Chapter 4 - The Debt That Wasn't Money
Ethan appeared thirty seconds later with blood on his sleeve.
"Are you hit?"
"Graze. Move."
They escaped through the parking garage and lost the black sedan following them after two sharp turns through downtown.
Sofia waited until Ethan stopped inside an underground garage.
Then she slapped the dashboard.
"Tell me everything."
He wrapped his arm with gauze.
"Mateo came to my investigative firm eight years ago. Salazar was laundering money through restaurants, construction companies, and private loans. Your father's restaurant was one of them."
"Did Dad know?"
"At first, probably not. Later, yes."
"Why didn't Mateo go to police?"
"He did. One detective was on Salazar's payroll."
Sofia looked at the notebook again.
"So Mateo disappeared because he found out?"
"Because he found out too much."
Ethan handed her another document.
It was dated six weeks earlier.
Rafael Reyes agrees to surrender all claim, contact, and location information regarding Sofia Reyes upon execution.
Her stomach turned.
"He did it again."
"That's why I bought the debt."
"You bought me."
Ethan's expression hardened. "No. I bought the paper that let Salazar claim he owned your future."
"And then you married me."
"Because marriage moved the debt under my legal protection before Salazar could enforce anything."
Sofia laughed bitterly. "So I'm protected by a marriage I didn't understand."
"Yes."
At least he did not lie.
She called Rafael from a burner phone.
He answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Was Mateo alive when you told me to stop looking?"
Silence.
"Dad."
Rafael began crying.
"Yes."
May you like
Sofia closed her eyes.
Then he whispered, "But Ethan isn't telling you the worst part. Ask him who left Mateo behind that night.
