Chapter 4 - The Man in the Tape Was My Cousin Marco, but Victor Admitted He Had Been Protecting Someone Even More Dangerous Than HimVictor told me the truth in pieces.
My father had created the network decades earlier.
It started as a way to protect the family's businesses.
Then it expanded.
Money.
Politicians.
Private security.
Illegal transport.
Identity manipulation.
Witnesses.
People who became inconvenient were relocated.
Some disappeared.
Some were forced into silence.
Alessandra discovered it.
She wanted out.
She found evidence.
She started copying files.
Marco discovered what she was doing.
He confronted her.
Victor had been present.
But he claimed he didn't hurt her.
“Then who did?”
Victor stared at me.
“Your mother.”
I laughed.
“My mother died before Alessandra.”
“No.”
I froze.
“She knew.”
He explained.
My mother had discovered the network.
She believed it protected the family.
She wanted Alessandra to stop.
When Alessandra refused, my mother ordered Marco to silence her.
I didn't want to believe it.
But the evidence was there.
Calls.
Payments.
Records.
My mother had met Marco that night.
She had ordered him to retrieve the ledger.
The argument became violent.
Alessandra was hit.
She fell.
Marco panicked.
Victor intervened.
They staged the accident.
I stared at him.
“You helped.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed your family had gone too far.”
“You still helped.”
“I was a coward.”
I appreciated the honesty.
For the first time, Victor looked human.
Then I asked:
“Why protect the tape?”
“Because your sister gave it to Elena.”
“Why?”
“She knew I was trying to expose the network from inside.”
I looked at him.
“You were the one who deleted the footage.”
“Yes.”
“To protect yourself?”
“To protect you.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“Because the footage also showed your mother.”
I stared.
If the footage had been released eight years ago, the entire family would have collapsed.
But Victor had hidden it.
Not out of loyalty.
Out of fear.
Then I asked the question that mattered.
“Who is the real mastermind now?”
He looked at me.
“Marco doesn't control anything.”
“Who does?”
Victor whispered a name.
“Your mother.”
She was alive.
Not in hiding.
Not missing.
Living in the family estate under an assumed medical condition.
She had been controlling the network for years.
I couldn't breathe.
I had spoken to her every Christmas.
Visited her.
Trusted her.
She had attended Alessandra's funeral.
She had cried beside me.
She had known everything.
And she had been running the network.
I returned to the dining room.
My mother sat at the table.
She looked at me.
“I knew you'd eventually find out.”
I stared.
“Did you kill Alessandra?”
May you like
She didn't answer.
That was enough.
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