Chapter 12 - MATEO FINALLY SPOKE
Rafael froze.
Mateo pointed at him.
“You killed Mommy!”
Alejandro’s face went white.
Rafael shook his head.
“He doesn’t understand.”
Mateo screamed again.
“Car!”
He pointed at Rafael.
“Black car!”
Then at Vega.
“Needle!”
Valeria rushed to unstrap him.
Vega tried to stop her.
Alejandro slammed him against the wall.
“Don’t touch her.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Rafael looked toward the window.
“You brought police?”
Alejandro stared at him.
“I brought consequences.”
Rafael laughed bitterly.
“You think handing over one flash drive makes you clean?”
“No.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Alejandro stepped closer.
“I’m done pretending I’m clean.”
Rafael’s smile disappeared.
Alejandro continued.
“I made choices that built the world you used to hurt my son.”
Valeria freed Mateo’s arms.
“I ignored things because they made me money.”
Rafael shook his head.
“You’re weak.”
“No.”
Alejandro looked at Mateo.
“I finally know what matters.”
Rafael pulled a pistol from behind his coat.
Everything happened at once.
Valeria dropped to the floor with Mateo.
Alejandro lunged.
A shot shattered the light.
The room went dark.
Rafael ran.
Federal officers entered through the back corridor.
Vega surrendered immediately.
Alejandro chased his brother outside.
Rafael reached the parking lot.
A black vehicle waited.
He opened the door.
Then stopped.
Police vehicles blocked the road.
Officers surrounded him.
Rafael turned toward Alejandro.
“You would destroy everything Father built?”
Alejandro walked closer.
“You destroyed it when you touched my family.”
Rafael raised his gun.
Officers shouted.
“Drop it!”
Rafael looked at his brother.
For one second, he seemed twenty years younger.
Two boys again.
Two brothers.
Then Rafael lowered the weapon.
It hit the pavement.
He was arrested.
Inside the clinic, Mateo sat in Valeria’s lap.
He was shaking.
Alejandro entered slowly.
Mateo looked up.
“Papa?”
“Yes.”
“Gone?”
Alejandro knelt.
“He can’t hurt you anymore.”
Mateo stared at him.
Then asked the question Alejandro would remember for the rest of his life.
“Mommy come back?”
Alejandro’s eyes filled.
He shook his head.
“No, mijo.”
Mateo began crying.
Alejandro moved closer but didn’t touch him.
“Can I hold you?”
Mateo looked at Valeria.
She nodded gently.
Then he looked back at his father.
“Yes.”
Alejandro wrapped his arms around him.
And for the first time, Mateo cried about his mother while his father stayed.
No doctors.
No medicine.
No locked doors.
Just grief.
But while Alejandro held his son, the federal prosecutor entered.
“Mr. Ríos.”
Alejandro looked up.
“We need to talk.”
“About Rafael?”
“About you.”
She held up the flash drive.
May you like
“Your wife documented more than your brother’s crimes.”
And Alejandro knew exactly what was coming.
