Chapter 12 - THE RIVER
They found Victoria’s shoes near the riverbank.
Her phone was smashed.
There was blood on the grass.
Police lights painted the trees red and blue.
Alejandro stood beside Daniel.
“This isn’t her.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
“The blood.”
“How do you know?”
“She hates blood.”
Daniel frowned.
“That doesn’t exactly prove—”
“She fainted when she cut her finger opening champagne.”
Alejandro pointed toward the car.
“She wouldn’t drive bleeding.”
“So someone else was here.”
“Yes.”
Claire arrived with Isabella.
“What happened?”
Alejandro shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
Claire looked at the river.
“She wouldn’t hurt herself.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Today she discovered the man she almost married is her brother.”
Claire didn’t flinch.
“She would run.”
“She would scream.”
“She might break every window in Manhattan.”
“But she wouldn’t disappear without telling me.”
Alejandro believed her.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at Alejandro.
“They found Richard Sinclair’s transport vehicle.”
Alejandro frowned.
“Transport vehicle?”
“The police car taking him to county holding.”
“What happened?”
“Ambushed.”
“By who?”
“No idea.”
“Richard?”
“Gone.”
Claire whispered.
“Dad.”
Alejandro looked toward the river.
Now it made sense.
Richard had escaped.
And Victoria had vanished.
“He took her.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Why?”
Alejandro remembered something.
The fabricated DNA report.
The blackmail.
The payments.
“Because Victoria knows where the evidence is.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
“What evidence?”
Victoria had told them about Caroline’s diary.
But maybe there was more.
Claire pulled out her phone.
“I know where she’d go.”
“Where?”
“Our mother’s old house.”
Alejandro turned.
“Location.”
Two hours later, they reached a small house outside the city.
The front door was open.
Alejandro went inside.
Furniture overturned.
Drawers emptied.
Blood on the hallway wall.
“Victoria!”
A muffled cry came from upstairs.
Alejandro ran.
He kicked open the bedroom door.
Victoria sat tied to a chair.
Her mouth taped.
Richard stood beside her holding a gun.
“Stop.”
Alejandro froze.
Richard smiled.
“You Moreiras really don’t know when to quit.”
Victoria’s face was swollen.
Alejandro looked at her.
“Are you hurt?”
Richard shoved the gun against her head.
“Ask another question.”
Alejandro raised his hands.
“What do you want?”
Richard laughed.
“Your grandmother’s money.”
“She’s in custody.”
“Then you’ll get it.”
“I don’t control her accounts.”
“You control enough.”
Alejandro looked at Victoria.
She shook her head slightly.
Richard noticed.
He hit her.
Alejandro took a step.
The gun snapped toward him.
“Stay there.”
Alejandro stopped.
“What evidence were you looking for?”
Richard smiled.
“Smart.”
“Caroline’s diary?”
“That was nothing.”
“What then?”
Richard pointed toward the floor.
A hidden safe had been opened.
Inside were files.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
Richard’s entire career.
Bribes.
Blackmail.
Judges.
Politicians.
Moreira family payments.
Everything.
Claire whispered from the hallway.
“Oh my God.”
Richard turned.
That was the mistake.
Victoria threw herself sideways.
The chair crashed into him.
The gun fired.
Alejandro lunged.
Richard swung.
Alejandro hit him.
They slammed into the wall.
The gun slid under the bed.
Richard grabbed Alejandro’s throat.
“You spoiled little bastard.”
Alejandro drove his knee into Richard.
They fell.
Daniel entered.
“Police!”
Richard reached for the gun.
Victoria screamed.
Alejandro grabbed his ankle.
Richard kicked him away.
His fingers touched the weapon.
Then a second gunshot filled the room.
Richard stopped moving.
Everyone froze.
Claire stood in the doorway.
A police officer’s dropped weapon was shaking in her hands.
Richard looked down.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He collapsed.
Victoria stared at Claire.
“You shot him.”
Claire started shaking.
“I…”
Richard coughed.
Then laughed.
Everyone looked at him.
“You still think I’m the villain.”
Alejandro crouched beside him.
“You are.”
Richard smiled through blood.
“No.”
He looked toward the open safe.
“I kept those files because I was scared.”
“Of Beatriz?”
Richard slowly shook his head.
“Of you.”
Alejandro went still.
May you like
Richard’s eyes began to close.
“You were always the one she was protecting.”
