PART 26: THE WOMAN IN BLACK<\/p>\n
The name on the final page was Elena.<\/p>\n
My mother.<\/p>\n
For several seconds, I could not breathe.<\/p>\n
I read it again, certain grief had distorted the letters.<\/p>\n
But the name remained.<\/p>\n
ELENA VARGAS.<\/p>\n
The woman who had sat beside me at Ernesto\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
The woman who had held my hand while the coffin was lowered.<\/p>\n
The woman who had spent fifteen years blaming Ricardo for destroying our family.<\/p>\n
Julian snatched the document from me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has to be fake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel said nothing.<\/p>\n
That frightened me more than the accusation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
He lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
The files revealed that my mother had purchased the poison through a false company three weeks before Ernesto died. She had also transferred a large sum of money to Dr. Keller the morning after he signed the fraudulent death certificate.<\/p>\n
But one question remained.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Ernesto\u2019s will had left her almost nothing.<\/p>\n
She had gained no property.<\/p>\n
No company.<\/p>\n
No obvious fortune.<\/p>\n
Then Mr. Morris found a sealed attachment inside the briefcase.<\/p>\n
A private agreement signed by Ernesto two days before his death.<\/p>\n
It stated that if anything happened to him, control of a hidden trust worth eighty million dollars would pass to Isabella.<\/p>\n
Not my mother.<\/p>\n
Isabella.<\/p>\n
That was when the truth became clear.<\/p>\n
My mother had not helped Isabella disappear to protect her.<\/p>\n
She had hidden her to control the inheritance.<\/p>\n
For fifteen years, Isabella had been alive\u2014but perhaps not free.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I answered with trembling hands.<\/p>\n
At first, there was only breathing.<\/p>\n
Then a woman whispered my name.<\/p>\n
A voice I had not heard since childhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t hang up.\u201d<\/p>\n
My knees nearly gave way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsabella?\u201d<\/p>\n
She began to cry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t kill Ernesto. Mom did.\u201d<\/p>\n
A door slammed somewhere behind her.<\/p>\n
Isabella gasped.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows you found the files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then another voice entered the call.<\/p>\n
Calm.<\/p>\n
Familiar.<\/p>\n
My mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me the phone, Isabella.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line went silent for three seconds.<\/p>\n
Then my mother spoke directly to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were never supposed to learn the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
A scream erupted in the background.<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Seconds later, a photograph arrived.<\/p>\n
Isabella was tied to a chair.<\/p>\n
Behind her stood my mother, dressed entirely in black.<\/p>\n
And beneath the photograph were six words:<\/p>\n
COME HOME IF YOU WANT HER ALIVE.<\/p>\n
PART 26: THE WOMAN IN BLACK The name on the final page was Elena. My mother. For several seconds, I could not breathe. I read it again, certain grief had … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3885,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3848\/revisions\/3885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}