Chapter 15 - Isabel Moreno
Mateo answered the video call with Adrian, Nora, and Elena beside him. He had changed his shirt three times, as if any of them could make up for twenty years.
The screen showed a woman with tired eyes, dark hair streaked with gray, and a small silver scar above her eyebrow.
“Mat?” she whispered.
He began crying before he could answer.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “I thought if I came back, they would hurt you. They knew where you lived. They showed me a picture of your wedding.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“I tried once. I sent a letter to the estate. Mrs. Blackthorn answered, but Keene intercepted everything after that.”
Isabel had escaped from an exploitative work-placement operation and spent years rebuilding her life under a different surname. She now worked at a community library, helping teenagers finish school.
“I knew Sofia,” she said. “She helped collect names and documents. When she found out the trust still existed, she started asking questions again.”
“Where is she?” Adrian asked.
“She called me three nights ago. Said she was coming to Blackthorn to get her kids. Then her phone went dead.”
Harris spoke from outside the camera frame. “Can you identify the person who threatened you?”
“Yes. Martin Keene.”
After the call, Mateo went out to the garden and knelt in the grass, pressing both hands to the earth. Elena joined him and sat quietly at his side.
Adrian watched from the window. He had spent years measuring success by acquisitions and profit reports. Nothing he owned had ever looked as valuable as that conversation.
May you like
His phone buzzed. A photograph showed Sofia tied to a chair in an unidentified room, her face frightened but alert.
Below it was a message: TRADE THE CONTENTS OF BOX 417 FOR HER. COME ALONE.
