Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Dempster didn’t sleep.
Selena knew because she didn’t either.
At three seventeen in the morning, she found him sitting alone in the dark kitchen.
No guards.
No jacket.
No billionaire armor.
Just a large, tattooed man staring at a photograph.
Two boys stood beside a lake.
One was unmistakably Dempster.
The younger boy beside him had the same eyes.
“Matthew?”
Dempster nodded.
Selena sat opposite him.
“What happened?”
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he told her.
Dempster had been twenty-five when their father died.
Matthew was nineteen.
Their father left behind a logistics empire and secrets neither son understood.
Three months later, Matthew disappeared.
His abandoned car was discovered near the Hudson.
Blood was found inside.
No body.
Victor Serrano had attended the funeral service even though there was no coffin.
“I spent eleven years looking.”
“You thought Serrano killed him.”
“I was certain.”
“Maybe he kidnapped him.”
Dempster stared at the photograph.
“Or Matthew went willingly.”
That possibility clearly hurt more.
By sunrise, Selena had traced the electronic signature to a private network in Manhattan.
The address belonged to Wright Capital.
Alidoro.
Dempster wanted Selena nowhere near him.
Selena had another opinion.
“He’ll talk to me.”
“He tried to trade you for debt.”
“Exactly.”
“No.”
She folded her arms.
“You don’t decide.”
Dempster stared at her.
Then, surprisingly, nodded.
“You’re right.”
The response took the argument out of her.
“But,” he continued, “you’re not going alone.”
Two hours later, Selena walked into Wright Capital wearing a red dress she had once been too insecure to wear around Alidoro.
Dempster waited downstairs.
Selena entered Alidoro’s office alone.
He stood immediately.
“Selena.”
His eyes dropped to the diamond.
The ring was back on her finger.
Not because she believed herself married.
Because she wanted Alidoro to see it.
“You married Flores?”
“Disappointed?”
Alidoro’s handsome face tightened.
“You don’t understand what you’ve gotten into.”
“Five million dollars?”
His face changed.
There it was.
Fear.
Selena sat.
“You stole from investors.”
“I borrowed.”
“You lost it.”
“I can fix this.”
“By selling me?”
“I never sold you.”
“You offered Serrano access to me.”
Alidoro walked around his desk.
“You were supposed to give me one password.”
“One?”
“Selena, listen. Serrano wasn’t going to hurt you.”
She laughed.
“You drugged me.”
“I didn’t.”
That stopped her.
“What?”
“I never touched your drink.”
“Then why can’t I remember?”
Alidoro’s fear suddenly looked genuine.
“I thought Flores did it.”
Selena’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Flores has been watching you for months.”
Silence.
“That’s a lie.”
“Ask him.”
Alidoro opened a drawer.
Selena tensed.
He removed photographs.
Her leaving work.
Buying groceries.
Sitting in a coffee shop.
Entering her apartment.
Dempster appeared in the background of two.
Selena felt sick.
“Where did you get these?”
“Serrano.”
“Why was Dempster following me?”
“Because this isn’t about my debt.”
Alidoro leaned closer.
“It’s about your father.”
“My father died seven years ago.”
“Your father built the original software.”
Selena stopped.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“The model is mine.”
“The modern version is. But the architecture underneath it? That came from him.”
She remembered her father’s notebooks.
Equations.
Algorithms.
Ideas she had adapted years later.
Alidoro lowered his voice.
“Your father discovered something before he died.”
“What?”
“A financial network connecting politicians, port officials, organized crime, and legitimate companies. Serrano has spent years trying to destroy the evidence.”
Selena’s heartbeat accelerated.
“And Matthew Flores?”
Alidoro turned pale.
“You found Matthew?”
The office door opened.
A man entered.
Not Dempster.
Victor Serrano.
Silver hair.
Expensive gray suit.
Gentle smile.
Two men behind him.
Alidoro backed away.
“You weren’t supposed to come here.”
Serrano ignored him.
His attention settled on Selena.
“You look very much like your father.”
Selena stood.
“My husband is downstairs.”
The word came instinctively.
Serrano smiled.
“No, he isn’t.”
Cold moved through her.
“What?”
“Mr. Flores was detained by federal agents approximately six minutes ago.”
Selena reached for her phone.
One of Serrano’s men took it.
Alidoro whispered, “Victor, don’t.”
Serrano looked at him.
“You’ve disappointed me enough.”
Then everything happened at once.
Alidoro shoved Selena sideways.
A gun appeared.
The first shot shattered a window.
Selena fell behind the desk.
Alidoro screamed.
Security alarms erupted.
Serrano’s men ran.
Thirty seconds later, the office doors burst open.
Dempster entered with three men.
Not arrested.
Not detained.
His eyes found Selena.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Then they found Alidoro.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
Selena crawled toward him.
“Call an ambulance!”
Alidoro grabbed her wrist.
His fingers were already cold.
“Selena.”
“Don’t talk.”
“Your father…”
“Save your strength.”
“Your father wasn’t killed because of the software.”
Her breath caught.
“What?”
Alidoro coughed.
“He was killed because he found Matthew.”
Dempster froze behind her.
Selena leaned closer.
“Where?”
Alidoro’s eyes struggled to focus.
May you like
“The place where Flores ships nothing.”
Then his hand fell.
