Chapter 12 - THE PRICE OF TRUST|
Marcos had always believed that loyalty was proven by what a person did when no one was watching.
His father’s recording had forced him to reconsider. For eleven years, he had trusted Rafael to protect the family business. For three years, he had trusted Isabel to protect his future. He had mistaken familiarity for loyalty and secrecy for strength.
Now both beliefs were collapsing.
Nadia sat across from him in a secured apartment while Gabriel reviewed the evidence. A doctor had ordered her to rest, but she kept opening Cristian’s notebook whenever the room became quiet.
“You should sleep,” Marcos said.
“You should stop giving medical advice.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He sat beside her.
“Your brother’s death wasn’t your fault.”
“You sound like Evelyn.”
“Perhaps Evelyn is right.”
Nadia closed the notebook.
“Everyone wants me to stop blaming myself. But I’m the one who knew Cristian was worried. I’m the one who told him to trust his instincts and stop taking unnecessary risks. Then he went back to work because he believed he could finish the case.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I knew he was afraid.”
Marcos looked down.
“My father called me the night before he died. He asked me to come home. I told him I was busy.”
“Did you know he was in danger?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t get to punish yourself for not knowing the future.”
The words struck him harder than he expected.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he asked, “What happens when this is over?”
Nadia frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve spent fourteen months trying to find the people responsible for your brother’s death. Suppose we prove it. Suppose Isabel and Rafael are exposed. What happens to you?”
“I go home.”
“And then?”
“I find a job that doesn’t involve people with guns.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Are you going to offer me one?”
“I was thinking about offering you protection.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“You need someone who can help keep the evidence alive.”
“That sounds suspiciously like a job.”
“It might be.”
She almost smiled.
Then her expression hardened again.
“Why are you really helping me, Marcos? You could walk away from this. Claim the payments were unauthorized. Let the lawyers handle the mess. You have enough money to disappear.”
“I could.”
“But you won’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the window.
“Because I spent years telling myself that the worst things in my business were committed by men I didn’t know. Now I’m discovering they were committed by people whose names I recognized and whose hands I shook.”
Nadia studied him.
“That doesn’t make you innocent.”
“I know.”
“And it doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“I know that too.”
“Good.”
She opened the notebook again.
Their hands brushed as he reached for a loose page. Neither pulled away immediately.
The moment was brief, almost accidental.
But both noticed it.
Marcos looked at the page.
A series of shipment numbers had been circled in red. Beside them, Cristian had written a sentence:
The leak is not inside the company. The leak is the company.
Marcos read it twice.
“What does that mean?” Nadia asked.
He felt a terrible understanding begin to form.
“It means someone has been using Vega Maritime itself to hide the operation.”
“Your father’s company?”
“My company.”
His phone rang.
Gabriel’s voice came through, urgent and strained.
“Boss, we have a problem. Someone accessed the evidence server.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know. But they copied every file related to Terminal Twelve.”
Marcos stood.
“Lock the building down.”
“I tried. The access credentials came from your office.”
Nadia looked up.
“Whose credentials?”
May you like
Gabriel hesitated.
“Yours.”
