The surname appeared everywhere.
Not once.
Not twice.
Everywhere.
Elena sat at the long table inside the hidden platform.
Boxes surrounded her.
Documents covered every open space.
Contracts.
Permits.
Shipping records.
Letters.
Inspection reports.
Everything carried the same surname.
Not her father's.
Not any name she recognized.
The same woman appeared again and again.
Alexander stood beside a stack of files.
He opened another folder.
The surname appeared there too.
Julian looked up from across the room.
"Another one."
Mateo laughed without humor.
"That's twelve boxes in a row."
Elena rubbed her forehead.
The deeper they searched, the worse it became.
Every original permit pointed back to the same person.
Every route approval.
Every land agreement.
Every planning document.
Everything.
Alexander placed another file on the table.
"This one is older."
Elena opened it.
Twenty-nine years old.
The signature sat at the bottom.
The same surname.
