Chapter 6 - THE SILENT PARTNERI stared down at the signature line on the master syndicate contract, feeling the ground drop out from beneath my feet.
The name scrawled in neat, elegant cursive wasn't Adriana Hernández.
It was Valeria Solares.
My own sister.
"No," I breathed, stumbling backward until I bumped against a shelf of plastic pill bottles. "No, this has to be a mistake. Valeria doesn't even live in Querétaro anymore. She moved to Mexico City two years ago!"
Officer Ramírez stepped closer, shining his tactical flashlight directly onto the signature. He pulled out a forensic tablet, cross-referencing the handwriting with public registry files in seconds.
"Handwriting match is 98.4 percent, Mariana," Ramírez said, his voice laced with grim sympathy. "And look at the corporate entity funding this entire operation—Solares Bio-Tech Holdings. Registered out of a shell corporation in the Cayman Islands, with your sister listed as the primary managing director."
My mind fractured. Valeria—my sweet, quiet, seemingly successful older sister who worked in corporate public relations in the capital. The sister who always sent expensive birthday gifts to Mateo, who listened patiently on the phone whenever I complained about how hyperactive and exhausting raising a single-parent-style child could be while juggling two jobs.
She wasn't just a supportive sibling.
She was the financial architect and mastermind behind the entire child-drugging syndicate that Adriana was merely executing on the ground.
"She called me yesterday," I whispered, the memory hitting me like a physical blow. "Valeria called me while I was at work. She asked how Mateo was doing. She asked if he was still running around the house too much. She sounded so caring... but she was fishing for a status update on her test subject."
Esteban, still cuffed and standing near the steel vault door, let out a bitter, raspy laugh.
"You thought Adriana was the mastermind?" Esteban sneered, blood dripping from a tiny scratch on his cheek where he had resisted earlier. "Adriana was just the foot soldier. The muscle. The one willing to get her hands dirty mixing the batches in the kitchen. But Valeria? Valeria had the corporate connections, the pharmaceutical import channels, and the high-society clients who paid top dollar to keep their brats quiet during cocktail parties and board meetings."
"You sick bastards," I snarled, lunging toward Esteban before two police officers grabbed my arms and pulled me back. "You turned children into lab rats for profit!"
"For order, Mariana!" Esteban shouted back, his eyes wild with desperate justification. "Kids today are feral! Screens, sugar, zero discipline! We gave mothers peace of mind. We gave them manageable children. And the market in Querétaro was just the pilot phase. Valeria was preparing to expand nationwide into Mexico City and Monterrey next quarter!"
Ramírez silenced Esteban with a sharp strike to his shoulder, forcing him down against a metal chair.
"Where is Valeria right now?" Ramírez demanded.
Esteban grinned, showing stained teeth. "Too late, detective. She caught wind that the local precinct was sniffing around the pediatric prescriptions two hours ago. Her private jet lifted off from Querétaro Intercontinental Airport at 11:15 PM bound for a non-extradition zone in South America. By the time you get a federal red notice issued, she'll be sipping champagne in Buenos Aires."
My heart hammered against my ribs. I pulled out my phone with trembling fingers.
If Valeria was fleeing the country, she had to be using her personal phone—the one we had used to talk just yesterday.
"Give me your phone, Ramírez," I demanded.
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"Mariana, what are you doing?"
"She thinks I'm still the clueless, overwhelmed single mother who doesn't know anything," I said, a dangerous, cold resolve taking over every fiber of my being. "She doesn't know we found the vault. She doesn't know Mateo survived. If I call her right now... she might pick up."
