Chapter 24 — They Were Waiting

Chapter 24 — They Were Waiting

For one suspended moment, nobody moved.

Miyaka stared through the window at the two black vehicles approaching the house.

They weren't speeding.

That somehow made them more frightening.

They moved slowly along the narrow road, tires crushing the gravel beneath them, as if whoever was inside already knew there was nowhere for them to go.

Daniel stepped away from the window.

“Back door.”

Jason looked at him.

“You seem pretty calm for someone who just told us we're surrounded.”

“I've had practice.”

“That doesn't make me feel better.”

“It wasn't supposed to.”

Moises moved toward Miyaka.

“Come on.”

She didn't move.

Her eyes remained on Daniel.

“You said my mother didn't die.”

Daniel's jaw tightened.

“I said we need to leave.”

“That isn't an answer.”

“Miyaka—”

“No.”

Her voice shook, but she didn't back down.

“I've spent twelve years believing she died. You were at her funeral. You stood beside my father. You watched me cry.”

Daniel looked away.

“You knew.”

“I knew enough.”

“You knew she was alive?”

His silence answered for him.

Miyaka's chest tightened.

“You knew.”

Daniel finally looked at her.

“I knew she might be.”

The words landed differently.

Not certainty.

Not confirmation.

Possibility.

Miyaka shook her head.

“That doesn't make sense.”

“It will.”

“Then explain it.”

Daniel looked toward the vehicles.

“We don't have time.”

“You've been saying that since I was a child.”

He froze.

Miyaka stepped closer.

“You told me to stay away from the tree. You called me the heir. You knew my father. You knew my mother. You knew Moises was being taken away.”

Moises's expression hardened.

“You were there that night.”

Daniel looked at him.

“Yes.”

Moises took a step forward.

“You were in the car.”

“Yes.”

“You helped take me away.”

Daniel's face tightened.

“I helped keep you alive.”

Moises laughed once, without humor.

“You call that keeping me alive?”

“I call it doing what I was told.”

“By whom?”

Daniel didn't answer.

Miyaka felt something inside her snap.

“Enough.”

Both men looked at her.

She was shaking now.

Not from fear.

From years of unanswered questions finally becoming too heavy to carry.

“Everybody keeps telling me they're protecting me,” she said. “My father. My mother. You. Moises's father. All of you made decisions for me, lied to me, disappeared, and somehow decided that was protection.”

Daniel's expression softened.

“I know.”

“No, you don't.”

Her voice cracked.

“You don't know what it was like.”

Daniel looked at her for a long moment.

Then he said quietly, “You're right.”

That stopped her.

“I don't know what it was like to be you.”

He looked toward the photograph in her hand.

“But I know what your father asked me to do.”

“What?”

“Keep you alive.”

Miyaka swallowed.

“Why?”

Daniel's eyes moved toward the safe.

“Because your mother had already disappeared.”

The room went silent.

Jason spoke first.

“Disappeared?”

Daniel nodded.

“The accident was staged.”

Miyaka's breath caught.

“No.”

“It was made to look like an accident.”

“Why?”

“Because someone needed everyone to believe she was dead.”

Miyaka stared at him.

“Who?”

Daniel shook his head.

“That's what I've spent twelve years trying to find out.”

Moises stepped closer.

“You knew she was alive.”

“I knew she survived the crash.”

Miyaka's heart stopped.

“Then where is she?”

Daniel looked at her.

“I don't know.”

Her face fell.

“You don't know?”

“I haven't seen her since that night.”

Miyaka turned away.

For a moment, she thought she might collapse.

Alive.

Her mother might have survived.

And yet Daniel didn't know where she was.

It was almost crueler than believing she was dead.

Jason moved beside her.

“Miyaka.”

She shook her head.

“I need a minute.”

“You don't have one,” Daniel said.

An engine stopped outside.

A car door slammed.

Then another.

Daniel's face changed.

“They're here.”

Moises looked through the window.

“How many?”

“Four that I can see.”

Jason frowned.

“Who are they?”

Daniel answered without looking at him.

“People who don't want Miyaka opening that safe.”

Miyaka looked toward it.

“What is inside?”

Daniel's expression became grim.

“Proof.”

“Proof of what?”

“Who really owned Valmont Holdings.”

Moises went still.

“What?”

Daniel looked at him.

“Your fathers didn't control the company.”

Jason stared.

“Then who did?”

Daniel looked at Miyaka.

“Your mother.”

Silence.

Miyaka shook her head.

“My mother wasn't a businesswoman.”

