Chapter 14 - The Exchange
Javier ordered me to come alone.
Of course I did not.
Carmen placed trackers in my clothes.
Mateo’s team followed at distance.
The Gibraltar ledger I carried was a copy.
The real one was already secured with prosecutors.
Javier directed me to an abandoned hotel construction site outside Marbella.
Ironically, my company had once considered buying it.
Concrete skeletons rose against the evening sky.
I entered the central building.
“Isabella!”
No answer.
My phone rang.
“Top floor.”
I climbed twelve flights.
At the roof, Javier stood near the edge.
Tomás Vela stood beside him with a gun.
Isabella sat in a chair ten meters away.
Her hands were tied.
She saw me.
“Dad.”
“I’m here.”
Javier smiled.
“You look tired.”
“Take the ledger.”
I held it up.
“Give me Isabella.”
“First, your access codes.”
“No.”
Tomás pressed the gun against Isabella’s shoulder.
I took one step forward.
Javier raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
I stopped.
“You already lost, Javier.”
“Have I?”
“The accounts are frozen.”
“Money moves.”
“Mercedes abandoned you.”
His smile flickered.
There.
That was the wound.
“She sent you to Morocco to retrieve documents.”
I continued.
“Then she let you get arrested.”
“Shut up.”
“She used you.”
“Shut up.”
“You were never her partner.”
His face twisted.
“You know nothing.”
“I know she is still free while you are standing on a roof holding an eight-year-old hostage.”
Tomás glanced at Javier.
Doubt.
I saw it.
So did Javier.
He pointed at Tomás.
“Watch her.”
Then he walked toward me.
“Codes.”
I gave him a set.
False.
He entered them into a tablet.
The system rejected access.
His face changed.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
He punched me.
I fell.
Isabella screamed.
Tomás looked toward the stairwell.
A faint sound.
Police.
He grabbed Isabella.
Javier shouted.
“Move!”
Chaos exploded.
A shot fired.
Concrete chipped beside me.
I tackled Javier.
Tomás dragged Isabella toward the service stairs.
Then a figure emerged from the shadows.
Beatriz.
She struck Tomás with a metal pipe.
He dropped the gun.
Isabella ran.
I caught her.
Carmen’s officers stormed the roof.
Tomás reached for the weapon.
Police fired.
He fell.
Javier ran toward the edge.
Mateo blocked him.
For one second, Javier considered jumping.
Then he surrendered.
Beatriz stood frozen with the pipe in her hands.
Isabella stared at her.
Beatriz whispered, “I’m sorry.”
My daughter hid behind me.
That was the only answer Beatriz deserved.
Police arrested her again.
Helping Isabella would matter in court.
It would never erase what she had done.
As officers led Javier away, he laughed.
I looked at him.
“What?”
“You think this ends with me?”
“It ends with all of you.”
“No.”
He nodded toward Isabella.
“Ask your daughter what Mercedes told her.”
I turned.
Isabella’s face had gone pale.
After Isabella was rescued, a medic checked every bruise before allowing me to hold her properly.
She kept apologizing for being heavy when I carried her downstairs.
I told her she could be a hundred years old and I would still carry her if she needed me.
She finally laughed.
It was small, but it was the first laugh I had heard since coming home.
“What did she tell you?”
My daughter whispered.
“She said Mom is alive.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“Which mom?”
Isabella began to cry.
“My real mom.”
May you like
Lucia.
