Chapter 5 - THE DOCUMENTS UNDER THE FLOOR
Teresa sat at the kitchen table for nearly an hour before she began telling me the truth.
Or part of it.
She said Martin had approached her six months earlier.
He claimed federal investigators were preparing charges against Salazar Freight.
He showed her financial records.
Photographs.
Copies of contracts.
Some were real.
Others, she now admitted, she had never verified.
“He told me you'd go to prison,” she whispered.
I stared.
“And you believed him?”
She nodded.
“Because I knew there were things you weren't telling me.”
I looked away.
That part hurt because it was true.
Teresa continued.
Martin said the only way to protect Chloe was to move assets into a trust.
He convinced her to sign documents.
Then introduced her to Calvin Rourke.
Rourke offered to purchase the terminals before the government could freeze them.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Teresa began crying.
“Because Martin said you'd stop me.”
I stared.
“Of course I would.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Then I asked the question that mattered most.
“Why did you throw away my clothes?”
Teresa looked down.
“I thought you were going to be arrested.”
“And you decided I wouldn't need them?”
She wiped her face.
“Martin said they would seize personal property. He said I should prepare the house.”
I stared.
“Did he tell you to send Chloe away?”
She nodded.
My chest tightened.
“Teresa.”
“I thought I was protecting her.”
“You frightened her.”
Teresa began sobbing.
“I know.”
I stood.
“Did you know about the warrant?”
She nodded.
“Martin said it was coming Friday.”
“Did you ever see it?”
“No.”
I stared at her.
“Then you didn't know. You believed him.”
She looked devastated.
I wanted to shout.
I wanted to demand how she could trust Martin more than her husband.
But I had spent years making myself difficult to question.
I'd told Teresa that certain things were better left unknown.
I'd built a marriage with locked doors.
And someone had walked through them.
Still, that didn't excuse her choices.
She had signed documents behind my back.
Helped arrange a sale.
Allowed a stranger into our home.
And prepared Chloe for my disappearance without telling me.
I looked at her.
“Where are the original documents?”
Teresa hesitated.
“In my study.”
“Show me.”
She led me upstairs.
Opened a drawer.
Removed a folder.
Inside were copies of the trust amendments and sale agreements.
Then she knelt beside a bookcase.
Lifted a loose floorboard.
And pulled out a small metal box.
I stared.
“What is that?”
She opened it.
Inside were cash bundles.
A second phone.
And a flash drive.
I looked at her.
“Teresa?”
Her face crumpled.
“Martin told me to keep them safe.”
I stared at the money.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where did it come from?”
She whispered:
“Calvin.”
I stepped backward.
The room seemed to tilt.
Because whatever Teresa believed she was doing, she had accepted money from the man trying to acquire my company.
I called Daniel.
He arrived forty minutes later.
Teresa gave him the documents voluntarily.
We arranged for the materials to be preserved and turned over appropriately.
As Daniel examined the flash drive, his expression changed.
“Dominic.”
I looked up.
“What?”
He turned the laptop toward me.
A folder appeared.
Its name was simple.
SALAZAR — FINAL REMOVAL.
Inside were photographs of my truck.
My office.
My daily route.
And Chloe's school.
Teresa covered her mouth.
I stared at the screen.
The plan wasn't only about taking my company.
May you like
Someone had been studying how to take me.
And they had been watching my daughter.
