Daniel remained silent.
The man grabbed his collar.
"Listen carefully. We don't want to hurt anyone. We only want the agreement."
Daniel stared at him.
"Then you should have asked."
The man raised his hand again.
Before he could strike, Eleanor appeared holding an old metal flashlight.
She swung it against his arm.
The man shouted and released Daniel.
"Run!" Eleanor screamed.
Daniel grabbed his mother's hand.
They moved toward the back door.
But the second intruder had already reached the kitchen.
He blocked the exit.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then a neighbor's security alarm began sounding outside.
The men exchanged glances.
One of them looked toward the broken window.
"We need to go."
They rushed out through the same opening they had entered.
Daniel immediately called emergency services.
When the police arrived, the living room was damaged, several drawers had been emptied, and the kitchen table had been overturned.
The original agreement was missing.
Daniel stood in the middle of the room, breathing heavily.
"Mom, are you hurt?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"I'm okay."
Daniel noticed a small cut on her forehead.
"You're bleeding."
"It's nothing."
He gently guided her toward a chair.
The police began taking statements.
One officer examined the damaged window.
"Did you recognize either of them?"
"No," Daniel replied.
"Did they say why they were here?"
"They wanted a document."
"What kind?"
Daniel hesitated.
He looked at his mother.
Then he answered.
"An agreement connected to a charity foundation."
The officer wrote it down.
"We'll investigate."
After the police left, Daniel found his phone on the floor.
There was a new message from an unknown number.
"You were warned. Next time, we won't leave empty-handed."
Daniel stared at the screen.
Eleanor sat beside him.
"Don't let them frighten you."
He looked at her.
"They came into our home, Mom."
"I know."
"They could have seriously hurt you."
Eleanor took his hand.
"But they didn't get what they wanted."
Daniel frowned.
He looked at the empty table.
The original agreement was gone.
Then he remembered something.
The photographs.
He immediately opened his laptop.
The digital copies were still there.
He exhaled slowly.
"They took the paper, but they don't have the information."
Eleanor smiled weakly.
"Your father would have been proud."
Daniel looked at the photographs.
For the first time that night, he felt a small sense of control.
But he knew the danger was no longer limited to a business dispute.
Richard had crossed a line.
And Daniel was determined to make sure there would be consequences.
The following morning, Helen arrived at Daniel's house with two police officers.
She examined the damaged window, listened to their account, and reviewed the security footage from the neighboring property.
The recording showed two men entering the house shortly after two in the morning.
Their faces were partially covered.
However, one of them had a distinctive tattoo on his wrist.
Helen immediately recognized something.
"Wait."
She paused the recording.
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"I've seen that man before."
"Where?"
"Outside Richard Collins' office."
She called the police investigator assigned to Arthur's case.
Within an hour, the footage had been transferred for examination.
Helen then reviewed the digital copies of the foundation agreement.
"Daniel, the attackers made a serious mistake."
"Why?"
"Because now we have evidence that someone attempted to steal documents connected to an ongoing financial investigation."
She looked toward Eleanor.
"Mrs. Carter, your testimony may become very important."
Eleanor nodded.
"I'll tell them everything."
Helen opened her laptop.
"I also received information from the financial investigator."
Daniel leaned forward.
"What did he find?"
Helen turned the screen toward them.
"The original foundation account is still active."
Daniel stared.
"How much money is there?"
Helen pointed to the figure.
"Approximately 4.8 million dollars."
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Daniel looked stunned.
"That money has been there all these years?"
"Not all of it. The investigator found that several deposits continued after Michael's departure. Someone had been quietly maintaining the account."
"Who?"
Helen checked the records.
"The payments were made through a series of small private donations. Some came from former employees. Others came from individuals who had received assistance in the past."
Daniel looked at his mother.
His father had built something that continued to exist long after he was gone.
Even when the company abandoned him, the people he had helped had not forgotten.
Helen continued.
"But there is something else."
She opened another document.
"The foundation has a list of beneficiaries."
Daniel looked at the names.
There were hundreds.
Families who had lost homes after workplace accidents.
Children whose education had been threatened by financial hardship.
Elderly people who had been abandoned by relatives.
Workers who had been injured and could no longer support their families.
Daniel recognized one name.
Thomas Miller.
His father had mentioned him in the notebook.
"Who is he?"
Helen searched the records.
"He's alive. He received financial assistance from the foundation more than twenty years ago."
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
"Maybe he knows something."
Helen nodded.
"That's possible."
They found Thomas Miller's address through the foundation's old correspondence.
He lived in a modest residential neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.
Daniel and Victoria visited him that afternoon.
Thomas was seventy-one years old. He had once worked as a construction worker before a serious accident left him unable to walk properly.
When Daniel explained who he was, Thomas immediately recognized the name.
"Michael Carter's son?"
Daniel nodded.
Thomas slowly stood.