Chapter 7 - THE MEN WHO KILLED MY FATHER
Sebastian had been twenty-three when my father died.
Young enough to call himself manipulated.
Old enough to sign a murder authorization.
I stared at the file.
“He approved it.”
Julian’s face had gone cold.
“Yes.”
My mother sat beside me.
For years she had believed Victor acted alone.
Now another name had joined the grief.
Sebastian.
Julian’s cousin.
Family.
The man who walked into the conference room smiling after our wedding.
“Where is he?” I asked.
Marcus checked security.
“Gone.”
“Victor?”
“Also gone.”
Federal agents secured the audit files.
The trust froze automatically after corruption detection.
Vale Global voting rights were suspended pending review.
Julian might lose control temporarily.
He didn’t seem to care.
He looked at my mother.
“I’m sorry.”
She studied him.
“You didn’t kill Rafael.”
“No.”
“But your family did.”
“Yes.”
“And now my daughter married into it.”
I almost laughed.
“Mom.”
“I’m allowed one dramatic sentence.”
Fair.
Then she looked at Julian.
“Do you hurt her?”
His face changed.
“No.”
“Control her?”
“No.”
“Lie?”
He hesitated.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Camille.”
He nodded.
“I withheld information once.”
Mom looked at me.
“You married a work in progress.”
“For six hundred thousand dollars.”
Her mouth fell open.
I had forgotten that part.
Julian actually looked embarrassed.
“Lena.”
Mom stared.
“You paid my daughter to marry you?”
“It was contractual.”
“That is not helping.”
For the first time in twenty-four hours, I laughed.
So did Mom.
Even Julian smiled.
Then Marcus’s phone rang.
His expression changed.
“Camille’s safe house was hit.”
Julian went still.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she now?”
“Missing.”
My smile vanished.
“What happened?”
“Security found signs of forced entry.”
Julian cursed.
Then a message arrived from Sebastian.
Video.
Camille tied to a chair.
Victor stood behind her.
Sebastian beside him.
His face looked nothing like the charming man from midnight.
Victor spoke:
“The audit release created an inconvenience.”
Sebastian smiled.
“But Lena can fix it.”
I stared.
“How?”
Victor continued.
“The marriage activates the key.”
Sebastian added:
“Divorce activates the transfer.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“What?”
They had another clause.
If the designated key holder divorced the principal within thirty days of activation, voting rights transferred to the alternate beneficiary.
Sebastian.
Victor smiled.
“So here are your choices.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“Lena divorces Julian.”
“Sebastian gets the company.”
“Camille lives.”
Julian whispered:
“No.”
Then Victor’s expression changed.
“And if you refuse…”
The camera shifted.
Another chair.
Someone else was tied there.
My mother gasped beside me.
The man looked bruised.
Older.
But alive.
I had seen his face in childhood photographs.
May you like
My father.
Rafael Morales.
