Chapter 10
The small black flash drive rested in Julian’s palm like a ticking time bomb. Valeria stared at it, her hands trembling uncontrollably as the cold night air whipped her burgundy dress against her legs. The police cruisers were slowly backing out of the alley, their sirens silenced, leaving behind an eerie, heavy quiet.
"I don't want it," Valeria whispered, backing away from Julian as if the device might contaminate her. "Take your federal lies and get away from me. My mother is in the back of a police car, my entire life has been blown apart, and you stand there acting like this is just another successful day at the office."
Julian lowered his hand, his expression softening with genuine regret. "Valeria, if you don't take this drive, the people your mother spent decades stealing from will come after you next. You are her legal heir. The syndicate considers you the custodian of the archive now, whether you want the title or not."
Valeria shook her head violently, tears blurring the neon lights of the city skyline in the distance. "I want nothing to do with them! I want my normal life back! Three days ago, I was just a divorced woman trying to figure out how to pay rent, and now I'm standing in an alley surrounded by criminals and federal agents!"
"There is no going back to normal, Valeria," Julian said gently, stepping forward and dropping the flash drive directly into the open pocket of her cream handbag. "Read the files. The password is your father's birthday. Everything you need to know about why your mother did what she did is on that drive."
Without waiting for her reply, Julian turned and walked toward an unmarked federal vehicle parked at the mouth of the alley. He climbed inside, and within seconds, the car dissolved into the stream of late-night traffic, leaving Valeria completely alone in the shadows.
She stood there for a long time, the silence of the alley pressing down on her chest. Slowly, with shaking fingers, she reached into her cream handbag, her fingertips brushing against the cold metal casing of the flash drive. A morbid curiosity, mixed with an overwhelming need for closure, finally overrode her fear.
She hailed a passing cab, giving the driver the address of a quiet, 24-hour diner on the edge of the Upper East Side. The ride was silent, the city rushing past in a blur of indifference. When she arrived, she slid into a corner booth, ordered a black coffee she had no intention of drinking, and pulled a small, sleek laptop out of her handbag.
She plugged the flash drive into the USB port. The screen flickered, demanding a password. Valeria stared at the blinking cursor, took a deep, steadying breath, and typed in her father's birthday.
May you like
The folder unlocked instantly. The first file that popped up wasn't a financial ledger or a list of offshore accounts. It was a scanned, handwritten journal entry written in her mother’s immaculate cursive, dated twenty-five years ago.
Valeria clicked to open it, and as she began to read the first sentence, the blood drained entirely from her face.
