Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO SOLD A SECRET|
Nadia and Evelyn reached the riverfront shortly after sunset.
The terminal appeared abandoned from the road, but a new camera tracked their car as they approached. Nadia noticed the lens turn before Evelyn stopped at the gate.
“Someone knows we’re here,” Nadia said.
“Someone always knows.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
They entered through a side door using the key Daniel had left behind. The lock turned with a dry click.
Inside, the office smelled of dust and hot wiring. A row of filing cabinets stood against the wall, their drawers labeled by year.
Nadia searched the cabinet marked with the date of Cristian’s death.
She found manifests, account records, and a sealed envelope bearing her brother’s initials.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
A voice spoke from behind them.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
Isabel stood in the doorway.
She had removed her coat, revealing a black dress and a diamond bracelet that caught the weak overhead light. Two men waited behind her.
Evelyn moved in front of Nadia.
“Isabel Carrera,” she said. “You’re a long way from your charity dinners.”
Isabel smiled.
“Evelyn Price. I wondered when you’d stop pretending you weren’t involved.”
Nadia held up the envelope.
“Did you sell my brother?”
Isabel’s smile faded.
“I gave someone information. I didn’t order a murder.”
“You knew what they would do.”
“I knew they were dangerous.”
“And you helped them anyway.”
Isabel’s expression hardened.
“You have no idea what was at stake.”
“My brother’s life.”
“Your brother was an undercover investigator who thought he could dismantle an organization by himself. He trusted people he barely knew. He made mistakes.”
Nadia stepped forward.
“He trusted you.”
For a moment, something like shame crossed Isabel’s face.
Then it disappeared.
“He was going to destroy my family.”
“Your family was moving money through Marcos’s company and selling routes to the Manta Group.”
“Your brother had evidence that would have sent dozens of people to prison. Some of them were innocent.”
“Were you?”
Isabel did not answer.
Evelyn slowly reached into her coat.
One of the men raised his weapon.
“Don’t,” Isabel warned.
Nadia looked at the woman she had spent months investigating.
“You could have told the truth.”
“And lost everything?”
“You lost your humanity.”
Isabel’s eyes flashed.
“You think morality is free because you’ve never had anything worth protecting.”
“I had a brother.”
“And now you have a dead man’s papers.”
Isabel held out her hand.
“Give me the envelope.”
Nadia tightened her grip.
“No.”
The first man stepped forward.
A siren sounded outside.
Isabel’s head turned sharply.
Evelyn smiled without warmth.
“You should have checked the street before coming in.”
Isabel backed toward the door.
“This isn’t over.”
“No,” Nadia said. “It isn’t.”
Isabel disappeared into the corridor with her men.
When the sirens grew louder, Evelyn revealed a small transmitter in her palm.
“You called the police?” Nadia asked.
“I called someone who can keep the evidence from disappearing.”
“Who?”
Before Evelyn could answer, Nadia’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Marcos standing beside a hospital bed.
The person in the bed was Nadia’s father.
May you like
The message beneath it read:
Bring the envelope, or he dies.
