Chapter 8 - The Original Contract
They escaped through the woods to an old boathouse.
Flashlights moved behind them.
Sofia forced Rafael to talk while Ethan worked on the motorboat.
"What did Mom sign?"
"A business loan. She thought she was witnessing paperwork for the restaurant."
"And you?"
"I borrowed two hundred thousand. Then more. I kept thinking one good month would fix it."
"You built a grave one loan at a time."
Rafael flinched.
"Salazar changed the later documents. He added your name."
"And you signed them."
"Yes."
"Knowing?"
Rafael looked away.
That answer was enough.
"Where is the original?"
"Your mother hid it."
Sofia remembered Elena's walnut jewelry box in a bank safe-deposit box.
Then a voice came from the shoreline.
"Sofia!"
She turned.
Mateo stood beneath a floodlight.
Older. Thin. Alive.
A gun pressed into his back.
Victor Salazar stood behind him.
"Turn off the boat," Salazar said.
Ethan did.
Sofia could not stop staring at her brother.
"Sofi," Mateo said.
Seven years collapsed into one word.
Salazar smiled. "Beautiful. Now give me the card."
Ethan tossed him the microSD pouch.
Mateo's eyes flicked toward Sofia's ring.
Tiny movement.
A warning.
The card was bait.
Salazar forced Mateo backward.
Rafael stepped forward. "Take me. Let them go."
Salazar laughed. "You still think you're worth trading."
"I know where Elena hid the original contract."
Salazar's smile vanished.
That document mattered.
"Tomorrow. Noon," he said. "Bring the contract and the real ledger."
Then he dragged Mateo into the trees.
May you like
Sofia watched her brother disappear for the second time.
This time, she knew exactly who had taken him.
