CHAPTER 10: THE FALSE CONFESSION
The video appeared online at 8:00 the next morning.
It showed Elena sitting behind a desk, admitting that she had directed Rafael to steal from the company, ordered false documents to be created, and used the foundation to influence politicians.
The woman in the video looked like Elena.
She moved like Elena.
She even paused between sentences the way Elena did when choosing her words carefully.
Millions of people watched it before experts identified signs of digital manipulation.
By then, the damage had been done.
The board voted to begin negotiations with Meridian Capital.
Marisol’s offer would become final at noon.
Elena had four hours.
Detective Lin traced the upload to a media company owned by Meridian, but the authorization had come through an outside legal office.
The attorney who approved it was Marcus Hale.
Victor’s uncle.
Victor had not spoken to him in eleven years.
Marcus had taken control of the Hale law firm after Victor’s father died. He denied any involvement with Orion and claimed an associate had used his credentials.
Elena did not believe him.
Victor did not either.
They confronted Marcus in his office.
He dismissed his staff and locked the door.
“My brother wanted to expose Orion,” Marcus said. “I told him to walk away.”
“And when he refused?” Victor asked.
“I tried to protect him.”
“You signed the document that transferred his boat the day before he died.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Victor had found the transfer record in his father’s box.
“It wasn’t a sale,” Marcus admitted. “Orion placed a tracking device on the boat. I moved the registration to make them believe he had sold it.”
“But they found him anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Who killed him?”
Marcus looked at Elena.
“Marisol.”
Victor stepped forward, but Elena caught his arm.
“We need evidence.”
Marcus opened a hidden compartment in his desk.
Inside was the missing foundation box.
“I removed it before Marisol’s people could find it.”
“You framed Elena to access the storage facility,” Victor said.
“I used a facial prosthetic and a copied fingerprint. I intended to return the box when it was safe.”
“You attacked Naomi?”
“No.”
“Then why should we trust you?”
“Because Marisol took Rafael.”
Marcus explained that Rafael had possessed the third piece of Mateo’s evidence for years. He kept it as insurance, never understanding that the files included proof of his earliest betrayal.
When Rafael accepted the plea agreement, he secretly arranged for the evidence to be released if he died.
Marisol discovered the plan.
“She moved him from prison using forged transfer orders,” Marcus said. “He is being held at a private medical facility owned by Meridian.”
“Why keep him alive?” Elena asked.
“Because the evidence is protected by a password only he knows.”
Elena opened the foundation box.
Inside were letters, bank records, and photographs connecting Marisol to Orion’s financial operations.
One photograph showed her meeting the mechanic who damaged Mateo’s car.
It had been taken two days before the accident.
Still, the photograph alone did not prove she changed the order.
Marcus gave Elena the address of the medical facility.
Victor wanted to contact federal agents.
Detective Lin warned them that Orion might have people inside the agency.
Elena looked at the clock.
Meridian’s acquisition vote would begin in less than two hours.
“We don’t have time to rescue Rafael and stop the sale,” Victor said.
Elena closed the box.
“We’re not choosing between them.”
“What are you proposing?”
Elena looked at the false confession playing silently on Marcus’s office television.
“They created another Elena to destroy me.”
May you like
A plan began forming.
“So we’re going to give them the Elena they expect.”
