Chapter 4 - THE NIGHT ISABELLA VANISHED
Nobody moved.
Alejandro turned toward Noah.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
Noah’s small fingers twisted the strap of his backpack.
“Mom took me to Aunt Elena’s friend.”
Elena looked confused.
“What friend?”
“Mrs. Parker.”
Elena’s face changed.
“Ruth?”
Noah nodded.
“She said she had to meet someone.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Alejandro felt the room tilt.
“And she never came back?”
Noah shook his head.
Victoria backed toward the door.
Alejandro saw her.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
“Alejandro, I had nothing to do with—”
“Sit down.”
His voice cut through her.
She sat.
Daniel moved toward the library entrance.
Alejandro looked at Noah.
“Did your mom tell you who she was meeting?”
Noah nodded.
“Mr. Sinclair.”
Richard.
Victoria’s father.
Alejandro’s future father-in-law.
Elena’s eyes closed.
“Oh God.”
Alejandro pulled out his phone.
Daniel already had his.
“I’ll lock down the property.”
“No.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“If Richard thinks we know, he’ll run.”
Victoria stood again.
“My father is not a criminal.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“Then why did my sister meet him three days ago and disappear?”
Victoria’s voice shook.
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve lied every time I asked you something today.”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
She looked at Beatriz through the glass doors.
“Of becoming the next person this family buried.”
Beatriz entered.
“Don’t you dare.”
Victoria turned.
“You told me Isabella was unstable.”
“She was.”
“You told me she threatened the family.”
“She did.”
“You never told me she was pregnant.”
Beatriz looked at Alejandro.
“This is manipulation.”
“No.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“This is survival.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“What did you know?”
Victoria sat down slowly.
“Five years ago, my father brought me to Virginia.”
“For what?”
“He said there was a woman trying to blackmail your family.”
Elena whispered.
“Isabella.”
Victoria nodded.
“She looked sick.”
Alejandro clenched his fists.
“Sick how?”
“Thin.”
Her voice softened.
“Terrified.”
“She kept asking about you.”
Alejandro looked away.
Victoria continued.
“My father told her to disappear.”
“What did you do?”
“I said nothing.”
“That’s your defense?”
“I was twenty-six.”
“You were old enough.”
“I know.”
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
Alejandro looked back at the letter.
“Why did Isabella write that you found her first?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Because I went back.”
Everyone froze.
“I found her again two years later.”
“Why?”
“I wanted answers.”
“And?”
“She told me your grandmother had paid people to make her disappear.”
Beatriz laughed coldly.
“Ridiculous.”
Victoria turned toward her.
“She showed me documents.”
Beatriz’s face shifted.
“Documents can be forged.”
“She showed me bank transfers.”
Alejandro looked at his grandmother.
Beatriz said nothing.
Victoria continued.
“Money moved from a Moreira family trust into shell accounts.”
Elena whispered.
“Gabriel.”
Victoria nodded.
“She believed one of those accounts paid the driver who killed him.”
Alejandro stared at Beatriz.
“Tell me she’s lying.”
Beatriz’s mouth tightened.
“Your father handled those matters.”
“My father has been dead ten years.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s convenient.”
The library doors opened.
Richard Sinclair stood there.
He had heard enough.
“What exactly is convenient?”
Victoria’s face drained.
“Dad.”
Richard looked at the letter in Alejandro’s hand.
Then at Noah.
His expression changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Alejandro saw it.
“You know the boy.”
Richard didn’t answer.
Noah backed into Elena.
“That’s him.”
Alejandro stepped forward.
“That’s who?”
Noah pointed.
May you like
“The man who took my mom.”
Richard turned and ran.
