Chapter 6 - Sofia's Mother Had Signed the Payment
"No," Sofia said.
The word came out too quickly.
Mara looked at her. "Who is E.V.?"
Sofia shut the ledger.
"My mother."
Silence filled the cellar.
Elena Vega Alvarez had spent twenty years telling everyone the same story: Camila was reckless, Camila hated the family rules, Camila ran away with a boyfriend no one had met.
Sofia had believed her because children believe the people who tuck them into bed.
"Maybe the initials mean someone else," Daniel said carefully.
Sofia opened the ledger again.
The payment was for $250,000.
Recipient: T. Bennett.
Teresa.
Mara stepped back.
"My grandmother took money from them?"
"We don't know why."
"It says her name."
"And Camila's letter said Teresa was helping her escape."
Footsteps sounded above them.
Sofia closed the safe.
Her mother appeared at the cellar entrance.
Elena was sixty-eight, elegant even in a cardigan, her silver hair perfectly arranged.
She saw Mara.
The glass of water in her hand slipped and shattered on the stone floor.
"Camila," she whispered.
Mara's face tightened. "I'm Mara."
Elena gripped the doorframe.
Sofia held up the ledger. "Why did you authorize a quarter-million-dollar payment to Teresa Bennett the day after Camila vanished?"
Her mother's expression changed.
Not shock.
Memory.
"Where did you find that?"
"Answer me."
Elena looked toward Daniel. "Leave us."
"He stays."
"Sofia—"
"He stays."
Elena lowered her voice. "That money saved Camila's baby."
Mara stopped breathing.
Sofia stared at her mother.
Elena continued, "Teresa came to me before dawn. Camila had escaped the mansion, but Rafael's men were searching the roads. Teresa needed cash, new names, somewhere safe. I gave her everything I could without Rafael noticing."
Mara's eyes filled.
"Then where is my mother?"
Elena looked at her.
Pain crossed her face.
"I don't know."
A phone rang upstairs.
Seconds later, Daniel checked his own phone and went pale.
May you like
"Sofia," he said, "someone just accessed the old west gate with Rafael's master code."
The gate had been sealed for fifteen years.
