Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Gone
At 6:32 p.m., Javier’s security team sealed the basement corridor leading to Server B12.
Alba was supposed to go home.
She refused.
“If my mother is coming, I’m staying.”
Álvaro knelt beside her. “This stopped being a translation problem hours ago.”
“It was never a translation problem.”
He almost smiled.
At 6:39, the basement elevator opened.
Elena Martín stepped out wearing a gray coat and carrying nothing.
Alba ran.
Elena caught her with both arms.
For several seconds, the executives watching from the corridor disappeared.
Then Elena saw Javier.
Her face hardened.
“You kept the company alive.”
“I tried.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Javier lowered his eyes.
Elena demanded to see the current contract. She read Clause 84.7 once and swore softly.
“They used the same skeleton.”
Clara had been placed in a separate conference room pending outside counsel’s arrival. Mateo was still on duty but under supervision.
Elena led them to B12.
The server rack appeared dead.
“It was decommissioned,” the IT director said.
Elena reached behind the cabinet and pressed a hidden power switch.
Fans began to spin.
A maintenance screen glowed.
Álvaro stared. “Who knew this existed?”
“Four people,” Elena said. “Me. Clara. Mateo. And Arturo Vega.”
The dead CFO.
She inserted an old access token.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds of bilingual contracts.
Not just Altamar’s.
Companies in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Germany.
Javier gripped the rack.
“This is industrial fraud.”
Elena opened a directory labeled TRIGGERS.
Then Alba pointed to a name.
ALTAMAR - ACTIVE.
Elena clicked.
A countdown filled the screen.
11 HOURS 18 MINUTES.
“What happens when it reaches zero?” Alba asked.
Elena read the Mandarin note beside it.
May you like
Her face lost color.
“Lianhua’s acquisition option becomes enforceable.”
