CHAPTER 7
Alexander did not speak.
Not immediately.
The room had become so quiet that everyone could hear the ticking of the old clock in the hallway.
Finally, he looked at Evelyn.
"You're asking us to believe that a group of wealthy families can simply decide whether someone lives or disappears?"
Evelyn met his gaze without blinking.
"I'm not asking you to believe it."
"I'm telling you what I've spent twenty years trying to stop."
Sofia's hands began to shake.
"So... they're going to kill me?"
Evelyn slowly shook her head.
"Not if they can avoid it."
Everyone looked confused.
"What does that mean?" Elena asked.
Evelyn sighed.
"The Council doesn't create scandals."
"They create accidents."
Silence.
She continued.
"Car crashes."
"Financial ruin."
"Medical negligence."
"Disappearances."
"Suicides that aren't suicides."
"They erase people without leaving fingerprints."
A chill spread through the room.
Javier suddenly stood up.
"No."
"My mother wouldn't..."
Evelyn interrupted him.
"Wouldn't what?"
He hesitated.
"She wouldn't kill someone."
Evelyn reached into her folder.
Without a word, she handed him another photograph.
Javier looked down.
His face immediately lost all color.
The photograph showed a smiling young couple standing beside a luxury yacht.
Written on the back was a short note.
Matthew and Claire Jensen.
Operation closed — June 2012.
Below it was a newspaper clipping.
LOCAL COUPLE KILLED IN BOATING ACCIDENT.
Javier whispered,
"I remember this..."
"My mother donated money to their memorial fund."
Evelyn nodded.
"She organized it."
"No..."
Javier staggered backward.
"No..."
His breathing became uneven.
"I was there."
"I met their son."
Evelyn looked at him sadly.
"The boy inherited everything."
Javier's eyes widened.
"...and then?"
"The trustees managed his estate."
"Who were the trustees?"
Evelyn answered quietly.
"Three companies."
Alexander already knew the answer.
He finished the sentence.
"Owned by the Velasco Holding Group."
Evelyn nodded.
For the first time in his life...
Javier cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
He simply sat down and buried his face in his hands.
"My whole life..."
"I thought my mother built businesses."
Evelyn answered gently.
"She built control."
Alexander suddenly noticed something inside the folder.
A small sealed envelope.
"This wasn't in the other documents."
Evelyn nodded.
"It was meant only for Sofia."
Sofia hesitated before opening it.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
No signature.
No greeting.
Only one sentence.
Your biological mother refused the Council too.
Sofia froze.
The room seemed to stop moving.
She slowly looked up.
"My..."
"...biological mother?"
Elena's face turned white.
Alexander immediately stood.
"What are you talking about?"
Sofia whispered,
"I was adopted."
Everyone stared at her.
She had never told them.
Not because it was a secret.
Simply because it had never seemed important.
Until now.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"I hoped they wouldn't use that."
Alexander's voice hardened.
"You knew?"
She nodded.
"I knew."
"Then explain."
A long silence followed.
Finally Evelyn spoke.
"Twenty-seven years ago..."
"A young woman named Isabella Marino married into one of the Council families."
"She became pregnant."
"Just like Sofia."
Sofia felt her heart pounding.
"What happened?"
"She discovered what the Council really was."
"And she ran."
Elena whispered,
"They caught her..."
Evelyn looked down.
"No."
"They caught the husband."
Everyone stared at her.
"The husband helped her escape."
Alexander frowned.
"Why?"
"Because he loved her."
"And because he realized too late what his own family had become."
Sofia could barely breathe.
"What happened to Isabella?"
Evelyn didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
She handed Sofia one final photograph.
A young woman.
Dark hair.
Bright smile.
Holding a newborn baby wrapped in a pink blanket.
Written across the bottom:
Mother and daughter.
Three days before separation.
Sofia's hands trembled violently.
"The baby..."
Evelyn nodded.
"Was you."
Tears filled Sofia's eyes.
"No..."
"My adoption papers said..."
"They were altered."
Alexander suddenly understood.
He looked directly at Evelyn.
"So Carmen didn't choose Sofia because of her apartment."
Evelyn slowly nodded.
"No."
"That was only the surface."
Alexander finished the thought.
"She chose her because Sofia escaped the Council once before..."
"...without anyone realizing it."
Evelyn's silence confirmed everything.
At that exact moment...
Deep inside the underground headquarters beneath Carmen's tower...
The Chairwoman stood before six other Council members.
An elderly man slowly closed a leather file.
"The girl has learned the truth."
Another member asked,
"What are your recommendations?"
Carmen answered without emotion.
"Containment is no longer possible."
The oldest member in the room spoke calmly.
"Then we move to Protocol Black."
Even Carmen looked at him.
"Protocol Black hasn't been used in decades."
"No."
The old man replied.
"It hasn't been necessary."
He stood.
Every other Council member rose with him.
Then he said the words that made even Carmen fall silent.
"Recover the descendant."
"If recovery fails..."
He paused.
Looking directly at Carmen.
"...erase every person who now knows the truth."
Across the table...
Seven Council members silently voted.
One by one...
Seven black cards were placed onto the table.
The decision was unanimous.
May you like
And somewhere across the city, completely unaware that their fate had just been sealed...
Alexander's family was preparing for a fight against an enemy that no longer intended to leave any witnesses alive.
