Chapter 2 - The Escape into the Night
The tires screeched against the wet pavement as Arthur aggressively navigated through the labyrinth of downtown alleyways.
Silence filled the car, heavy and suffocating, broken only by the rhythmic thud of the windshield wipers.
I stared at the back of Sofía's head, desperate to scream, to cry, to demand a thousand answers all at once.
"Who were those men in the restaurant?" I finally choked out, my voice sounding incredibly small.
Arthur glanced at me through the rearview mirror, his scarred face illuminated briefly by a passing streetlamp.
"They are the people who have been hunting your sister since the night she disappeared," he replied grimly.
Sofía turned around in the passenger seat, reaching back to gently squeeze my trembling hand.
She explained that her disappearance wasn't an accident, nor was it a simple case of running away.
She had uncovered a massive financial conspiracy within our own father's corporate empire.
Our family's wealth was built on illegal arms dealing and human trafficking, completely hidden behind legitimate real estate ventures.
The night she vanished, she had stolen the digital ledgers that proved everything.
Arthur, who was investigating the company as a private journalist, was caught helping her.
They staged his death in the car crash and faked her disappearance to buy themselves time to decrypt the files.
I looked down at the little boy sitting quietly beside me, holding the silver "pieda" tightly in his hands.
"And who is he?" I asked, my voice cracking under the emotional weight of this impossible reality.
"His name is Leo," Sofía whispered softly, her eyes filling with unwept tears.
"He is my son, and the only reason I am finally coming out of the shadows."
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My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the boy, realizing I was an aunt.
The stakes were no longer just about exposing a crime, but about protecting the innocent life sitting right next to me.
