Chapter 11 - A FATHER’S CHOICE
Laura tried to stop Mateo from leaving.
“You cannot go alone.”
“I’m not risking Jimena.”
“You think he’ll let you walk away?”
“I don’t care what happens to me.”
“I do.”
Laura grabbed his face between both hands.
“And our children do.”
Mateo closed his eyes.
For eleven months, grief had almost destroyed their marriage.
They had blamed themselves.
Then each other.
Then silence had done what blame could not.
They lived in the same house but often felt like strangers sharing a tragedy.
Now Laura pressed her forehead against his.
“Bring her back.”
“I will.”
“And come back too.”
Mateo nodded.
Salgado fitted him with a small tracking device anyway.
“No radio.”
“No obvious police tail.”
“You said alone.”
“You are going alone.”
Salgado looked at him.
“We’re simply refusing to let Ernesto control every variable.”
Mateo took the blue ledger.
An hour later, instructions directed him to an abandoned textile factory outside the city.
The place had been closed for more than a decade.
Broken windows stared across a weed-covered parking lot.
Mateo entered.
“Jimena?”
His voice echoed.
Nothing.
Then a light switched on.
Ernesto stood on a metal platform above him.
He held Jimena by the shoulder.
The little girl’s wrists were tied.
Mateo’s entire body went cold.
“Let her go.”
“Throw the book onto the table.”
Mateo obeyed.
Ernesto descended slowly.
He looked older than Mateo remembered.
Not frightened.
Not ashamed.
Almost relieved.
“You have no idea what that book can destroy.”
“You helped kidnap Emiliano?”
Ernesto laughed.
“No.”
“Then why take Jimena?”
“Because your sister failed.”
Mateo stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew Sebastián was trying to recover the ledger.”
“You knew Emiliano was alive?”
Ernesto’s silence lasted half a second too long.
Mateo stepped forward.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“For eleven months?”
“I had larger problems.”
Mateo felt rage blur his vision.
“My son was buried under a floor.”
“And your father nearly destroyed this family with his self-righteousness.”
Mateo understood then.
Ernesto had not become corrupted later.
The corruption had always been there.
“What happened to Dad?”
Ernesto looked at the ledger.
“He should have burned that book.”
Mateo’s voice became barely audible.
“You killed him.”
Ernesto smiled sadly.
“I didn’t drive the truck.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
Jimena began crying.
“Daddy.”
Mateo moved toward her.
Ernesto pulled a gun.
“Stop.”
Mateo froze.
Then another voice came from the darkness.
“Give me the ledger, Ernesto.”
Sebastián Varela stepped from behind an old machine.
May you like
And the expression on Ernesto’s face revealed something Mateo had not expected.
Ernesto was afraid of him.
