Chapter 4 - The WitnessI didn't move.
Rafael closed the door behind him.
“You said I was the witness.”
“Yes.”
“To what?”
He placed a file on the table.
“I found this in an old safe.”
He opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Dates.
Medical records.
My scar began to throb.
“What am I looking at?”
“Payments made the week before Warehouse Seven.”
I studied the numbers.
One account.
Then another.
Then another.
All leading to the same destination.
A shell company.
The name meant nothing to me.
But the routing number did.
I knew that bank.
“Rafael.”
He waited.
“This account belonged to your family.”
“Yes.”
“Who had access?”
“Me.”
I turned the page.
“Vincent.”
He nodded.
“And Elena.”
I looked up.
His expression hardened.
“Elena didn't have operational access.”
“Then someone gave it to her.”
He looked away.
That told me everything.
Three years ago, I had not been investigating stolen money.
I had been investigating a secret financial network.
Rafael's family had been paying officials, judges, police contacts, and private contractors.
Someone had been preparing for a takeover.
And Vincent had been quietly purchasing loyalty.
I pointed at the file.
“This is why I was shot.”
Rafael sat down.
“You discovered it.”
“I discovered that Vincent had paid someone inside our security team.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
I shook my head.
“I never knew.”
“You knew enough to copy the files.”
“I copied everything.”
“Where is it?”
I stared at him.
For the first time, neither of us spoke.
He understood.
“You still have it.”
I reached beneath my shirt.
The metal box from beneath the floorboards felt cold against my skin.
I pulled out the key.
Rafael stared.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your floor.”
His face changed.
“You went through my house?”
“I found a message.”
“From whom?”
“Elena.”
His eyes went wide.
I handed him the note.
He read it twice.
Then a third time.
“She knew you'd come back.”
“She knew I survived.”
He looked at the key.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
Before he could answer, the house alarm sounded.
A scream came from upstairs.
Bella.
Rafael moved instantly.
I followed.
The hallway was chaos.
Two guards were down.
A window was shattered.
The room where Bella had been sleeping was empty.
Rafael ran inside.
Her bed was untouched.
A stuffed rabbit lay on the carpet.
His face broke.
“No.”
I picked up the rabbit.
There was a small black thread tied around one ear.
A signal.
I had seen it before.
My breathing stopped.
“Rafael.”
He turned.
“This wasn't an outside attack.”
“What?”
“Your security team opened the window.”
He grabbed my shoulders.
“What are you saying?”
I pointed.
“The latch was unlocked from inside.”
His eyes swept across the room.
“Find her.”
Every guard began moving.
I crouched near the window.
Something was lying on the sill.
A single black shoe.
Bella's shoe.
I picked it up.
On the sole was a smear of dark red paint.
Not blood.
Paint.
Fresh.
I knew that paint.
“She's being moved through construction routes.”
Rafael stared.
“What?”
“Red industrial paint. They mark restricted access tunnels.”
“There are no tunnels beneath this house.”
“There are.”
He looked at me.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
I showed him the key.
“The key opens one.”
We rushed downstairs.
Behind an old wine cabinet, I found a narrow steel panel.
The key fit.
A hidden staircase appeared.
Rafael stared into the darkness.
“How did you know?”
“Because three years ago I used the same tunnel to move money.”
“You were here?”
“Before you bought this house.”
We descended.
Halfway down, we found blood.
Small drops.
Rafael's face went white.
“Bella.”
I followed the trail.
It led to a metal door.
It was locked.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“You should have stayed dead, Nora.”
I froze.
“Who is this?”
A soft laugh.
“Your boss.”
The call ended.
Rafael stared at me.
“Who was it?”
I lowered the phone.
“I don't know.”
A second message arrived.
This time, there was a photograph.
Bella was sitting on a chair.
Alive.
Terrified.
Behind her stood a man whose face was partly hidden.
I zoomed in.
On his wrist was a silver watch.
I knew that watch.
I had given it to him three years ago.
Rafael saw it too.
His voice cracked.
“That watch belongs to Marco.”
The guard who had been protecting Bella.
The guard Rafael trusted most.
I looked at him.
“Then we don't have a kidnapping problem.”
Rafael's eyes hardened.
“We have a traitor.”
A gunshot exploded upstairs.
May you like
Then another.
And the lights went out.
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