CHAPTER 16 BLOOD MONEY
The account had been opened in my name when I was ten.
The year my mother disappeared.
Dane’s attorneys claimed it proved my family benefited from the network.
My father recognized the account number.
“It was Elena’s emergency fund.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
She studied the transaction history.
“This money came from Gabriel.”
Andrew’s father.
The funds had grown for twenty-two years through stolen investments.
If I kept them, the public would believe I had always been part of the conspiracy.
If I surrendered them, hundreds of victims might finally recover what had been taken.
Andrew sat beside me during the meeting.
“You know what to do,” he said.
“Yes.”
I donated every dollar to a restitution fund.
The decision cost me nothing emotionally.
It bought back something more valuable than money.
My mother’s name.
The media changed its tone.
Victims came forward.
Former employees.
Families who had lost homes.
Small investors ruined by fake charities.
We created the Elena Escalante Foundation to repay them.
Andrew volunteered anonymously.
He sorted claims in a basement office.
No title.
No salary.
No cameras.
One evening, I found him asleep over a stack of files.
He looked thinner.
Older.
Human.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
He opened his eyes.
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because someone should have helped them years ago.”
I sat across from him.
He noticed my bare ring finger.
Our divorce had become final that morning.
“I received the notice,” he said.
“So did I.”
He swallowed.
“Congratulations.”
“That’s a strange thing to say.”
“You’re free.”
I studied him.
“So are you.”
“No.”
He gave a quiet smile.
“I’m responsible.”
Before I could answer, my phone rang.
Brenda.
She sounded terrified.
“Mariana, someone followed me home.”
“Call the police.”
“I did.”
Her breathing quickened.
May you like
“They’re already inside.”
The line went dead.
