Chapter 9 - The BroadcastCharles survived the gunshot.
Victoria stood outside in the rain.
Alive.
For eight years, Gabriel had visited her grave every Christmas.
He had kept her clothes in storage.
He had blamed himself for working too much during what he believed were her final months.
Now she stood twenty feet away from him.
“A ghost would be easier,” Simon muttered.
Victoria raised both hands toward the camera.
“I came alone.”
Gabriel’s voice came through the speaker.
“Why?”
“To save Aurelio.”
Aurelio stepped closer.
Rosa pulled him back.
Victoria saw the movement through the window.
“Rosa.”
“Don’t say my name.”
“I know you hate me.”
“You helped murder my son-in-law.”
Victoria flinched.
“I didn’t know Charles would kill Daniel.”
“But you knew Daniel was threatened.”
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing.”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
Gabriel opened the door.
Marcus swore.
Victoria entered.
Gabriel stared at her.
No embrace.
No tears.
Just devastation.
“You let me bury you.”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“I had to disappear.”
“You let me believe you died.”
“Meridian ordered me to remain close to you after Daniel’s death. I was supposed to monitor you.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“So our marriage?”
“Started as an assignment.”
His face tightened.
Victoria’s voice broke.
“But it didn’t stay that way.”
Gabriel turned away.
“You don’t get to say that.”
“I loved you.”
“You drugged me.”
“No.”
“You staged your death!”
“Because Kane ordered me to kill you.”
Silence.
Victoria explained.
Eight years earlier, Senator Kane became convinced Gabriel might discover what Daniel had uncovered.
Victoria was told to cause an accident.
Instead, she arranged her own disappearance.
The cancer had been fabricated.
A terminally ill woman with no family agreed to assume Victoria’s identity during the final hospital stay in exchange for money being sent to her children.
Gabriel looked sick.
“You used a dying woman.”
“She wanted her daughters protected.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
That single honest word stopped him.
Victoria reached into her coat.
Marcus raised his weapon.
She slowly removed a key.
“There’s a Meridian archive beneath Kane’s private estate in Napa.”
Simon leaned forward.
“You’ve been there?”
“I ran it.”
Nobody moved.
Victoria placed the key on the table.
“Names. Payments. Video recordings. Everything.”
Captain Ruiz appeared on-screen.
“Why bring this now?”
“Because Charles took control after Daniel died. Kane became reckless. They started eliminating everyone who knew the original network.”
“And you?”
“I’ve spent eight years gathering evidence.”
Gabriel laughed without humor.
“Looking for redemption?”
“No.”
Victoria looked at Aurelio.
“Trying to make sure Daniel’s son survives.”
Aurelio stared at her.
“You knew my dad.”
“Yes.”
“Did he trust you?”
Victoria swallowed.
“For a while.”
“Then you betrayed him.”
“Yes.”
Aurelio appreciated that she didn’t hide behind excuses.
“What was the last thing he said to you?”
Victoria’s face changed.
“He told me that one day I would have to decide whether I was the person Meridian made me… or the person I still had time to become.”
Rosa looked away.
Victoria continued.
“I hated him for saying it.”
Aurelio asked, “And now?”
“Now I understand.”
They had less than twenty-four hours.
Kane was scheduled to leave the country the next evening for a diplomatic summit.
If he escaped American jurisdiction, destroying Meridian would become harder.
Captain Ruiz coordinated secretly with federal agents outside Kane’s influence.
The plan was dangerous.
Victoria would enter Kane’s Napa estate using credentials that still worked.
Simon would broadcast the recovered archive if they found it.
Gabriel insisted on going.
Aurelio wanted to.
Everyone said no.
This time, even Rosa agreed.
Aurelio was furious.
Then Rosa crouched beside him.
“You already saved a man from a raging river.”
“He saved me too.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad’s evidence only exists because I remembered the boat.”
“Yes.”
“So stop treating me like I’m useless.”
Rosa touched his cheek.
“I’m not protecting you because you’re useless.”
Her voice softened.
“I’m protecting you because you’re twelve.”
Aurelio looked down.
“I forgot what that feels like.”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“That’s my fault.”
He shook his head.
“Not all of it.”
She hugged him.
Gabriel, Victoria, Marcus, and Ruiz left before dawn.
Aurelio remained with Rosa and Simon at a secure motel.
Hours passed.
Then Simon’s laptop pinged.
A data upload began.
Files.
Hundreds.
Then thousands.
Victoria had found the archive.
Simon smiled.
“We got them.”
Suddenly, the upload stopped at seventy-two percent.
A message appeared.
CONNECTION LOST.
Rosa stood.
“What happened?”
Simon tried reconnecting.
Nothing.
Then his phone rang.
Gabriel.
Simon answered.
Gunfire roared through the speaker.
“SIMON!”
“Gabriel?”
“They knew!”
More gunfire.
“Charles is here!”
Aurelio moved closer.
Gabriel shouted, “UPLOAD WHAT YOU HAVE!”
Then the line disconnected.
Simon immediately started publishing.
But before he could finish, the motel lights died.
Rosa whispered, “No.”
A vehicle stopped outside.
Then another.
Aurelio’s heart hammered.
Simon grabbed a small pistol.
“Back room.”
The door burst inward.
Men entered.
Rosa shoved Aurelio toward the bathroom window.
“RUN!”
He refused.
“Not without you!”
Simon fired.
Glass shattered.
Aurelio climbed through the window.
Rosa followed.
They landed behind the motel.
An SUV raced around the corner.
Rosa pushed Aurelio aside.
The vehicle stopped.
A man jumped out.
Aurelio froze.
Charles Vale.
He had somehow returned from Napa.
His eyes locked on Aurelio.
“This has gone far enough.”
Rosa stood between them.
“You’ll have to kill me first.”
Charles looked at her.
“That was always the plan.”
A gun rose.
A shot exploded.
Rosa jerked.
Aurelio screamed.
But Rosa didn’t fall.
Charles did.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Behind him stood Gabriel Vale.
Bruised.
Bleeding.
Alive.
He held the smoking gun.
“Get away from my family.”
Charles stared at him.
Then laughed.
“Your family?”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Yes.”
May you like
And for the first time, Aurelio realized Gabriel wasn’t only fighting for his brother anymore.
He was fighting for him.
