PART 6: THE POISONED LEDGER
Three thousand miles away, in the penthouse suite of the Four Seasons in downtown Miami, Mateo stared at his reflection in the floor-to-ceiling glass.
He looked hollowed out.
Behind him, Julian Vance poured two glasses of twenty-year-old scotch.
Vance was tall, silver-haired, and wore a custom suit that cost more than Mateo’s remaining bank balance.
"You look nervous, Mateo," Vance purred, sliding a crystal tumbler across the polished mahogany desk.
"Alejandro doesn't leave loose ends," Mateo muttered, his hands trembling slightly as he picked up the drink. "If he finds out I gave you the access codes to Camila’s old encryption keys, he won't call the police."
Vance laughed, a dry, abrasive sound.
"Alejandro is trying to play the gentleman philanthropist. He has a wife. He has a child. Men with families have glass jaws."
Vance pressed a button on his remote, illuminating a massive digital map of the Atlantic trade routes.
"By tomorrow morning, we will freeze his automated shipping lanes. His clients will lose millions every hour."
"And Camila?" Mateo asked, a bitter mixture of regret and jealousy twisting his features.
"Camila will watch the empire she married into crumble," Vance said coldly.
"And then, my friend, we will see how much loyalty remains when the bank accounts hit zero."
What neither man realized was that Camila had designed those encryption keys herself three years prior.
Back at the estate, Camila sat in front of three glowing monitors in Alejandro’s private study.
Her fingers flew across the mechanical keyboard with terrifying speed.
"They just attempted the first firewall bypass," she announced, her eyes reflecting the scrolling lines of green code.
Alejandro stood over her shoulder, a cup of black tea in his hand.
"Did they use Mateo’s old access credentials?"
"Exactly as we predicted," Camila smiled, a sharp, brilliant expression that made her look like a queen heading into battle.
"I rerouted their entry point into a mirror server."
"Meaning?"
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"Meaning Julian Vance thinks he just downloaded our client ledger," she said, turning her chair to face her husband.
"In reality, he just downloaded a tracking worm that is currently cataloging every illegal offshore account he owns."
