Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT EDUARDO BROKE THE RULES
Before I could ask more, Eduardo spoke.
“It’s not just Sergio’s house.”
I turned.
“What do you mean?”
My son wiped his face.
“Some of it is at the lake house.”
I stared at him.
“How do you know?”
“Tomás showed me.”
And slowly, the rest came out.
After Lorenzo discovered Eduardo in the basement three months earlier, he threatened him into silence.
But Eduardo kept returning.
He lied about soccer practice.
He asked our driver to stop near the property.
Sometimes he rode his bike the final mile.
He pushed food through a broken basement window.
Sandwiches.
Apples.
Cookies.
Bottled water.
One afternoon, Tomás showed him a loose floorboard.
Underneath were old photographs and a cheap cell phone.
The phone had belonged to Júlia.
Or so Tomás believed.
“Sergio found out I had it,” Tomás said.
“What happened?”
“He took it.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Where is it now?”
“I don’t know.”
Eduardo interrupted.
“I do.”
We all looked at him.
“I saw Sergio put it in his locker tonight.”
“What locker?”
“The staff locker near the kitchen.”
I stood.
“Stay here.”
“Mom—”
“Lock the door after me.”
I found the head of security in the hallway.
“We need Sergio’s locker searched.”
He hesitated.
“Police are already on the way.”
“Good. Then preserve everything.”
A commotion erupted near the ballroom.
A woman screamed.
Then glass shattered.
I ran toward the noise.
Sergio had somehow slipped one of the guards.
He was halfway through the service corridor.
“Stop him!”
Two guards chased him.
Sergio shoved a server into a cart.
Plates crashed everywhere.
He sprinted through the kitchen.
I followed until someone grabbed my arm.
Lorenzo.
“Let security handle it.”
“Let go of me.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Sergio is running.”
“He’s scared.”
“Of what?”
Lorenzo said nothing.
I ripped my arm free.
We reached the loading dock seconds later.
Sergio was pinned against a delivery van by three guards.
He was cursing.
One guard held a small black phone.
“Found this in his jacket.”
Tomás’s phone.
Sergio saw it.
His face changed.
Then he looked directly at Lorenzo.
Not me.
Lorenzo.
And said, “You promised me this would never happen.”
Every person on that dock heard him.
Lorenzo’s face went blank.
Sergio laughed bitterly.
“You think you’re going to leave me holding this alone?”
Police sirens grew louder outside.
Lorenzo stepped forward.
“Don’t say another word.”
Sergio smiled.
“Why?”
May you like
Then he said something that made my blood run cold.
“Afraid she’ll find out who cut Júlia’s brakes?”
