"Miss Castillo, I have spent nineteen years cleaning up after your father.
I have drafted contracts, buried complaints, paid off people who asked too many questions, and looked the other way more times than I can count." He paused.
"I am sixty-three years old.
I have no family.
No savings.
Your father owns my career the same way he owns Marcus's."
Marcus spoke from the cot.
"Then why do you stay?"
Victor looked at him.
"Because the last person who tried to leave was threatened with the same blacklist I just handed you."
Elena sat down beside Marcus.
"Victor, if I go back, what happens?"
"You sign the contract.
You marry Alistair.
The Whitmore family injects capital into the Castillo Group.
The shell company stays buried.
Your father keeps his empire."
"And if I don't?"
"Marcus loses everything.
And your father finds another way." Victor paused.
"He always finds another way."
"Does he know about the email?"
"Not yet."
Elena stood up.
"Then we have a window."
"What are you planning?"
"I'm going home," Elena said.
"But not the way he expects."
Victor looked at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"I'll drive you myself."
Marcus stood up.
"Elena, you don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do.
If I don't face him, he'll never stop." She took his hand.
"You're coming with me."
"I can't walk into that house."
"You walked into his office two months ago.
You can walk into his house now."
---
The drive to the Castillo estate took forty minutes.
Elena sat in the back of the sedan with Marcus beside her.
Victor sat in the front.
Nobody spoke.
The gates were open when they arrived.
The house was lit from top to bottom, every window glowing.
The driveway was lined with white flowers.
Conrad Castillo stood in the foyer.
He was a tall man in his sixties, silver-haired, wearing a tailored suit.
He looked at Elena like a man inspecting a product that had been returned damaged.
"You're late," he said.
"I came as fast as I could, Father."
He looked at Marcus.
His lip curled.
"And you brought the help."
Marcus said nothing.
Conrad turned to Victor.
"Did she sign?"
"No, sir.
She did not."
Conrad's eyes went cold.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not signing anything until you answer one question," Elena said.
Conrad looked at her.
"You don't make demands in my house."
"Is Alistair Whitmore already married?"
The room went silent.
Conrad's face didn't move, but his hand tightened on the lapel of his jacket.
"Who told you that?"
"His wife.
She's alive, Father.
They never legally divorced."
"That annulment was handled years ago."
"By a court your company paid for.
The church never recognized it.
And the British government won't either, not when she's willing to testify."
Conrad stepped closer.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Then explain the payments to the Liechtenstein shell company."
Conrad's face went pale.
He looked at Victor.
Victor looked at the floor.
"Who gave you that information?" Conrad's voice was low now, dangerous.
"It doesn't matter who gave it to me.
What matters is that I have it.
And so does a lawyer I hired this afternoon.
Copies of everything are already in a secure location."
Conrad laughed.
It was a short, ugly sound.
"You think a few documents can bring me down?" He stepped closer.
"Alistair's wife signed a nondisclosure agreement five years ago.
She violates it, she loses everything she has left.
And those bank records?
Copies.
Inadmissible without the originals, which are locked in a vault that only I control."
Elena's stomach dropped.