Chapter 15 - The Warehouse
Mr. Bell told us not to move.
Victoria ignored him.
“Who’s there?” she shouted.
A flashlight beam swept across the far wall.
Then a door slammed.
By the time security reached the loading dock, whoever had entered was gone.
One box was missing.
The box labeled 2019 - HARBOR PROJECT.
Mr. Bell swore softly.
Victoria looked sick.
“That refinancing,” she said. “Julian nearly lost the company on that deal.”
The next morning, Julian called me.
First time in nine days.
“You found the warehouse.”
I put him on speaker for Mr. Bell.
“Yes.”
“You don’t know what you’re reading.”
“Then come explain it.”
Silence.
“You think Rafael was a saint?” Julian said. “He spent his last years rewriting history because he couldn’t live with his guilt.”
“Maybe.”
“You think Victoria is suddenly on your side? She would have buried you herself if she thought she could get away with it.”
Victoria heard that from across the room.
Her face did not change.
I said, “You’re trying to make everyone else guilty enough to make you look innocent.”
Julian laughed.
“You sound like him.”
“Rafael?”
“No. Your mother.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“You met her.”
Another silence.
Then the line went dead.
Victoria sat down.
“He met Elena?”
I called back.
No answer.
Daniel Price finally resurfaced that afternoon.
He walked into a federal prosecutor’s office with a lawyer.
His affidavit had been forged, but he had helped Julian suppress the search years earlier.
He admitted receiving money.
He also admitted something else.
Julian personally met my mother once.
In a hospital cafeteria while she was undergoing cancer treatment.
He offered her money to sign a statement saying Rafael’s claim was false and she wanted no contact.
She refused.
Daniel said Julian left furious.
My mother never told me.
Maybe she was protecting me.
Maybe she was tired.
Maybe she simply refused to give him more space in her life.
That night, Claudia came to my hotel.
She had been crying.
“My father lied to me my entire life.”
I did not know what to say.
She handed me a phone.
“Before he disappeared, he left this at my apartment.”
It was locked.
“But I know the passcode.”
“What’s on it?”
May you like
Claudia looked at me.
“A recording of him talking about your mother.”
