Chapter 9 - THE LEDGER
We escaped through a loading bay.
I lost one shoe.
Rafael lost blood.
The bullet had grazed his upper arm.
He refused a hospital.
I refused to care.
Then he nearly fainted in the car.
I cared anyway.
I drove him to Sofía.
She opened her apartment door, saw Rafael bleeding, and said, “Absolutely not.”
Then she let us in.
Her father was not there.
“Where's Ignacio?”
“I haven't spoken to him since yesterday.”
Rafael laughed.
“He's spoken to me.”
Sofía looked at the wound.
“You two deserve each other.”
“I've heard that before,” Rafael said.
She cleaned the cut while I opened the ledger.
Names.
Amounts.
Dates.
Customs codes.
Then my company's name.
MARVÉ STUDIO.
My stomach dropped.
Sofía leaned over.
“That is your firm.”
“I know.”
There were six transfers.
All during campaigns I had managed.
Someone had inserted fake vendors into legitimate budgets.
If clients discovered it before I reported it, I could lose everything.
I called my business partner, Lucía.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a text arrived.
LUCÍA: We need to talk. Don't come to the office.
I called.
Straight to voicemail.
Sofía said, “That's bad.”
“Thank you.”
Rafael took the ledger.
“I'll handle it.”
I snatched it back.
“No.”
“You don't know these people.”
“And you do?”
“Yes.”
“Look how well that's going.”
He stopped.
I took photographs of every page and sent them to Elena.
Then I called federal financial investigators.
Rafael grabbed my phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Making the ledger useless.”
He stared at me.
Then smiled.
“You're smarter than me.”
“That has never been a high bar.”
For the first time since he came back from the dead, he laughed.
It sounded like my brother.
I hated that too.
At noon, I finally reached Lucía.
Her voice was shaking.
“Mariana, the police are here.”
“Why?”
“Someone reported embezzlement.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Then she whispered, “They have your laptop.”
“My laptop is with me.”
“No.”
A pause.
“The old one.”
I remembered.
I had given Daniel my previous work laptop two years ago.
“Lucía, listen to me.”
A crash sounded on her end.
Then a man's voice.
“Señora Ortiz, put the phone down.”
The call ended.
Sofía looked at me.
Rafael looked at me.
I grabbed my coat.
“Where are you going?”
“My office.”
Rafael blocked the door.
“That's exactly where they want you.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“Rafael.”
He didn't.
So I shoved him.
His injured arm hit the wall.
He cried out.
I froze.
For one second, guilt won.
Then my phone buzzed.
A photograph from Daniel.
Camila asleep in a car seat.
DANIEL: Stop digging and I bring her back.
The room went silent.
I stared at the picture.
Then at the empty space where my daughter should have been.
Elena had taken Camila for hot chocolate.
Elena.
I called her.
No answer.
(To be continued)
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