Chapter 5 - NICHOLAS TRUSTED THE WOMAN WHO BETRAYED HIM
The flash drive changed the story again.
Eight years earlier, Camila had discovered irregular payments inside Vance Global’s aviation and logistics division.
Vendor contracts were inflated.
Maintenance invoices duplicated.
Millions disappeared through intermediaries.
She told Nicholas because he chaired the division’s risk committee.
Nicholas investigated quietly.
At first, he believed it was ordinary procurement fraud.
Then he found approvals connected to Victor’s office.
Not Victor personally.
His staff.
His trusted executives.
Nicholas wrote:
If Victor is involved, I need proof before Alex hears anything.
That hurt.
Why protect me?
Because I had just become CEO.
Our mother had recently died.
Nicholas knew I was barely sleeping.
Everyone decided what truth I could handle.
Apparently that disease ran through every family.
Camila had helped him.
She collected invoices.
Copied maintenance records.
Tracked shell vendors.
Then Nicholas died.
Three days later, Victor summoned her.
According to Camila, he knew about the investigation.
He knew she had helped.
“He told me Nicholas had been paranoid.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Not completely.”
“What did he want?”
“The trust paperwork.”
Camila knew Nicholas had created it because she witnessed the document.
Victor told her Rose had already accepted money and terminated any claim.
That was false.
“He said the pregnancy was gone.”
My jaw tightened.
“You believed that?”
“I wanted to.”
Honest.
Ugly.
Then Victor threatened her career.
Camila’s father had medical debt.
Her mother depended on her.
Victor offered Camila a promotion and $500,000 through a retention package if she stopped asking questions.
She took it.
“Then what?”
“Years passed.”
“You became wealthy.”
“Yes.”
“You eventually met me.”
She started crying again.
“That wasn’t planned.”
I wanted to believe her.
Maybe part of me did.
Then Michael opened another email archive.
Five months after Nicholas’s death.
From Camila to Victor:
ROSE MENDOZA HAS NOT SIGNED ANY RELEASE.
Victor:
SHE WILL DISAPPEAR.
Camila:
AND IF SHE DOESN’T?
Victor:
THEN WE MAKE SURE NOBODY BELIEVES HER.
I looked at Camila.
“You knew Rose survived.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she might still be pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing.”
“Yes.”
The simplest answers hurt most.
Then came another email.
Two years later.
Camila to Victor:
I THINK THERE IS A CHILD.
My hands became cold.
Victor replied:
DO NOT LOOK AGAIN.
The next documented payment to Camila:
$1.5 million.
“Blood money?” I asked.
She looked sick.
“I called it consulting compensation.”
Of course.
People always find nicer labels.
Then the flash drive revealed Nicholas’s last video.
Recorded forty-eight hours before his flight.
He looked tired.
Alive.
My brother.
“If Alex is watching this, I’m sorry.”
I stopped breathing.
“I think Camila is the only person inside headquarters I can trust right now.”
Camila began sobbing.
Nicholas continued:
“She found the numbers. She warned me. If anything happens, don’t punish her for knowing.”
Camila covered her face.
My dead brother had tried to protect the woman who later helped erase his child.
Then Nicholas said one more thing:
“And Alex—if Victor tells you my helicopter accident was unavoidable, ask to see Maintenance Report 47-B.”
Michael immediately searched the drive.
May you like
There was no 47-B.
Someone had removed it.
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