Chapter 5 - The Night Mateo Vanished
Sofia ended the call and turned to Ethan.
"Who left Mateo behind?"
He did not defend himself.
"I did."
The answer hit harder than a lie.
Ethan sat across from her in a vacant office above a pharmacy.
"We were meeting a federal contact in a parking garage. Two cars came in. The meeting was burned. Mateo had the evidence. I had the backup. We split."
"You ran."
"Yes."
"And he stayed."
"Because he saw Salazar's men heading toward me. Mateo pulled them away."
Sofia stared. "My brother saved you."
"Yes."
"And you left him."
Ethan's jaw tightened. "Because he screamed at me to go."
She wanted to hate him cleanly. His honesty made that harder.
"Did you ever see him again?"
Ethan hesitated.
Sofia stood. "You did."
"Six months later."
She slapped him.
He accepted it.
"You have been lying since the wedding."
"I found him at a clinic. He was hurt and terrified. He refused police. He believed Salazar had people inside federal law enforcement."
"Why didn't he call me?"
"He wanted to. Then your father met Salazar two days later. Mateo panicked and disappeared again."
Ethan showed her a photo taken three weeks earlier.
Rafael sat outside a diner.
Across from him was a man in a baseball cap.
Older. Thinner.
But Sofia knew the crooked thumb and the scar near his ear.
Mateo.
Alive.
Meeting their father.
"Dad knows where he is."
"He knew three weeks ago."
Sofia stared at the photo.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One message.
STOP LOOKING FOR ME, SOFI.
May you like
Then another arrived.
HE'S WATCHING YOU TOO.
