Chapter 11 - The Security Footage Leo Forgot to DestroyThey leaked the story carefully.
Not through newspapers.
Through one person Nico knew Leo still trusted.
By morning, rumor spread that Kora Bell had recovered something from Victor Rivas belonging to Saint Jude’s Chapel.
Leo reacted exactly as expected.
He sent people.
But he also made a mistake.
He visited Vale Urban Demolition himself.
Olivia obtained traffic camera footage.
Gino tracked the car.
Mateo watched remotely.
Kora watched him.
“You hate sitting here.”
“Yes.”
“Doctor’s orders.”
“I don’t respect those.”
“You respected mine.”
“You’re scarier.”
She smiled.
Then Gino called.
“We have movement.”
The demolition office sat inside an abandoned industrial complex.
Leo entered at 3:17 p.m.
At 3:41 he carried three storage drives outside.
He placed them in his car.
One fell.
Leo didn’t notice.
A city street camera captured everything.
Gino recovered it ten minutes later.
The drive contained backups.
Hundreds of files.
Financial records.
Payments.
Security footage.
Audio recordings.
One folder was labeled BELL.
Kora stared at it.
Mateo asked, “Ready?”
“No.”
She clicked anyway.
The first video showed her mother entering a parking garage eighteen months earlier.
Dominico stood beside a car.
Leo was there too.
Elena confronted them.
There was no audio.
But she held a folder.
Leo grabbed it.
Elena walked away.
A second video showed her car leaving.
Another vehicle followed.
Vale Urban Demolition.
Kora stopped the video.
Her hands shook.
Mateo reached toward her.
Then stopped before touching.
“May I?”
She looked at him.
Then nodded.
He took her hand.
Nothing romantic.
Nothing dramatic.
Just human contact.
Kora squeezed once.
They continued.
The next file was audio.
Dominico’s voice.
“She knows too much.”
Leo answered.
“What do you want me to do?”
A pause.
Dominico said:
“What should have been done twenty years ago.”
Kora closed her eyes.
Her mother had not died in an accident.
There was finally proof.
Then another file appeared.
Dated three days before the wedding.
Leo’s voice again.
“The bride goes with him.”
A second voice replied.
“Dominico said the Rivas target is enough.”
Leo laughed.
“You don’t understand. Kora is the bigger problem.”
Mateo turned toward her.
The bigger problem.
Not the disposable bride.
Not the harmless baker’s daughter.
Kora.
Because she carried her mother’s truth.
And because Leo had become afraid of what she might remember.
The final video showed the chapel.
Leo placing a silver lighter on the altar two hours before the ceremony.
Not because he needed it to ignite anything.
Because he wanted a souvenir.
Mateo stared at the screen.
“We have him.”
Olivia shook her head.
“We have enough for an investigation.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
She looked at Kora.
“But now we can make this public.”
Kora’s eyes remained on the screen.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Mateo frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if Dominico knows we have everything, he’ll destroy whatever is still inside locker seventeen.”
Mateo understood.
“The chapel first.”
Kora nodded.
That night they prepared to return to the place where both had almost died.
But when they arrived at Saint Jude’s, they discovered someone had reached the ruins first.
May you like
Locker seventeen was already open.
And there was fresh blood on the floor.
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