Page 141 of Veil of Lies

I booted my search program and added some new parameters. If Mateo Silva had any properties in the area, I’d hopefully find them. The problem was it might take a while.

A couple more hours passed. Brax wore a few more holes in the carpet with his endless pacing and Harley’s constant questions drove me nuts. My eyes burned and my head throbbed thanks to all the energy drinks I was guzzling to try and stay awake.

Delilah: Your friend Mr. Silva took a private jet from Indianapolis to Mexico two hours after Stella went missing.

Me: Why have you only just found this?

Delilah: The manifest was in the name of a shell company.

Me: I’m searching for properties, but there’s nothing. What’s the company name?

Delilah: Sand Inc.

I pushed the name through my search program and waited. It took 15 minutes for something to pop up.

Me: Bingo. The company owns an estate 50k outside Matamoros.

Me: Thanks D. I owe you one.

I pulled up Norcross’s number on my phone and put it on speaker. “I found something.”

“What?”

“Silva owns an estate not too far from Matamoros. Lily Walker flew to Mexico earlier today. I feel like there’s a connection.”

“You know we’ve been looking for something on this guy for years, but he’s made of goddamn Teflon, nothing sticks.” He grumbled. “We are aware of the connection with Mrs. Walker, but again, we have nothing.”

“But surely you can check this out?”

“Not without concrete evidence. The FBI has no jurisdiction in Mexico.”

“How about if he comes back to the US?”

“If there is sufficient evidence, we can arrest him. Why? Do you have something to tell me?”

My father still hadn’t been in touch about the files we found on the USB drive. “Not yet, but I’m hopeful.”

I ignored the glare Brax threw me. He was still not convinced Norcross was on our side, but we were running out of time. The longer we waited, the more likely Stella was to get hurt.

Mateo obviously thought she had something he wanted - likely the files on the USB drive were a part of that - which was why he took her. But sooner or later he would lose patience, and once that happened, who knew what he’d do next?

Norcross grumbled some more. “If you have something, kid, I need to know about it.”

“I’ll let you know when I do,” I told him before hanging up.

Chapter 107

Brax

My grandmother was a cold-hearted bitch. All my life, she’d treated me as something she could use for her own ends. It was a miracle my father was a warm and loving man. His only fault was his inability to stand up to her demands. The one and only time he’d gone against her wishes was when he refused to take a seat in the family business. Instead, he’d forged his own path, using the money from his inheritance to start his own company.

There was more than enough money for us to live a comfortable life, well away from the toxic influence of my grandmother, but my mother was not satisfied with that.

Unlike my father, Mom didn’t understand the value of hard work. Work was something other people did. She preferred to spend her days enjoying the perks of Dad’s privileged background: shopping, having lunch at the country club, working out with her personal trainer, and drinking.

There was not enough money in the world to make my mother happy. As far as she was concerned, birthing me and my sisters entitled her to anything she wanted. I was my father’s son and heir; my sisters were the ‘spares’. She’d done her duty.

In the beginning, Dad’s business was successful. Dad was an artist at heart. He had a real talent for crafting furniture, the kind of pieces people paid a lot of money for.

---