Chapter 5 - The Trust My Father Hid From EveryoneWe spent the night studying the documents.
Every page revealed another secret.
My father had established a private trust fifteen years before his death.
The beneficiaries were not what I expected.
The first beneficiary was me.
The second was Sofia.
The third was Matthew Carranza.
The fourth name had been blacked out.
“Why?” I asked.
Matthew shook his head.
“We need the original.”
“Where?”
“Your father's old office.”
“It's inside Vargas Holdings.”
“Exactly.”
“Isabel has control.”
“For now.”
We entered the building before dawn.
Matthew's security team created a diversion.
I used my old employee badge.
The strange thing was that it still worked.
That frightened me more than if it hadn't.
My father's office smelled exactly the same.
Old wood.
Leather.
Coffee.
Memories.
I walked to his desk.
My hands trembled.
“He used to sit here.”
Matthew stood behind me.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“I used to meet him here.”
I looked at him.
“You met my father often.”
“More than you know.”
I opened the desk.
Nothing.
Second drawer.
Nothing.
Third.
A false bottom.
My heart jumped.
I pulled it out.
Inside was a small metal box.
Matthew examined it.
No lock.
It opened immediately.
Inside was a flash drive.
A key.
And a photograph.
My father.
My mother.
Matthew's father.
And Richard Ambrose.
They were standing together.
Smiling.
I felt sick.
“Why would they work together?”
Matthew looked at the photograph.
“Because they did.”
“But you said Ambrose betrayed them.”
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“No.”
I pointed at the image.
“Look at my father's face.”
Matthew frowned.
“What?”
“He isn't smiling.”
I turned the photograph over.
There was a handwritten note.
One of us is already dead.
Matthew stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because the photograph was taken six months after my father supposedly died.”
I felt cold.
Someone had staged it.
A secret meeting.
A false date.
A false death.
Everything.
Then the flash drive unlocked.
A video appeared.
My father's voice.
“If you're seeing this, then Ambrose has made his move.”
I leaned closer.
“He will claim the trust belongs to him.”
“He will tell you your mother betrayed me.”
“Don't believe him.”
My heart raced.
“There is one person I never stopped trusting.”
The screen showed my mother.
“Your mother.”
I started crying.
“She left to keep Elena safe.”
My father looked exhausted.
“Isabel knows that.”
“That's why she hates her.”
Then the screen changed.
A document appeared.
Project Avalon.
Matthew stiffened.
“What is that?”
“I don't know.”
My father continued:
“Project Avalon was created to transfer controlling assets into a protected structure beyond the reach of corrupt shareholders.”
“Only Elena can activate it.”
I stared.
“How?”
“With the key.”
I looked at the metal key in my hand.
Matthew took it.
“What does it open?”
The answer came from a hidden drawer in the wall.
A small steel compartment.
The key fit.
Inside was the missing fourth name.
Gabriel Carranza.
Matthew froze.
“My brother.”
I stared.
“You have a brother?”
He swallowed.
“I did.”
“Did?”
“He died before my father.”
The document beside the name contained a photograph.
The man in it was young.
Smiling.
And standing beside Isabel.
I looked at Matthew.
“Isabel knew your brother.”
“Yes.”
“She was involved with him.”
“I don't know.”
The final page revealed the truth.
Gabriel hadn't died.
He had disappeared.
And according to the trust records, he was alive.
My blood went cold.
Matthew stared at the page.
“I've spent ten years thinking my brother was dead.”
“And now?”
“Now I think he may be the person behind everything.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
We hid behind the office door.
The door opened.
Isabel walked inside.
She wasn't alone.
Richard Ambrose stood behind her.
Then another man entered.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Scar across his jaw.
Matthew went completely still.
“Gabriel.”
His brother looked at him.
Then smiled.
“Hello, Matthew.”
My heart raced.
May you like
Gabriel Carranza was alive.
And he was working with Isabel.
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