Chapter 10 - MateoNobody moved.
Mateo looked exactly like the man in the video.
Older now.
Scarred.
Calm.
He lowered the gun.
“I didn't come to kill you.”
Lorenzo's eyes hardened.
“Then why are you here?”
“To finish what your father couldn't.”
Mateo walked inside.
Nora stayed behind Lorenzo.
Mateo noticed.
“You've already chosen your side.”
Nora answered:
“I chose survival.”
Mateo smiled.
“Same thing.”
Lorenzo stepped forward.
“You murdered Daniel.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Mateo looked at him.
“Leo.”
“Who ordered it?”
Mateo hesitated.
“Your father.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“You're lying.”
Mateo shook his head.
“Your father ordered Daniel's death because Daniel had proof that Victor was planning to take control of the family.”
Lorenzo stared at him.
“Why would my father help Victor?”
“He thought he could stop him from inside.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Mateo looked at Nora.
“Daniel didn't die because he knew too much.”
Nora's eyes narrowed.
“Then why?”
“Because he hid the original ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The Black River ledger.”
Lorenzo looked at Nora.
The files from the warehouse.
The transfers.
The names.
“Where is it?”
Mateo smiled.
“With Nora.”
Nora shook her head.
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
He pointed toward her.
“Daniel trusted you more than anyone.”
Nora thought about the pendant.
Then suddenly remembered.
The tiny metal casing.
The necklace.
She looked at Lorenzo.
“The pendant.”
Mateo nodded.
“Exactly.”
Lorenzo asked:
“Where is Leo?”
Mateo's expression changed.
“He has the pendant.”
“And the ledger?”
“Leo doesn't have the ledger.”
“Who does?”
Mateo smiled.
“Nora.”
She froze.
“How?”
“Your brother hid it before he died.”
“Where?”
Mateo's gaze moved toward her chest.
“You swallowed the key.”
Nora stared at him in disbelief.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“What key?”
“The brass one.”
Nora looked down.
“Number seventeen?”
“Yes.”
Mateo laughed.
“You thought it opened a locker.”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
“It doesn't?”
“No.”
Mateo pointed at the key.
“It opens the place where Daniel hid the ledger.”
“Where?”
Mateo's face became serious.
“Inside your family home.”
Nora whispered:
“Where?”
Mateo answered:
“Under your mother's bedroom floor.”
Then a gunshot cracked through the window.
Mateo fell.
Lorenzo grabbed Nora.
The lights shattered.
Someone was shooting from outside.
When Lorenzo looked back, Mateo was gone.
Only blood remained.
May you like
And a note pinned to the wall.
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
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