Chapter 16 - Ethan's Mother
Ethan had spent twelve years believing his mother, Margaret Vale, died in a boating accident.
She had not.
The ledger showed a new identity: Margaret Voss.
Financial adviser to Charles Wynn.
Sofia stared at him. "You didn't know?"
"No."
For once, Ethan looked completely unguarded.
Mateo said quietly, "That's why Salazar kept you close."
Ethan sat down.
"My first job came through one of her old contacts."
"She put you there," Sofia said.
He looked sick.
"She used me to find debtors."
"Including Mateo."
"Yes."
The conspiracy was no longer just Sofia's family.
It had built both families into tools.
Federal investigators traced Margaret Voss to a private airfield outside Richmond.
Sofia, Ethan, and Mateo were told to stay out of it.
They did.
For almost an hour.
Then the investigator leading the operation called.
"She's asking for Ethan."
At the airfield, Margaret sat inside a hangar surrounded by agents.
She looked at her son with no surprise.
"You got handsome."
Ethan's face went hard. "You were alive."
"Necessary."
"You used me."
"Also necessary."
Sofia hated her immediately.
Margaret looked at Sofia's ring.
"That marriage wasn't in the plan."
"Good," Sofia said.
Margaret smiled. "You think Salazar was the danger. He was a collector. Wynn was a cleaner. But neither of them built the machine."
Mateo asked, "Who did?"
Margaret looked toward the agents.
"Ask why Elena Reyes died three months after she tried to take evidence to Senator Malcolm Grant."
The hangar went silent.
May you like
Grant was now chairman of the Senate committee overseeing federal corruption investigations.
And he had just announced a public hearing into the Salazar case.
