Chapter 16 - The Two Conspiracies
The answer came from Kessler.
Under federal protection, he agreed to a formal proffer.
Rachel summarized it carefully for Mateo.
“Sebastian and Vale stopped working together three years ago.”
“Why?”
“Rivergate profits.”
Aurelio sat nearby, listening.
Of course money had split the men who once cooperated over murder.
Sebastian wanted the redevelopment completed.
Vale wanted to sell incriminating records to a foreign investment consortium and flee.
Each had blackmail material on the other.
Kessler had worked both sides.
Mateo rubbed his forehead.
“So who sent the threat at the river?”
“Kessler says not Vale.”
“Sebastian?”
“Kessler believes so.”
Aurelio looked up.
“But Sebastian needs me alive for the trust.”
Rachel nodded.
“Until recently.”
Rivergate had changed.
Three months earlier, Sebastian quietly restructured the company’s debt.
If Aurelio returned and challenged ownership, the entire financing arrangement could collapse.
Billions in loans could be called.
Sebastian faced personal guarantees.
His fortune was no longer merely threatened.
He could be ruined.
Marcus said, “Esperanza’s death removed the only adult witness protecting Aurelio. Sebastian probably decided the risk calculation changed.”
Aurelio hated being discussed as a calculation.
He stood.
“I’m going to school.”
Mateo blinked.
“What?”
“I’m supposed to start today.”
“With everything happening?”
“That’s why.”
Mateo almost objected.
Then stopped.
Aurelio needed a life that did not revolve around dead people.
He attended a private middle school under heavy protection.
He hated the blazer.
He liked science.
He punched nobody despite several opportunities.
At lunch, a boy asked whether he was “the dead billionaire kid.”
Aurelio replied, “Only before algebra.”
By the end of the day, he had made one friend, Noah Bennett, who cared far more about basketball than inheritance.
Mateo waited outside personally.
Aurelio climbed into the car.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“I know.”
“You have meetings.”
“I canceled them.”
Aurelio looked suspicious.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sick?”
Mateo smiled.
The relationship was changing through small choices, not revelations.
That evening it nearly ended.
Aurelio entered Mateo’s study looking for a charger.
He found an old letter in an open archive box.
From Elena.
Dated eight months before the fire.
Mateo, if you support Sebastian’s Rivergate vote tomorrow, I will consider it proof that you value control more than family.
Below it was Mateo’s handwritten draft response.
You are being irrational. If you cannot separate family from business, step off the board.
Aurelio read it twice.
Mateo entered.
His face changed.
“You weren’t supposed to see that without context.”
Aurelio laughed bitterly.
“Adults always say context when the words are bad.”
Mateo approached.
“I wrote it angry.”
“You voted against her?”
“Yes.”
“You helped Sebastian.”
“On that vote.”
“You told me you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know about the crimes.”
“But you knew she was fighting him.”
“Yes.”
Aurelio’s eyes filled.
“She asked you to believe her.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t.”
“No.”
The boy threw the letter down.
“Maybe Sebastian was right.”
“About what?”
“That you’re doing this because you feel guilty.”
Mateo said nothing.
“That’s why you want me here.”
“No.”
“You want to fix what you did to my mom.”
Mateo’s voice broke.
“At first? Maybe part of me did.”
Aurelio stepped backward.
“Wow.”
“But you are not Elena.”
“Don’t.”
“You are not a second chance with her.”
“Stop talking.”
“You’re Aurelio.”
The boy ran.
Security found him in the stairwell.
He refused to return to the penthouse.
Denise Harper came.
Aurelio asked to stay overnight at a supervised youth residence.
Mateo could legally insist otherwise.
He did not.
He let Aurelio choose.
At midnight, Mateo sat alone in the penthouse.
A message arrived.
From Aurelio.
Did my mom hate you when she died?
Mateo stared for a long time.
Then answered.
I don’t know. She had reasons to. I loved her anyway.
Three minutes passed.
Another message.
I’m still mad.
Mateo replied.
You should be.
The next morning Aurelio returned.
No apology.
No hug.
He placed his backpack beside the door.
Mateo looked at it.
“You’re staying?”
“For now.”
Mateo nodded.
“For now is enough.”
Then Marcus called.
Sebastian had summoned an emergency shareholder meeting.
Purpose:
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Remove Mateo Vargas as chief executive.
And challenge Aurelio Mendoza’s identity publicly before the entire company.