“She wasn't supposed to be.”

“What does that mean?”

Daniel walked toward the safe.

“Your grandfather established Valmont Holdings before either Laurent Industries or Reyes Group existed.”

Miyaka stared.

“My grandfather?”

Daniel nodded.

“He created the company as a holding structure for something much older.”

“What?”

Daniel looked at the three-circle symbol.

“Records.”

“Records of what?”

“Families.”

Miyaka frowned.

“That doesn't make sense.”

“It will.”

He opened the black notebook from the safe.

“Your grandfather was researching the connections between several families who had been using businesses, trusts, and shell companies to hide their actual ownership.”

Jason leaned forward.

“So Valmont wasn't just a company.”

“No.”

Daniel turned a page.

“It was a network.”

Moises's expression darkened.

“And my father was involved.”

“Both your fathers were.”

Miyaka looked at him.

“And my mother?”

Daniel closed the notebook.

“She discovered what they were hiding.”

“Then why did she disappear?”

“Because she refused to cooperate.”

The sound of tires outside made everyone look toward the window.

Daniel lowered his voice.

“And because she discovered something about you.”

Miyaka's heart skipped.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

Daniel hesitated.

Then he said,

“Your bloodline isn't important because you're a Reyes.”

Miyaka frowned.

“Then why?”

“Because your mother discovered that your family was connected to the original owners of the network.”

Jason looked confused.

“Original owners?”

Daniel nodded.

“Three families.”

He looked at Moises.

“Laurent.”

Then Jason.

“Rivera.”

Finally, Miyaka.

“Reyes.”

Jason stared.

“That's why the three of us?”

Daniel didn't answer.

Miyaka felt cold.

All three childhood friends.

All three families.

The mango tree.

The promises.

The secrets.

Had their friendship really been coincidence?

She looked at Moises.

He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Before either could speak, glass shattered downstairs.

Everyone froze.

“They're inside,” Jason whispered.

Daniel closed the safe.

“Back door. Now.”

Moises grabbed Miyaka's hand.

This time she didn't pull away.

They ran.

Footsteps thundered through the hallway behind them.

Jason followed.

Daniel brought up the rear.

They reached the back door just as someone shouted from the other side of the house.

“Check upstairs!”

Miyaka's heart hammered.

They rushed into the garden.

The old property stretched behind the house, overgrown and dark.

Daniel pointed toward a narrow path.

“Through there.”

They ran.

Branches scratched Miyaka's arms.

Moises kept hold of her hand.

Jason followed close behind.

A gunshot cracked through the night.

Miyaka flinched.

Moises pulled her closer.

“Keep moving.”

They reached an old stone wall.

Daniel stopped.

“There.”

A small opening had been hidden behind vines.

Jason stared.

“That's an escape tunnel?”

Daniel nodded.

“Your father built it.”

Miyaka looked at him.

“My father?”

“Yes.”

They climbed inside.

Daniel pulled the vines back into place.

Darkness swallowed them.

For several seconds, all they could hear was their breathing.

Then footsteps passed outside.

Nobody spoke.

Miyaka was still holding Moises's hand.

She realized it only when he gently squeezed her fingers.

She looked at him.

His face was barely visible in the darkness.

“You okay?”

“No.”

A faint smile touched his mouth.

“Fair answer.”

She leaned against the wall.

“I think my entire childhood was a lie.”

Moises shook his head.

“No.”

She looked at him.

“Then what was real?”

He didn't hesitate.

“You.”

Her throat tightened.

“Me?”

“The way you laughed. The way you used to steal mangoes. The way you hated losing.”

She smiled weakly.

“You remember that?”

“I remember everything.”

Her eyes filled.

Moises stepped closer.

“And whatever our families were hiding, whatever they did to us…”

He paused.

“That part was real.”

Miyaka looked at their joined hands.

For the first time in fourteen years, she didn't feel like she was holding on to a memory.

She was holding on to him.

Then Daniel's voice came quietly from behind them.

“We're not safe yet.”

Miyaka looked back.

Daniel was holding the black notebook.

He had opened it to a page near the middle.

His face was pale.

“What?”

He looked at Miyaka.

“Your father wrote something here.”

“What?”

Daniel turned the notebook toward her.

A sentence had been written across the page.

If Miyaka ever discovers the truth about the three families, she must never trust the person who brings her back to the tree.

Miyaka stared.

Then slowly looked at Moises.

He looked back at her.

Neither of them spoke.

Because there was only one person who had brought her back to the mango tree.

Moises.