Chapter 16 - The Real Architect
Elena could only speak for a few minutes.
Her memory came in fragments.
Medication.
Locked rooms.
Threats.
Years disappearing without calendars.
Sebastian had controlled her imprisonment.
But according to Elena, someone else had ordered the accident.
“Who?” I asked.
Her eyes moved toward Renata.
“Not here.”
That frightened me.
“Why?”
“She has people everywhere.”
She.
Not he.
I knew before Elena said the name.
“Evelyn.”
Senator Evelyn Beltran.
Renata’s eyes widened.
Elena nodded.
“She wanted everything buried.”
“Why?”
“Because Sebastian had records.”
“What records?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Payments.”
Nathan had suspected corruption.
But Elena described something larger.
Evelyn Beltran’s first Senate campaign had been funded through money Sebastian washed using my network.
Cordova contracts generated legitimate revenue.
Varela shell companies moved the profits.
Beltran protected them politically.
The three families were not simply allies.
They were parts of one machine.
“What changed?”
I asked.
“You found out?”
“No.”
Elena looked at me.
“I was going to tell you.”
But she discovered something else first.
Sebastian was planning to remove Beltran.
He had recorded conversations that could destroy her career.
Elena tried to steal those records.
Beltran discovered it.
“She ordered the crash.”
“And Sebastian?”
“Saved me.”
I stared at her.
That made no sense.
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
Sebastian kept Elena alive because she knew enough to destroy Beltran if Beltran ever turned against him.
My wife had spent nineteen years as a human insurance policy.
Renata’s fingers tightened around mine.
“Why now?”
Elena looked toward her.
“Because of her.”
Renata.
Professor Holloway’s research had started pulling on the same financial threads Elena uncovered years earlier.
Sebastian realized Nathan might find Elena.
He also realized Renata could inherit enough evidence to expose them.
That was why Emmett had gone after the key.
But if Sebastian wanted the key, and Beltran wanted Elena dead, then the three heirs had been standing inside a war they did not understand.
My phone rang.
Victor.
“Turn on the television.”
Senator Beltran was giving another press conference.
This time she was not accusing me.
She was announcing that Sebastian Varela had allegedly controlled a criminal network for decades.
She called him dangerous.
Manipulative.
A fugitive.
Then she promised complete cooperation with federal investigators.
Mateo laughed softly.
“She’s cutting him loose.”
“No.”
I watched Beltran’s face.
“She’s burying him.”
Victor spoke through the phone.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Sebastian contacted me.”
“Why?”
“He wants to surrender.”
“To police?”
“No.”
May you like
Victor paused.
“To you.”
