Chapter 6 - The Video
Santiago forgot how to breathe.
“She spoke?”
Ruby nodded.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“You had a video of my sister speaking for three years?”
His voice rose.
Sophia flinched.
Ruby moved between them.
“Lower your voice.”
Santiago’s eyes flashed.
“You hid that from me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she asked me to.”
“She was sixteen.”
“And terrified.”
“She was my sister.”
“And you were one of the people she was terrified to lose.”
That stopped him.
Ruby’s own anger surfaced now.
“You think I wanted this?”
“You think I enjoyed carrying a video that could blow apart a family I had never met?”
“My brother and I found the clip on Lakeview’s internal archive.”
“It came from a hallway camera outside Sophia’s room.”
“Owen copied it because the original was scheduled for deletion.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
Santiago took one step forward.
“Bring it.”
Ruby did not move.
Sophia signed.
Ruby looked at her.
Then at Santiago.
“She says yes.”
That mattered.
An hour later they stood inside a storage facility near Midway Airport.
Ruby opened a unit registered under her mother’s maiden name.
Inside were three plastic bins.
A folding chair.
A small fireproof safe.
Ruby entered a code.
She removed an old laptop, two flash drives, and a sealed envelope.
Santiago noticed her hands shaking.
“What’s in the envelope?”
“My brother’s last letter.”
“Before he disappeared?”
“Yes.”
She plugged in the flash drive.
The video opened.
Timestamp: three years earlier.
Lakeview Institute.
Sophia, sixteen, sat against a hallway wall in hospital pajamas.
She looked thin.
Exhausted.
Ruby appeared at the far end pushing a cleaning cart.
The recorded Ruby noticed Sophia and came closer.
There was no audio at first.
Then the microphone activated when a door opened.
Sophia’s younger face lifted.
“Ruby.”
One word.
Rough.
Barely used.
But clear.
Santiago gripped the edge of the table.
He had not heard his sister’s voice since she was twelve.
On-screen Ruby froze.
Sophia looked toward the camera.
Then toward the closed treatment room.
“He killed Papa.”
Santiago shut his eyes.
The words kept playing.
“Matteo killed Papa.”
Ruby on the video whispered, “Sophia, we need to call your brother.”
“No.”
Sophia’s breathing became fast.
“He’ll kill him.”
A door opened.
Dr. Voss stepped into the hallway.
The change in Sophia was immediate.
Her mouth closed.
Her body went rigid.
Voss looked at Ruby.
“What are you doing here?”
“Cleaning.”
“With her?”
Ruby said nothing.
Voss crouched in front of Sophia.
“You know what happens when you get yourself worked up.”
Sophia shook her head.
Voss called a nurse.
The video ended before any treatment occurred.
Santiago stood perfectly still.
Ruby closed the laptop.
“That was the night Owen copied the file.”
“What happened next?”
“He found other records.”
“What records?”
“Medication logs that didn’t match physician notes.”
“Payments from shell companies.”
“Security access linked to Matteo.”
“And the letter Sophia said she wrote when she was twelve.”
Santiago looked at her.
“Owen found it?”
“Scanned into a restricted legal file.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t have it.”
“Why?”
“Owen took the original drive.”
“Then disappeared.”
Ruby nodded.
Santiago looked at the empty frame in his mind.
The missing brother.
The three-year secret.
The lie inside his own house.
“Open the letter.”
Ruby stiffened.
“Owen’s letter.”
“No.”
“You want my help finding him?”
“I stopped believing you could help three years ago.”
Santiago absorbed that.
Then Sophia touched Ruby’s arm.
She signed.
Ruby’s eyes filled.
“What?” Santiago asked.
Ruby took a shaky breath.
“She says you need to read it.”
Ruby opened the envelope.
The paper inside held only four lines.
Ruby,
If anything happens to me, do not go to the police first.
Someone in Moretti security is feeding Voss information.
And if Santiago ever starts looking, tell him the traitor sits at his right hand.
Santiago slowly turned toward Tomas.
Tomas stared back.
May you like
Neither man spoke.
