Chapter 20 - The Unseen Board|
My heart hammered against my ribs as I stared at the initials at the bottom of the letter: V.M.
I picked up my phone with trembling fingers and called Rafi Ong immediately.
“Rafi,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Who is V.M.?”
There was a long, heavy silence on the other end of the line. I could hear Rafi typing rapidly on his keyboard.
“Mara... where did you hear that name?” Rafi asked, his tone suddenly dropping all its usual humor.
“I just received a letter,” I replied, reading the initials aloud. “It says my evidence against Dario Cruz froze their international accounts.”
Rafi exhaled sharply through his teeth.
“Mara, listen to me carefully,” Rafi warned, his voice dead serious. “Dario Cruz was just a small-time street collector. The man behind him—the man who controls the entire underground loan syndicate across the region—is Vincent Mercado.”
I froze. “Mercado?”
“Yes,” Rafi confirmed. “Vincent Mercado. The elder brother of your family lawyer... Julian Mercado.”
My breath hitched in my throat.
The room suddenly felt ice cold. My mind raced back through the past year—how smoothly Julian had handled my divorce, how easily he had obtained the secret financial files, how he always seemed to know my next move before I even made it.
Was Julian helping me... or was he setting up a much bigger trap?
At that exact moment, my office door swung open slowly.
Julian Mercado stepped into my office, wearing a dark custom suit, carrying a soft leather briefcase. He closed the door behind him and locked it with a quiet click.
He looked at me with a polite, calm smile—the same smile he wore the night my house was cleared.
May you like
“Mara,” Julian said smoothly, stepping toward my desk. “We need to talk about the second phase of our agreement.”
I sat still, my hand slowly creeping toward the silent alarm button under my desk, staring into the eyes of the man who held all my secrets.
