Caro's phone remained switched off as she sat in the back room of a quiet café across town, staring at the folder Julian Ross had placed on the table between them. The room was narrow and dim, hidden behind the café kitchen, with only one small window facing an alley. Julian had chosen the place because he did not want anyone from the media to see them together. Caro had agreed because she no longer knew who was watching her.
The folder carried no company logo. No official stamp. Only a handwritten name on the front.
Elias Bennett.
Her father.
Caro had read his name a hundred times in old documents, letters, and court notices. But seeing it there, connected to Daniel's investigation, made her chest tighten. Her father had been dead for years. He had left behind debts, silence, and a family that had spent too long paying for choices they did not fully understand. Yet somehow, he had become part of the war surrounding Peter Lawson.
