Chapter 5 - What Daniel Left Behind
Rafael released Matteo so suddenly that Marco nearly lost his grip on him.
“The boy?”
Matteo laughed again.
“Ask Elena why.”
Rafael's expression sharpened.
“What does Nate have to do with this?”
“You don't know.”
Matteo's amusement faded into contempt.
“Uncle Victor was right. Daniel really did outsmart everyone.”
Rafael stepped forward.
Marco grabbed his shoulder.
“Boss.”
Rafael stopped.
Breaking Matteo's jaw would feel satisfying.
It would not produce information.
“Take him downstairs.”
Matteo resisted.
Rafael leaned close.
“If Elena dies, you won't get another chance to speak.”
For the first time, Matteo looked worried.
After he was removed, Rafael returned upstairs.
Nate sat on the edge of the guest bed, hugging Rafael's coat around himself.
“What did that man mean?”
Rafael sat beside him.
“I don't know yet.”
“You're lying.”
Rafael looked over.
Nate's eyes were red but focused.
“My mom says adults say ‘I don't know yet’ when they don't want kids to know bad things.”
Rafael almost smiled.
“Your mother talks a lot.”
“She says important stuff.”
“Yes.”
Rafael looked toward the open window.
“Your father gave you the music box.”
Nate nodded.
“Did he give you anything else?”
“A watch.”
“What kind?”
“Old.”
“Where is it?”
Nate lifted his sleeve.
Around his wrist was a worn leather watch far too large for him.
Rafael stared.
“You've been wearing that the whole time?”
“Mom says Dad wanted me to have it when I was older, but I like it.”
Rafael carefully removed the watch.
The back contained an engraving.
N.C.
Not Daniel Carter.
Not Nate Carter.
N.C.
“What does that mean?” Nate asked.
Rafael turned the watch over.
There was a tiny groove along the side.
He pressed it.
The face lifted.
Inside was a microSD card.
Nate gasped.
“That was in there?”
“Yes.”
“So Dad was a spy?”
Despite the situation, Rafael laughed softly.
“Something like that.”
Marco brought a secure laptop.
They inserted the card.
Encrypted.
Rafael called someone he had not spoken to in five years.
Maya Chen.
Once the best cybersecurity engineer in his organization.
She had left after refusing to help Victor manipulate police databases.
Rafael had let her leave.
Victor had wanted her punished.
That fact suddenly seemed important.
Maya arrived forty-five minutes later.
She walked into the townhouse wearing jeans, boots, and an expression of profound annoyance.
“You look terrible.”
“Good to see you too.”
“This had better be important.”
Rafael handed her the card.
“This was hidden in Daniel Carter's son's watch.”
Maya stopped smiling.
“You're serious?”
“Yes.”
She looked at Nate.
“Hi.”
“Are you a hacker?”
Maya looked at Rafael.
“I like him.”
Within twenty minutes, she had bypassed the first layer.
Then the second.
The final password prompt appeared.
One hint.
THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED.
Nate leaned over.
“My birthday.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Dad always said that.”
Rafael typed Nate's birthday.
The drive opened.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Audio recordings.
Financial ledgers.
Photographs.
Videos.
And one folder named IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME.
Rafael clicked it.
Daniel appeared on screen.
Elena gasped from nowhere because she wasn't there—but Rafael could already imagine what seeing Daniel alive on video would do to her.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, Victor probably knows I found the records.”
Nate moved closer to the screen.
“Dad.”
Daniel continued.
“What I'm about to say could destroy powerful people. Victor De Santos has used Rafael's businesses to finance corruption Rafael does not fully know about.”
Rafael's jaw tightened.
“He killed Alejandro De Santos in 2000 after Alejandro discovered Victor was laundering money through Blue Harbor Logistics.”
Rafael stopped breathing.
Daniel held up documents.
“Detective Thomas Keane falsified the original investigation. Samuel Price helped bury zoning and property records connected to the scheme.”
Maya whispered, “Jesus.”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“I've duplicated everything.”
Then his expression changed.
“If Victor discovers the files, he'll come after my family.”
Nate held Rafael's arm.
Daniel continued.
“So the key will go somewhere nobody would think to search.”
His son's watch.
Rafael understood.
“But there's one more reason Victor may want Nate.”
Rafael leaned toward the screen.
Daniel picked up a document.
“A trust established by Alejandro De Santos contains a succession clause.”
Rafael frowned.
His father had established several trusts.
He knew them well.
Or thought he did.
Daniel continued.
“The original trust stipulates that if Rafael dies without a legal heir, controlling interests in several properties pass not to Victor, but to a charitable foundation controlled by an independent trustee.”
Rafael shook his head.
That didn't involve Nate.
Then Daniel said:
“I am that trustee.”
Rafael froze.
“When I die, trusteeship transfers to my legal heir.”
Everyone turned toward Nate.
The child looked confused.
Rafael understood immediately.
Victor could not fully control the properties as long as Nate existed.
That explained everything.
The apartment.
The surveillance.
The attempts to find Daniel's records.
Nate wasn't merely a witness's child.
He was a legal obstacle.
Maya shut the laptop.
“We need police.”
Rafael looked at her.
“Which police?”
She understood.
Daniel's records implicated officers.
Rafael's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Elena?”
Victor's voice came through.
“Good evening, Rafael.”
Rafael stood.
“If you hurt her—”
“She is alive.”
“Let me hear her.”
A pause.
Then Elena's voice.
“Rafael.”
“Elena.”
“Nate?”
“He's safe.”
“Keep him that way.”
Rafael closed his eyes for half a second.
Victor returned.
“Bring the watch.”
Rafael looked at Nate.
“Where?”
“Pier Forty-Seven. Midnight.”
“You want the files.”
“I want every copy.”
“And Elena walks?”
“If you do exactly what I say.”
Rafael's voice grew colder.
“You raised me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me family was everything.”
“It is.”
Victor sounded almost amused.
“That's why I'm protecting mine.”
Rafael looked at Nate.
The boy was frightened, but standing.
Watching.
Victor continued.
“Come alone.”
The line went dead.
Marco immediately said, “It's a trap.”
“Yes.”
“So we're not going.”
Rafael picked up his coat.
“We are.”
Maya frowned.
“He said alone.”
Rafael looked at her.
“I didn't say he needed to know.”
Nate grabbed his sleeve.
The same way he had inside the restaurant.
“Bring my mom home.”
Rafael looked down at the child.
That grip had started everything.
Rafael placed one hand over Nate's.
“I will.”
As Rafael walked toward the door, Maya spoke.
“There's something else.”
He stopped.
She reopened Daniel's files.
“One audio recording is dated the night your father died.”
Rafael turned slowly.
“What's on it?”
Maya's face had gone pale.
“Your father's last conversation with Victor.”
Rafael stared at the screen.
Then at the clock.
11:08 p.m.
Less than an hour until the meeting.
He had a choice.
Listen to the past.
Or save Elena.
Rafael closed the laptop.
May you like
“Later.”
And for the first time in his life, Rafael chose someone still alive over revenge for someone already gone.
