Chapter 11 - THE COST OF SILENCE
I called my mother before I called anyone else.
“Are you home?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Lock the door.”
“Elena?”
“Please.”
She heard something in my voice and stopped asking questions.
Suarez arranged for the threat to be documented and assessed.
Nina drove me to my mother’s apartment.
By the time we arrived, she had packed a small bag.
“I assumed this wasn’t a visit,” she said.
I wanted to laugh.
Instead, I hugged her so hard she made a little sound.
We moved her somewhere the investigators knew about.
I stopped staying at the house.
That hurt more than I expected.
I had fought to keep it, then had to leave because of what Marco had brought to its door.
That evening, Daniel called.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.”
“My brother is sixteen.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know.”
He was right.
I knew what fear felt like.
I didn’t know what his fear felt like.
So I shut up and listened.
When he finished, I said, “You don’t owe me a sacrifice.”
“If I step back, they win.”
“If you step back, investigators still have the records. Tell Suarez what you can safely do. Let him handle the rest.”
He was quiet for a long time.
Then he said, “Marco told me you were cold.”
I looked toward the bedroom where my mother was sleeping.
“Marco needed people to believe that.”
The next morning, my employer’s review team interviewed me.
Nina sat beside me.
I answered every question.
Yes, I had shared identification with my husband.
Yes, he had access to our joint account.
No, I hadn’t created Meridian.
No, I hadn’t received consulting fees.
Then the reviewer asked about a scanned authorization.
I looked at the date.
“That was the week I worked on the hospital audit.”
“Can you establish where you were?”
“My employer can.”
The supposed signing had happened in Dubai.
On a day I spent fourteen hours in a conference room in Manila.
There were badge records.
Meeting minutes.
Six colleagues.
For the first time in days, I felt something other than fear.
Then Suarez called.
“The original document packet has been recovered.”
“From where?”
“Stella’s luggage.”
I closed my eyes.
“And Elena?”
May you like
“Yes?”
“There’s a second passport with your name on it.”
