Chapter 4 - The Family Friend
“Richard Bell.”
Elena repeated the name.
Gabriel nodded.
Richard had been Gabriel's closest friend since college.
He had attended Elena's birthdays.
Her graduation.
Her wedding.
He had stood beside Gabriel at Elena's mother's funeral.
He was practically family.
And Elena remembered the ring.
Gold.
Black stone.
A small crest engraved into the side.
Richard wore it constantly.
“No.”
Gabriel looked devastated.
“I gave him that ring.”
Elena stared at him.
“When?”
“Thirty years ago.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“If Richard is involved, he had access to everything.”
Gabriel understood immediately.
Company systems.
Family schedules.
Trust documents.
Elena.
Her mother.
Diego.
Everything.
Gabriel called Richard.
No answer.
They drove directly to Richard's estate.
The front door stood open.
Daniel entered first.
“Richard?”
Nothing.
The house had been emptied.
Not robbed.
Emptied deliberately.
Computers gone.
Documents gone.
Closets bare.
In the study, Elena found one photograph left on the desk.
Her wedding picture.
Richard stood behind Diego.
On the back, someone had written:
HE DID HIS JOB.
Elena tore the photograph in half.
Gabriel searched the desk.
One drawer was locked.
Daniel forced it open.
Inside was a flash drive.
They returned to Gabriel's secured office before opening it.
The drive contained financial records connecting Richard to Mercury Ridge Holdings.
Millions had moved through shell companies for more than fifteen years.
Then Daniel found the video files.
The first showed Diego entering Richard's office nine years earlier.
Diego looked twenty-four.
Young.
Nervous.
Richard sat behind the desk.
“You understand what I need?”
Diego nodded.
“Eventually.”
“Not eventually. When the opportunity comes.”
“And if she doesn't like me?”
Richard smiled.
“Make her like you.”
Elena stopped the video.
She couldn't breathe.
Gabriel reached toward her.
She pulled away.
“Play it.”
The next video was dated three years later.
Diego looked different.
Older.
Angry.
“I want out.”
Richard laughed.
“You don't get out.”
“I love her.”
Elena froze.
Richard leaned forward.
“You were paid to marry her.”
“I wasn't paid to love her.”
“Then consider that your mistake.”
Elena stared at the screen.
Diego had tried to leave the scheme.
It didn't excuse what he'd done.
Nothing could excuse the pool.
But the truth was becoming more complicated.
The next recording was from two months earlier.
Richard placed a document before Diego.
“Get Elena's signature before the child is born.”
“Why?”
“Because once the baby arrives, certain trust provisions change.”
Diego shook his head.
“No.”
Richard smiled.
Then he displayed a photograph.
Elena couldn't see it clearly.
Diego's face changed.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing yet.”
“You stay away from her.”
“Get the signature.”
The recording ended.
Elena looked at Daniel.
“Can you enhance the photograph?”
He worked for several minutes.
Slowly, the image became clearer.
It showed Elena.
Sleeping.
In her bedroom.
Taken from inside the room.
Beside the bed was an ultrasound photograph.
Elena's stomach turned.
Richard had been inside their house.
Watching her.
Diego had known.
And still hadn't told her.
Gabriel punched the desk.
Elena remained quiet.
She hated Diego.
She feared for him.
Both feelings could exist at once.
The police located the building shown in the photograph of Diego.
An abandoned commercial property owned by a Mercury Ridge subsidiary.
Gabriel wanted Elena nowhere near it.
This time she agreed.
She stayed in the command vehicle with security officers while police entered.
They found Diego alive.
Barely.
He had been beaten.
He was taken to the hospital under guard.
Elena didn't visit immediately.
She waited until morning.
Diego opened his eyes and saw her.
“Elena.”
She stood at the foot of his bed.
“You don't get forgiveness because someone hurt you.”
“I know.”
“You don't get sympathy because Richard threatened you.”
“I know.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have gone to my father.”
“Yes.”
“You could have protected our daughter.”
Diego's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Elena swallowed.
“Instead, you chose yourself.”
Diego looked away.
“I thought if I got the signature, Richard would leave you alone.”
“You sprayed me with freezing water.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
He closed his eyes.
“I don't have anything else to say.”
“Then tell me where Richard is.”
Diego looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“What does he want?”
“Control.”
“Of what?”
“Your mother's trust owns more than property.”
Elena waited.
“It owns voting rights in Morales Global.”
Gabriel had explained that.
But Diego continued.
“Enough voting rights to determine who controls the company after your father retires.”
Elena stared.
Richard wasn't trying to steal a mansion.
He was trying to steal an empire.
“Why now?”
“The baby.”
Diego's voice became quieter.
“Your mother's trust changes when you have a child. Your shares become permanently protected and eventually pass to your daughter.”
“So Richard needed me to sign before she was born.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped him.”
Diego looked at her.
“Yes.”
No excuses.
For once.
Elena turned to leave.
“Elena.”
She stopped.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“Richard wasn't the one who started this.”
She slowly turned.
“Who did?”
Diego swallowed.
“Your mother found out.”
“Found out what?”
“That Richard was working for someone.”
“Who?”
“I never knew the name.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Richard was terrified of them.”
Diego reached toward the bedside drawer.
“There was something in my coat when they found me.”
Elena opened it.
A key.
Small.
Silver.
A number stamped into it.
“What's this?”
“Richard dropped it.”
“Where does it go?”
“I don't know.”
Elena took the key.
That evening Daniel traced the number.
Locker 417.
Central Station.
Gabriel insisted on accompanying Elena.
They found the locker shortly before midnight.
The key fit.
Inside was one envelope.
Elena opened it.
A photograph fell out.
Her mother.
Richard.
Marcus Vale.
And a fourth person.
Elena stared at the face.
She knew him.
Everyone in the country knew him.
Gabriel whispered, “That's impossible.”
May you like
On the back was a date.
The day after Elena's mother supposedly died.
