Chapter 11 - The Woman in Lucia's Uniform
The board meeting ended in panic.
Adrian left under legal escort.
Not arrested.
Not yet.
Rich men got hallways where poor people got handcuffs.
Bell and I went straight to the hospital.
Mara’s shoulder was bandaged.
She looked at me.
“You found 914.”
“Yes.”
“And the videos?”
“Yes.”
She exhaled.
“Good.”
“Tell me about Mateo.”
She did.
Rafael suspected.
Switched rooms.
Adrian’s first dose hit Mateo.
Mateo died.
Rafael knew after that.
“Why keep pretending?”
“He wanted Adrian to expose the financial side too.”
“He risked dying.”
Mara looked at me.
“He knew.”
My chest tightened.
Rafael had built a trap with himself inside it.
“What happened the final night?”
Mara looked toward the door.
“I was called away.”
“By who?”
“Adrian.”
“Why?”
“Emergency at one of the clinics.”
“Fake?”
“Yes.”
“When you returned?”
“Rafael was unconscious.”
“Adrian?”
“Gone.”
“Victoria?”
“In the room.”
That matched the video.
Mara reached under her blanket.
Pulled out a small locker key.
“Rafael had more recordings.”
“Where?”
“Not the warehouse.”
“Then?”
“A train station locker.”
Bell frowned.
“Which station?”
“South Station.”
Locker 122.
We went.
Inside was a brown envelope.
Three microSD cards.
And a letter:
LUCIA,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I FAILED TO FINISH IT MYSELF.
My throat tightened.
I kept reading.
DO NOT LET THEM TURN VICTORIA INTO THE WHOLE VILLAIN.
SHE FAILED ISABEL, BUT SHE DID NOT STEAL THE TRUST.
ADRIAN DID.
EVELYN DID SOMETHING WORSE.
Bell said nothing.
Next card.
Rafael speaking with Adrian.
Proof of theft.
Next.
Rafael with Evelyn.
Her voice.
“I signed what Father told me.”
Rafael:
“You signed Isabel dead.”
Evelyn:
“I thought it would protect the baby.”
My skin tightened.
The third card.
Rafael alone.
“The death certificate was only part of it.”
Then he held up an old file.
“Isabel lived under the name Anna Reyes for seventeen years.”
I stopped breathing.
My grandmother survived.
For seventeen years.
Rafael continued.
“She never returned for Elena.”
My eyes burned.
“Why?”
Bell whispered.
The recording answered.
“Because Evelyn told her the child had died.”
I stared.
Rafael’s face tightened with grief.
“Isabel spent seventeen years believing Elena was dead.”
The card ended.
I could not move.
Evelyn had not only erased Isabel from the family.
She had erased my mother from Isabel.
May you like
CUT.
