Chapter 299: The Dark Secret

The room suddenly seemed much quieter.

Logan continued, his voice measured.

"I meant, he made him disappear. He hid him. Gave him a new identity. A new life. As far as the authorities were concerned, the man who committed the crime simply ceased to exist."

Leonard stared at his second son.

"Are you sure your information is correct?"

"I am."

"Then explain something to me." Suspicion hardened his voice. "Why would Artemio do that? Arnold Garces murdered his wife and son."

Logan hesitated. It was only for a second. But Leonard noticed.

"Why?" he repeated.

"Because Arnold Garces had something General Fuegerro wanted."

Leonard’s eyes narrowed.

"And what was that?"

Logan held his father’s gaze.

"Your daughter...my sister, Lara."

The name seemed to drain the air from the room.

"Lara?" Leonard and Liam uttered at the same time.

"When Artemio found Arnold, Lara wasn’t with him," Logan continued. "Arnold had hidden her somewhere. Somewhere even Grandpa and you, Dad could not find."

Leonard’s expression darkened.

"Why would Artemio want my daughter?"

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"No." Logan leaned back. "Maybe he wanted to play the hero. Maybe he thought rescuing a little girl would somehow make up for what happened."

"But Artemio wouldn’t shelter a fugitive."

"Exactly." Liam agreed.

The answer hung between them.

"That’s what everyone thought."

Leonard frowned.

"Then what happened?"

"Arnold disappeared."

"You just said Artemio helped him escape." Liam faced his brother, confusion flickered in his eyes.

"I said Artemio helped him disappear. There is a difference."

Logan reached for the documents on the table.

Leonard’s eyes remained fixed on him.

"How did you find out?"

"One of Arnold’s former subordinates told me."

Logan pushed a thick stack of documents across the desk.

Leonard picked them up and began reading. His frown deepened with every page.

"This is incomplete. It doesn’t prove Artemio helped Arnold evade the military."

"No."

Leonard looked up and held Logan’s gaze.

"Then what exactly are you trying to tell me?"

Logan’s expression changed.

"Arnold Garces is dead."

Liam, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because every trail ends." Logan answered briefly.

"That doesn’t mean he’s dead."

"No." Logan’s eyes dropped to the documents. "It means someone made certain there was nothing left to follow."

Liam exchanged a glance with his father.

"But I found this."

He pulled out a photograph. For several seconds, he didn’t hand it to them. Instead, he placed it facedown on the desk.

Leonard stared at it.

"What is that?"

Slowly, Logan turned the photograph over.

Leonard looked down. His face changed.

The man in the photograph was older. His hair was different. A thick beard covered most of his face, and a jagged scar ran along his cheek.

But the eyes—

Leonard knew those eyes. He had seen that face before. Not in an old military report. Not in the photographs of wanted men.

Somewhere much closer.

His gaze shifted to the photograph on his phone. Then back to the one on the table. For a moment, he couldn’t speak.

"Where did you get this?"

"From a police file."

Leonard’s fingers tightened around the edge of the photograph.

He looked again.

The resemblance was almost impossible to see.

Almost.

But once he noticed it, he couldn’t unsee it.

Especially the eyes.

Leonard’s breath caught.

He knew those eyes.

He had seen them before—years ago, across a crowded room, cold and merciless, staring down the barrel of a gun pointed at Madeline during Artemio’s son’s first birthday celebration.

The memory came back with startling clarity.

Those same eyes.

That same coldness.

Leonard’s fingers tightened around the photograph.

"That’s..."

His voice faltered.

Liam leaned closer, sensing the sudden change in his father.

"Who is he?"

Leonard didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

Logan’s voice broke the silence.

"Armand Reyes."

Silence.

Leonard slowly raised his eyes.

"No. He was twenty years younger in the military records. Different name. Different face. Different life."

Leonard looked at the photograph again.

Armand Reyes.

Larissa Reyes’ father.

The man who had died in the car accident.

The man whose name had appeared in their investigation only because of his connection to Lara.

And now—

Arnold Garces.

The fugitive who had supposedly disappeared twenty-one years ago.

Leonard’s voice dropped to a whisper.

"Arnold Garces and Armand Reyes..."

Logan nodded.

"Same man."

Leonard shot him a furious look.

"You could have started with that."

Logan gave a weak chuckle.

"I was trying to make things more interesting."

Leonard swatted the back of his head.

"Stop fooling around, you brat."

The humor vanished from Logan’s face.

Leonard was still staring at the photograph.

"If that’s true..." He swallowed. "Why?"

Neither son answered.

"Why did he take Lara? Why did he raise her as his own?"

Leonard’s voice cracked.

"Why didn’t he demand a ransom? Why didn’t he return her to us? She was innocent."

His hand trembled.

"And Artemio..."

He looked toward Logan.

"He really helped the man who killed his wife and son. Why?"

Logan’s expression became grim. He shook his head. He also had no answer.

"He was once my subordinate."

"We know." Liam replied

"And your friend, too."

Leonard fell silent.

"I don’t understand it either," Liam admitted as he leaned forward.

"Then maybe we’re looking at the wrong question."

Leonard looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe the question isn’t why Artemio helped Arnold."

Liam’s eyes moved to the photograph.

"Maybe we should be asking what Arnold had that made Artemio willing to protect him, despite what happened."

Nobody spoke.

Leonard slowly lowered himself into his chair.

His thoughts returned to Lara. His daughter. The little girl who had vanished from his life.

The woman who had returned years later under another family’s name.

He knew almost nothing about what had happened to her during those missing years.

Only fragments.

Too few to form a story.

Too many to ignore.

Leonard’s gaze drifted back to the photograph.

Then another thought surfaced.

"The car accident..." he said slowly. "What if it wasn’t an accident?"

Liam and Logan exchanged a glance.

They had both considered the possibility before, but never had enough reason to say it aloud.

Now, with everything they had uncovered, the thought suddenly seemed less far-fetched.

Leonard looked from one son to the other.

"Could there have been a conspiracy behind it?"

For a moment, neither answered.

Then Liam spoke, his voice quieter than before.

"Dad... what if it was an assassination attempt that went wrong?"

The room fell silent.

And for the first time, none of them were thinking about how Armand Reyes had died.

They were wondering why he and Larissa was in that route a year ago?