Chapter 9 - My Father’s Confession
We found Mateo Ruiz in a roadside motel thirty miles outside the city.
He stood in the doorway with both hands raised when we entered. He had lost weight, his beard had turned gray, and the scar beneath his eye looked deeper than in the photograph.
For a moment, I was twelve again, watching him disappear through our front door while my mother told me not to wait up.
Then I remembered Lucia's empty hospital bed.
I struck him across the face.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
He accepted the blow.
“You deserved the truth.”
“Where is my sister?”
“Silas's men have her. Karen is using her to force me to reveal the location of the original ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one your mother hid.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I thought keeping you ignorant would keep you safe.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That worked wonderfully.”
Mateo lowered his head.
He explained that he had worked for Adrian's father, keeping the books for the Saint Fund. When he discovered Silas was stealing money meant for sick children, he tried to expose him. Silas retaliated by setting fire to the warehouse where the evidence was stored.
Adrian's father died.
Mateo survived.
He fled, leaving his family behind because Silas threatened to kill them if he returned.
My mother had eventually discovered that he was alive. She helped hide the ledger and sent information to Detective Daniel Santos. Before they could deliver it, a car forced them off the road.
My mother died in the crash.
Mateo believed Silas had ordered it.
“You abandoned us because you were afraid,” I said.
“Yes.”
The admission was so simple that it hurt more than an excuse.
“Did you ever try to come back?”
“Every day.”
“But not once.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I am sorry, Isabella.”
I wanted to hate him. It would have been easier if he had been a monster.
Instead, he was a coward who had loved us and still left us to suffer.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Where is Silas keeping Lucia?”
Mateo pulled a map from his coat.
“An abandoned medical facility near the river. Karen has a private room there, and Silas uses the basement to store records.”
“Why not call the police?”
“Because the security system is connected to a dead man's identity. Every time officers approach, somebody inside gets an alert.”
Santos looked at him sharply.
“Who?”
Mateo hesitated.
Then he named the person we had all assumed was helping us.
“Dante Moretti.”
Adrian immediately drew his weapon and aimed it at his own right-hand man.
Dante didn't reach for his gun.
He simply closed his eyes.
“I can explain.”
Before he could say another word, a siren wailed outside.
The motel's windows shattered.
May you like
Gunfire erupted.
And when I turned back toward my father, he had disappeared through the bathroom window.
