Chapter 16 - The Fire and the Ledger
Smoke was pouring from Vega Tower when Emilio arrived.
Fire crews blocked the elevators.
Lucia's office was forty-three floors up.
Pike grabbed Emilio before he could run for the stairs.
"Ava needs a father more than she needs paper."
That stopped him.
Marcus went up with firefighters.
Minutes later, Rafael arrived in a wheelchair with Mara.
His face was pale.
In his lap sat a leather folder.
"I remembered something," he said.
Inside was a duplicate trust certificate Lucia had given him before her death.
It proved Ava's voting rights could not legally be transferred without Lucia's signature.
Voss could forge it.
But he could not make Lucia alive.
Then Marcus came down carrying a fireproof evidence bag.
"The ledger survived."
Emilio opened it.
The first page that mattered carried his own signature.
Six years earlier, exhausted after Ava's birth, he had signed a restructuring package Voss placed in front of him.
That signature gave Voss control over billions in municipal contract renewals.
Emilio felt sick.
"I opened the door for him."
Rafael said, "Without knowing."
"That doesn't erase it."
Pike flipped through the ledger.
Shell companies.
Kickbacks.
Politicians.
Procurement officers.
Calvin.
Rowan.
Preston.
Then Pike's phone rang.
Tessa had escaped transport.
A second later, Emilio received a text from Ava's security phone.
DADDY, TESSA IS HERE.
Then another.
SHE SAYS GRANDPA SENT HER.
Rafael went white.
"I did not."
A man answered when Emilio called.
Rowan Price.
"Come to the marina," Rowan said. "Alone."
May you like
Behind him, Ava was crying.
Then Rowan added, "Or I sink the boat with her inside."
