Chapter 12 - The Third Page
Daniel's storage unit smelled of damp cardboard and motor oil. He opened a small metal case containing bank correspondence, a flash drive, and the original third page of Dad's letter. The copy in Mom's box had given me directions. This one had never left Daniel's care.
On the flash drive, Dad sat upright in a hospital bed, thinner than I remembered. His voice was weak but unmistakable. "This apartment belongs to Elena. It came from her family. I let my sons believe I'd provide it to them because I liked hearing them call me successful. That was vanity, not truth."
He looked away before continuing. "Adam copied a signature my son Mateo once made for me when I was sick. He used it to support a false certification on a business loan. Daniel helped move the papers. I should have reported it. I was frightened and ashamed."
I sat down on a packing crate. Dad had known about my hospital signature. He had not told me what Adam did with it.
"He wanted me to bring this to the authorities after he died," Daniel said. "I didn't. That's on me."
The ledger connected Adam's firm to Ninth Cedar Holdings through an older company with the same payment processor. It wasn't a clean map to a conviction, Priya later warned, but it gave investigators names and transactions to verify independently.
When we brought Daniel to Sofia's apartment, Mom stared at him without moving. He said, "I should've come home."
She slapped his shoulder, not hard, then pulled him against her. "I spent twelve Christmases keeping your place," she cried. "Don't ever ask me to call that protection."
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My phone vibrated. It was Vanessa: I KNOW DANIEL IS BACK. ADAM SAYS THE ORIGINALS BELONG TO HIM.
A second message followed, with a photograph of Sofia walking outside her building. "Tell your daughter to stop filming," it said.
