Chapter 7 - WHAT VICTOR WANTED
Victor disappeared before police could question him.
His office was empty.
His company phone sat on his desk.
His passport was gone.
But he had made one mistake.
Salazar Storage wasn't owned by him.
It belonged to his sister.
Investigators obtained access.
Inside unit 214, they found boxes.
Hundreds of documents.
Computers.
Cash.
And photographs.
Photographs of Rafael.
Paloma.
The babies.
Gustavo.
Even Eduardo.
Victor had been watching everyone.
But Rafael's original drive wasn't there.
Daniel searched through a box.
"Gustavo."
He handed him a ledger.
Payments.
Dates.
Fake vendors.
Fourteen million dollars.
Everything Rafael had said was true.
Then Paloma found her own name.
She stared.
P. Mendes — relocation contingency.
"What does that mean?"
Rafael's face turned pale.
"He planned to move you."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Paloma looked at him.
"Tell me everything."
Rafael sat down.
Three months earlier, Victor had confronted him.
He knew Rafael had copied records.
He threatened to frame Rafael for the theft.
Then he showed Rafael photographs.
Paloma leaving a pediatric clinic.
Paloma carrying groceries.
The babies sleeping beside a window.
Victor never explicitly threatened them.
He didn't need to.
Rafael panicked.
He agreed to disappear.
Victor gave him cash and ordered him to leave the state.
But Rafael didn't.
He stayed nearby.
Watching.
Trying to collect evidence.
"Why didn't you call me?"
Paloma demanded.
"I thought he was watching you."
"He was."
"I thought contact would put you in danger."
"So instead you let us starve?"
Rafael lowered his head.
"I made the wrong choice."
Paloma stared at him.
That mattered.
He wasn't defending himself.
He wasn't pretending abandonment had been heroic.
He had been afraid.
And fear had made him fail the people he wanted to protect.
"Why did you come back?"
Rafael looked at Gustavo.
"Because Victor called me yesterday."
"What did he want?"
"The drive."
"The evidence?"
"He thinks I still have another copy."
"Do you?"
Rafael nodded.
Everyone froze.
"Where?"
Rafael looked at Paloma.
"With you."
She stared at him.
"What?"
"Your backpack."
Paloma's eyes widened.
"The blue baby book."
She remembered it.
A cheap scrapbook containing ultrasound pictures and hospital bracelets.
She had carried it everywhere.
Rafael had hidden a microSD card beneath the back cover before leaving.
Paloma suddenly laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because for three months she had protected evidence worth millions without knowing it.
"Where's the book now?" Gustavo asked.
Paloma's smile disappeared.
"In the guesthouse."
Daniel immediately reached for his phone.
Then Paloma's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Victor's voice came through.
"Hello, Paloma."
Everyone went silent.
"Where are you?"
"That doesn't matter."
"What do you want?"
"The baby book."
Paloma looked at Rafael.
Victor continued.
"You give it to me, and this ends."
"No."
"Think carefully."
"I've spent three months thinking carefully."
Victor laughed softly.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with."
Paloma's grip tightened.
"No, Victor."
Her voice became steady.
"You have no idea what a mother with nothing left to lose looks like."
She disconnected.
Rafael stared at her.
Gustavo almost smiled.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
A security guard shouted through the speaker.
"There's a fire at the guesthouse."
Paloma's face went white.
May you like
"The babies."
She ran.
