Chapter 11 - A FAMILY BUSINESS
Victor’s office smelled of stale coffee and a man who hadn’t slept.
His lawyer sat beside him.
Mika placed our copies on the table.
“Start with the resolution.”
Victor stared at the page.
“Rafael said Andrea approved the arrangement.”
“You knew I hadn’t,” I said.
He nodded.
One small movement.
Somehow, that angered me more than denial.
“He needed a bridge loan,” Victor said. “Bianca said the restaurant was weeks away from turning a profit.”
“The restaurant was closed,” Mika replied.
Victor’s eyes moved toward his lawyer.
We had learned that that morning.
The business had failed months before the loan.
The money was filling older holes.
“Bianca handled the accounts,” he said.
“And you handled the lies.”
“I prepared documents I shouldn’t have prepared.”
“Did you think my mother was a company director?”
“No.”
“Did you think her signature could transfer the house?”
“No.”
“Then stop speaking like you misunderstood something.”
His lawyer advised him to pause.
He didn’t.
“There’s an account,” Victor said. “Bianca moved the buyer’s deposit there. She told Rafael it was still being held.”
“Why tell us?”
He looked at the documents.
“Because she asked me to change the file again.”
“What change?”
“Backdate another resolution. Remove Rafael. Make it look like he acted alone.”
For one second, I almost felt sorry for my brother.
Then I remembered the rag in my mother’s hand.
Mika asked Victor’s lawyer to arrange delivery of the original records through the proper process.
No immunity promises.
No handshake absolution.
Outside, Rafael waited beside my car.
His face looked gray.
“What did he tell you?”
“Enough.”
“Bianca says you’re threatening her.”
“Did she mention the deposit?”
His expression changed.
There it was.
The first crack.
I showed him the transfer confirmation Mika had received from the buyer.
He read it twice.
“That can’t be right.”
“Call her.”
He did.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
He looked at me, suddenly the older brother I remembered asking for help with school fees after he spent his allowance.
“Andie.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“You keep saying that.”
He leaned against the car.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from Bianca.
He read it.
All the color left his face.
I didn’t ask to see it.
May you like
He turned the screen toward me anyway.
If you talk, I’ll tell them what you did to Cora.
