Chapter 10 - THE PACKAGE
Valeria called her mother.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
“My family.”
Alejandro stood.
“We’re going.”
He ordered two trusted guards to remain with Mateo.
Mateo refused.
He grabbed Valeria’s hand.
“No!”
“Mateo, it’s dangerous.”
“No.”
Alejandro crouched.
“Listen to me.”
The boy backed away.
Alejandro stopped reaching.
He remembered.
No grabbing.
No forcing.
“I need to protect Valeria’s family.”
Mateo stared at him.
“I will come back.”
The boy looked unconvinced.
Alejandro swallowed.
Then he removed his watch.
Lucía had given it to him on their wedding anniversary.
He placed it in Mateo’s hand.
“I always come back for this.”
Mateo held the watch.
Alejandro kissed his forehead.
“I always come back for you.”
This time Mateo let him leave.
Valeria and Alejandro drove to Santa Catarina with four guards.
Her mother’s tiny house looked untouched from the street.
The front door was open.
Valeria ran inside.
“Mamá!”
Her mother emerged from the kitchen.
“Valeria?”
Valeria hugged her.
“Where’s Diego?”
“At the hospital. Surgery prep.”
“Did you get a package?”
Her mother frowned.
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I put it in your room.”
They found the package beneath Valeria’s bed.
The date stamped on it was from two years earlier.
It had apparently been stored by a lawyer with instructions to deliver it only if certain financial accounts were accessed.
Alejandro opened it.
Inside was a flash drive.
A letter.
And a photograph of Lucía holding baby Mateo.
Alejandro’s hands trembled.
He read the letter silently.
Then aloud.
Alejandro,
If you are reading this, I was right to be afraid.
I know you love Mateo.
But love means nothing if you keep choosing power over the people who need you.
Rafael has been moving money through Esteban’s clinics. Calderón is helping him.
I have copies of everything.
I begged you to leave this life with me.
You told me one more year.
There is always one more year.
If something happens to me, protect Mateo from the men standing closest to you.
And please understand this:
Our son does not need to inherit your empire.
He needs to survive it.
Alejandro stopped.
Valeria said nothing.
There was nothing safe to say.
Then the front window shattered.
Everybody dropped.
A black SUV stopped outside.
Men rushed from both ends of the street.
Alejandro’s guards returned fire while Valeria dragged her mother into the hallway.
“Back door!”
They escaped through a neighbor’s yard.
Alejandro kept the flash drive.
They reached the vehicle.
Then his phone rang.
Rafael.
Alejandro answered.
“You missed.”
Rafael laughed.
“I wasn’t aiming for you.”
Alejandro’s face hardened.
“What?”
“You left something much more valuable behind.”
Alejandro looked at Valeria.
Then at his phone.
A photograph appeared.
Mateo.
May you like
Standing inside the mansion.
Beside Dr. Vega.
