Chapter 11 - The Original Order
I wanted to believe Celeste was lying.
My father had made terrible decisions, but I had never imagined he would deliberately order Nicholas's death.
I demanded the original document.
Celeste refused to hand it over.
“Meet me tonight,” she said. “The old river warehouse. Come alone, and I'll give you everything.”
“That building burned down.”
“Not the entire building.”
She walked away before I could question her.
I immediately contacted Detective Ortiz and shared the conversation. He warned me not to attend alone, and we arranged surveillance around the warehouse.
At 10:15 p.m., I entered through a side door with a concealed microphone and two officers positioned nearby.
The building smelled of damp wood and old smoke. Moonlight filtered through broken windows.
Celeste stood beside a metal table.
“You came,” she said.
“Where's the document?”
She placed a folder on the table.
Inside was a signed order authorizing a meeting between Nicholas and an unidentified intermediary on the night he died. The signature appeared genuine, but the final page contained a handwritten note.
Ensure the matter is concluded before midnight.
I felt the room close around me.
“Who wrote this?”
Celeste looked away.
“Victor.”
“Then why is my father's signature here?”
“Because Victor forged it. He needed your father's authority to convince the men guarding Nicholas that the meeting was safe.”
A sound echoed from the far corridor.
Celeste flinched.
“They're here.”
“Who?”
“Victor's men.”
She grabbed my sleeve.
“I didn't know they were going to kill him. I thought they would frighten him into leaving.”
“You knew there was a meeting.”
“I was nineteen. My father controlled everything. Victor told me Nicholas would be safe.”
I wanted to hate her. Part of me did.
But her fear was real, and so was her guilt.
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
Men appeared along the upper walkway.
Detective Ortiz's voice crackled through my earpiece, ordering everyone to stand down.
A gunshot shattered the silence.
Celeste screamed and dropped behind the table.
I pulled her down as officers entered from the opposite side.
When the gunfire stopped, Victor was nowhere to be found.
But he had left something behind.
A briefcase lay open beside the stairs.
Inside was a list of names, bank accounts, and payments to officials who had protected the organization for decades.
May you like
At the top of the list was one name I had never expected to see.
Detective Samuel Ortiz.
