaining.
My parents saw through Chris, but it was too
late.
They died in a car wreck when Mikey was
eight.
They never found the driver.
After that, Chris inherited everything and
く
Barb didn’t even hesitate, throwing divorce
papers in my face and demanding I leave with
nothing.
Mikey, the little punk, kicked and screamed,
saying he wanted Chris for a dad.
Chris put his arm around Barb and sneered.
“Danny, you were just the family pet. What
makes you think you can compete with me?”
Barb snuggled against Chris.
“I only married you because you were the
Callahan heir! Now the real one’s here. What
makes you think I’d stick with you?”
Everything we’d ever said to each other was a
joke.
Г
From that moment on, I was done with them.
I left with nothing, feeling like a stray dog.
I spent a night by the river, wanting to jump
- in. But then I remembered my parents, how
much they loved me.
I hadn’t found the hit–and–run driver yet. I
couldn’t give up now.
As I started to leave, an old guy walked up.
“If you’d jumped, I’d have been real
disappointed,” he said, grinning.
“I’ve been watching you all night. Come on,
let’s get some breakfast and talk.”
Г
That old guy was Hank, my best friend and
the big boss at Gold Standard.
He’d been following me since I got kicked
out.
He said he liked my style and wanted me to
join Gold Standard.
I said no.
I told him, “I want to see if I can make it on
my own, without the Callahan name.”
Hank liked that even more. He helped me get
into finance, and I worked my butt off. I got to
be a big player, working behind the scenes.
Hank and I got to be close friends. He took
く
me to fancy business clubs filled with the
biggest shots in every industry.
Ten years flew by.
Now, the Callahan company seemed small
and unimportant.
I didn’t care about getting revenge on Chris
and Barb. All I wanted was to find out who
killed my parents.
I hired private detectives and used all my
contacts to investigate the car accident.
Finally, I got a lead.
I pulled out my phone and looked at a picture.
It was Chris and Barb’s wedding photo
3
