Chapter 8 - THE LETTER FROM A DEAD MAN
The letter was hidden inside the Saint Christopher medal’s original case.
Elena had kept it inside the lining of an old coat.
Vivian never found it.
Now, sitting in Nathan’s secure apartment, Alejandro read his father’s handwriting.
Elena Vargas is pregnant.
The child must remain outside the succession structure until I determine whether she can be trusted.
Vivian has agreed to manage the situation discreetly.
Alejandro read it again.
Then again.
His father had known.
Worse.
His father had given Vivian authority.
Alejandro remembered Mateo Castillo as strict but fair.
A man obsessed with preserving the company.
A man who believed family and business were the same organism.
“He started it,” Alejandro whispered.
Elena shook her head.
“He opened the door.
Vivian turned it into something else.”
“That doesn’t excuse him.”
“No.”
Alejandro looked at Isabella.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
He believed her.
For once.
Nathan examined the letter.
“This helps.”
“How?”
“It establishes Vivian’s original access to your family.”
“And makes my father look monstrous.”
Nathan did not argue.
Marco appeared in the hallway.
“Dad?”
Everyone froze.
Alejandro slowly turned.
It was the first time Marco had called him that.
The boy looked embarrassed.
“I mean… Alejandro.”
“No.”
Alejandro’s voice broke.
“Dad is okay.”
Marco looked relieved.
“I can’t sleep.”
Alejandro glanced at Elena.
She nodded.
He walked Marco back to the bedroom.
Marco climbed under the blanket.
“Were you really looking for Mom?”
“Every day.”
“Did you look for me?”
Alejandro swallowed.
“I didn’t know you existed.”
Marco thought about that.
“So you didn’t forget me.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Alejandro sat beside him.
Marco looked toward the door.
“Vivian said you didn’t want children.”
“She lied.”
“She lies a lot.”
“Yes.”
Marco became quiet.
Then he whispered.
“She killed Grandpa.”
Alejandro stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Not your dad.
Mom’s dad.”
Elena’s father.
Gabriel Vargas.
Officially killed in a boating accident fourteen years earlier.
“How do you know that?”
“I heard her tell Mr. Hale.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.
A long time ago.”
“What exactly did she say?”
“She said, ‘Gabriel should have stayed in the water where we put him.’”
Alejandro stared.
Children often misunderstood fragments.
But Marco remembered details with unusual precision because details had helped him survive.
“Did anyone else hear?”
“Rosa.”
The next morning they located Rosa.
She was hiding at her sister’s apartment in Queens.
She confirmed Marco’s memory.
“I heard Vivian and Detective Hale arguing.”
“About Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“What did Hale say?”
Rosa wrung her hands.
“He said he would not clean up another Vargas problem.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“Another?”
“Yes.”
“Who was the first?”
Rosa began crying.
“I don’t know.”
Isabella did.
Everyone turned toward her.
“My husband.”
Elena stared.
“You knew Dad was murdered?”
“I suspected.”
“And said nothing?”
“I was next.”
Isabella explained.
Gabriel Vargas had discovered Vivian stealing money from offshore family accounts.
He planned to expose her.
Two days later, his boat exploded.
No body was recovered.
Isabella began investigating.
Then her car brakes failed.
She survived.
She staged her own death and disappeared.
Elena looked at her mother with tears in her eyes.
“You left me alone with her.”
“I thought she would leave you alone if she believed I was dead.”
“She married herself into my life instead.”
“I know.”
Elena stood.
“You always say that.”
She walked out.
Alejandro found her on the balcony.
“She abandoned me.”
“Yes.”
“She says she was protecting me.”
“She was protecting herself too.”
Elena looked at him.
“Are you defending her?”
“No.”
He stood beside her.
“I’m saying two things can be true.”
Elena looked toward the city.
“I don’t know how to forgive people anymore.”
“Then don’t.”
She turned.
Alejandro continued.
“Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
You don’t owe forgiveness because someone regrets what they did.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“Even you?”
The question landed gently but deeply.
Alejandro nodded.
“Even me.”
“For what?”
“For not seeing you.”
“You were deceived.”
“I was also absent.
I let work take me away constantly.
I accepted explanations because they were convenient.”
“You searched for three years.”
“I should have known you before you disappeared well enough to know something was wrong before that.”
Elena looked at him for a long time.
Then she leaned her head against his shoulder.
Alejandro didn’t move.
He barely breathed.
That night Nathan received confirmation.
A federal judge approved sealed warrants.
Hale.
Vivian.
Victor.
Three Castillo Global executives.
Two doctors.
A probate judge.
The operation would begin at dawn.
Then Nathan’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What happened?”
Nathan slowly lowered the phone.
“Hale is dead.”
Alejandro stared.
“How?”
“Car explosion.”
Elena looked at Isabella.
Same method as Gabriel.
Nathan continued.
“And there’s more.”
“What?”
“Hale placed a package with an attorney yesterday.”
“What kind of package?”
“A dead-man file.”
“Who receives it?”
May you like
Nathan looked directly at Elena.
“You.”
