Chapter 6 - Marcus Chose Rachel Before Sophie
The investigation moved carefully.
Rachel did not want theories treated as facts.
Neither did Danielle.
Phone records eventually provided the first solid answer.
Marcus and Vincent had communicated for nearly three years.
Rachel had dated Marcus for two.
Their messages from before the relationship mentioned “Morales.”
One message from Vincent read:
Make sure she’s Luis’s daughter first.
Rachel stopped reading.
She handed the phone to Danielle.
“I need a minute.”
Ethan remained across the room.
He did not touch her.
Did not tell her to calm down.
Did not promise to fix everything.
Rachel appreciated him for that.
Later, she continued.
Marcus had approached her partly because Vincent believed Luis left
behind something connected to the missing 2003 shipment.
Not money.
A notebook.
Luis kept meticulous handwritten mileage logs.
Anthony Russo feared those logs could prove the truck was redirected.
For years, Vincent searched for them.
Then he learned Luis’s daughter still lived in Los Angeles.
Marcus began dating Rachel.
At first, the messages treated her like a target.
Months later, their tone changed.
Marcus told Vincent:
Drop it. She doesn’t know anything.
Vincent replied:
Then search her father’s boxes and leave.
Marcus did not.
He stayed.
Rachel felt no comfort from that.
Maybe Marcus developed real feelings.
He still entered her life under false pretenses.
After Sophie was born, Vincent pressured him again.
Luis’s notebook had become more dangerous because Callahan Business &
Fiduciary was preparing a historical audit of old warehouse operations.
Marcus searched Rachel’s apartment.
He found nothing.
Then he began using Rachel’s identity for credit accounts.
Some money went to him.
Some went to Vincent.
Rachel discovered the fraud and left.
The forged custody papers came later.
Danielle asked the question Rachel feared.
“Why would Marcus want Sophie?”
The answer appeared in another message.
Vincent believed Rachel would trade anything for her daughter.
Including whatever Luis left behind.
Sophie was leverage.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Ethan stood and walked to the window.
His voice was quiet.
“Vincent is done.”
Rachel looked at him sharply.
“Meaning?”
Ethan turned.
“Meaning he’s fired, his access is terminated, evidence is preserved,
and law enforcement gets everything.”
No threat.
May you like
No disappearing cousin.
Rachel released a breath she had not realized she was holding.
