Chapter 6 - The Woman We Buried Too Soon
I had spent my entire life believing my mother was dead.
Now we had evidence she might still be alive.
The ledger contained a photograph taken three months earlier.
A woman leaving a clinic.
The face was partially hidden.
But the posture.
The hair.
The necklace.
I recognized her.
My mother.
“Where was this?”
Matthew traced the photograph.
“Portugal.”
“What?”
“She may have been living there under another identity.”
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
My father stared at the photograph.
His face became pale.
“She's alive.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why are you not surprised?”
He closed his eyes.
“Because I always hoped.”
We flew to Lisbon.
The woman was gone.
But someone had left behind a letter.
Elena,
I never stopped loving you.
I never stopped watching over you.
I believed staying dead would protect you.
I was wrong.
The letter revealed the truth.
My mother survived the poisoning.
My father survived the crash.
Both disappeared.
They had been working separately to destroy the network that had infiltrated Vargas Development.
But they were betrayed.
By Isabel.
By Thomas.
By people we trusted.
My mother had hidden the final evidence.
Not in a vault.
Not in a bank.
Inside the original Vargas mansion.
The house Isabel had sold years ago.
We returned to Boston.
The property was empty.
Demolished halfway through redevelopment.
But the foundation remained.
We found the old basement.
A hidden wall.
Behind it was a room.
Inside:
Photographs.
Cash.
Documents.
And a video.
My mother appeared on the screen.
Older.
Tired.
Alive.
“If you're seeing this, Elena, I'm sorry.”
I cried.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Your stepmother did not kill me.”
My breath stopped.
“She tried.”
“But someone else saved me.”
A man's face appeared beside her.
Matthew's father.
He had been involved in the operation too.
“He asked me to disappear because Isabel believed I was dead.”
The video continued.
“Your father and I made mistakes.”
“We thought protecting you meant keeping you ignorant.”
“We were wrong.”
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
“You deserved the truth.”
Then she gave us the final location of the ledger.
Not the financial ledger.
The second one.
A list of everyone who had participated.
Including judges.
Police officers.
Bankers.
And one name that made Matthew go silent.
His brother.
Gabriel Carranza.
“That's impossible,” he whispered.
“Who is he?”
“My younger brother.”
“I thought he died.”
“So did I.”
The next day, Gabriel contacted us.
He said he wanted to surrender.
He met us at a church.
He was older than the photographs.
Thin.
Bearded.
But unmistakably related to Matthew.
Gabriel confessed.
He had helped Isabel.
He had helped arrange the fake death.
He had forged the trust documents.
He had planted evidence against me.
But he claimed one thing.
“I never knew she planned to kill Elena.”
Matthew stared at him.
“You gave her the means.”
“I know.”
“You betrayed our father.”
“I know.”
“You betrayed me.”
Gabriel began to cry.
“I was scared.”
Matthew almost laughed.
“You were always scared.”
Then Gabriel handed him a USB drive.
“This contains every transfer.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because I want my life back.”
Matthew looked at me.
The evidence was enough to bring down the network.
May you like
But Isabel had one last move.
She abducted my father.
