Chapter 13 - What Happened to Luis Reyes
Chairs scraped backward as directors stumbled away from the table.
Thomas swung the pistol toward Ortiz.
"Gun down."
Ortiz held her weapon low.
"Thomas, don't make this worse."
He laughed.
"Worse?"
His thumb kept rubbing his burned finger even while the gun shook.
Mateo stood ten feet away.
His phone was recording inside his jacket pocket.
He had started it the moment Thomas reached under the table.
Daniel saw the tiny red glow reflected against Mateo's belt buckle.
His eyes flicked away before Thomas noticed.
"Tell them," Mateo said.
Thomas aimed at him.
"Tell them what?"
"Why you picked me."
Daniel stepped sideways.
Thomas snapped the gun toward him.
"Stay where you are."
Mateo kept talking.
"You had my picture before I worked here. You built fake payments. You put my prints on the container."
Thomas's mouth twisted.
"You were convenient."
"Because of my father?"
"Because people believe poor men do desperate things."
Mateo's hands curled.
"Evelyn?"
Thomas smiled.
"She wanted money. I gave her fear. Told her Daniel was divorcing her. Told her the powder would put him down for a few hours."
Daniel's face hardened.
"You switched it."
"Of course I switched it."
A director covered her mouth.
Thomas looked almost relieved now that the words were coming.
"She poisons you. She goes to prison. The board panics. I stabilize the company."
"And if she failed?" Mateo asked.
Thomas pointed the gun at him.
"Then the gardener did it."
Mateo swallowed.
"Like Luis."
The smile disappeared.
"Don't say his name."
"Why?"
"Because he was stupid."
Daniel stepped forward.
"What did you do to him?"
Thomas's eyes cut toward his brother.
"You want the truth now? Twenty-one years late?"
"What did you do?"
Thomas's jaw worked.
"He found the accounts. He said he was going to you. I told him you wouldn't care."
Mateo could hear his own heartbeat through his collar.
"Did you push him?"
Thomas looked at him.
"He should have walked away."
Mateo took one step forward.
"Did you push him?"
"He grabbed me."
"Did you push him?"
Thomas screamed.
"YES!"
The room froze.
Thomas's chest heaved.
"He wouldn't shut up. He kept saying he'd expose everything. So I pushed him. One shove. That's all it took."
Mateo's phone kept recording.
Thomas's eyes dropped.
He saw the faint red light.
His face changed.
"Phone."
Mateo did not move.
"Give me the phone."
Police sirens rose outside the building.
Thomas grabbed Daniel by the collar and jammed the gun beneath his jaw.
"Now."
Mateo slowly reached inside his jacket.
Daniel's eyes met his.
One silent beat.
Then Daniel grabbed Thomas's wrist.
The gun fired.
Everyone dropped.
Mateo saw Daniel twist.
Thomas crashed against the table.
Blood spread across the carpet.
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But from where Mateo stood, he could not tell whose body it was coming from.
