Chapter 11 - The Night the Moretti Family Died
Nobody moved.
Tomas stood near the fireplace with his hands hanging uselessly at his sides.
Santiago looked at the man who had protected him through two decades of violence.
The man who had taught him to shoot.
The man who had carried his father's coffin.
The man he had called brother.
"Tell me," Santiago said.
Tomas's voice was barely audible.
"Julian called me that night."
Santiago waited.
"He said Lorenzo wanted a private meeting with some men from the foundation."
"At midnight?"
"He said the situation was urgent."
Santiago's jaw tightened.
"So you opened the door."
Tomas nodded.
"Three men came inside."
"Armed?"
"Not visibly."
"And you let them through?"
"Julian said your father was expecting them."
Santiago looked at Sophia.
She stood motionless beside Ruby.
"What happened next?"
Tomas swallowed.
"I heard shouting."
Santiago's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Then?"
"Your mother came down the stairs."
Sophia closed her eyes.
"She was holding a folder," Tomas continued.
"She told Julian that she'd already copied everything."
Santiago felt the air leave his lungs.
"Then the men pulled their weapons."
Ruby moved closer to Sophia.
Tomas's breathing grew uneven.
"I tried to stop them."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"Then why are my parents dead?"
Tomas looked at Santiago.
"Because I was too late."
Santiago stared at him.
"You knew who killed them."
"Not all of them."
"But you knew Julian was involved."
Tomas nodded.
"Yes."
"And you allowed me to trust him."
Tomas's face crumpled.
"I thought he would kill Sophia if I told you."
Santiago's voice cracked.
"So you let him keep controlling her?"
"I stayed close to protect her."
Santiago laughed bitterly.
"You protected her so well that she was terrified to leave her bedroom."
Tomas lowered his eyes.
He had no defense.
Sophia moved forward.
She touched Ruby's arm and began signing.
Ruby translated carefully.
"She says there was something else."
Santiago turned.
Sophia described the night in fragments.
A broken glass.
Her mother's green dress.
The smell of rain.
A man's voice shouting.
A gunshot.
Her father falling against the dining-room table.
Then she stopped.
Ruby waited.
Sophia pressed both hands against her chest.
Her breathing became rapid.
"We can stop," Ruby signed.
Sophia shook her head.
She wanted to continue.
She needed to.
Ruby gave her time.
Finally, Sophia signed:
Mom told me run.
Santiago closed his eyes.
I hid behind curtain.
Uncle Julian saw me.
He smiled.
Ruby struggled to keep her voice steady.
"He told her to come out."
Sophia began trembling.
"He said if she stayed quiet, she could live."
Santiago looked toward Tomas.
The man had tears running down his face.
Sophia continued.
Mom was still moving.
Santiago felt physically ill.
Julian took the folder.
Then Mom stopped.
Ruby held Sophia's hand.
"Did you see anything after that?"
Sophia nodded.
Her gestures became slower.
More deliberate.
Julian talked to Tomas.
He said the boy will believe us.
Santiago stared.
"The boy?"
Sophia pointed directly at him.
He stepped backward.
Julian had not merely killed his parents.
He had planned to shape the son who survived them.
The frightened twenty-nine-year-old Santiago had inherited a criminal empire already filled with Julian's loyalists.
He had been told the attack was the work of rival families.
He had pursued revenge.
Expanded operations.
Punished people Julian identified as enemies.
All while Julian handled the finances.
Santiago felt the full horror of the manipulation settle over him.
For seven years, he had been the public face of a power structure his parents were trying to dismantle.
But the realization did not erase his own decisions.
He had chosen whom to threaten.
Whom to punish.
Which illegal operations to approve.
And which questions never to ask.
Ruby seemed to understand what he was thinking.
"Julian deceived you," she said quietly.
Santiago nodded.
"But that doesn't make you innocent."
He looked at her.
"No."
Sophia took his hand.
Then signed:
What now?
Santiago knelt before her.
For years, every answer he had given involved protecting the family name.
Tonight, he finally understood that the name was not what needed saving.
"We tell the truth," he said.
Ruby translated.
Sophia watched him.
Then she signed:
All of it?
Santiago looked toward Tomas.
Toward the hidden ledger.
Toward the photograph of his parents.
"All of it."
Outside, headlights swept across the mansion's front windows.
A security alarm sounded.
Tomas looked sharply toward the door.
Santiago's phone vibrated.
An incoming message contained a photograph of the front gates.
Three black vehicles waited beyond them.
Beneath the image was a sentence.
May you like
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE DEAD BURIED.
And then the estate's electricity went out.
