Chapter 2 — The Recording That Could Destroy an Empire
Three days later, Mariana woke up in a small coastal hospital.
Her body was weak.
Her voice was broken.
But her memory was clear.
The moment she opened her eyes, she asked the same question.
“Where is Nico?”
The nurse smiled softly.
“He’s safe.”
Only then did Mariana allow herself to breathe.
But the relief lasted seconds.
Because when she reached for her phone, she saw hundreds of missed calls.
Most were from reporters.
Some were from strangers.
And one message stopped her heart.
From Rodrigo Salcedo:
"You should have stayed in the ocean."
Mariana stared at the screen.
Her own father.
No apology.
No concern.
Only a warning.
That was when she understood.
This wasn’t an accident.
It was a murder attempt.
A carefully planned one.
But before she could expose him, a lawyer arrived.
His name was Gabriel Torres.
A former Salcedo family attorney.
“I know what happened,” he said.
Mariana looked at him suspiciously.
“Then why are you helping me?”
Gabriel placed a small device on the table.
“Because I helped them hide secrets for ten years.”
He took a deep breath.
“And I’m tired of protecting monsters.”
He revealed the truth.
The yacht had a backup cloud system.
A security feature Rodrigo never knew existed.
The recording had already been recovered.
And it contained the exact moment Mariana’s family attacked her.
Her father’s voice.
Her mother’s footsteps.
Their plan.
Everything.
But there was one problem.
The Salcedo family controlled the police.
The media.
And half the judges in the city.
If Mariana released the recording too early…
they could destroy her before the world heard the truth.
So Gabriel made a dangerous decision.
May you like
They would not fight quietly.
They would make the Salcedos expose themselves.
