Chapter 9 - The Eighteenth Year
May 12th arrived with a clear, golden sunrise over Puget Sound.
It was our eighteenth birthday.
We spent the morning in the high-rise downtown office of the Salazar Trust Management Firm. The room was lined with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the blue waters of Elliott Bay, where giant ferries glided smoothly across the water toward Bainbridge Island.
Sitting around the long mahogany conference table were Uncle Samuel, Dr. Raul Mendoza, Officer Miller—who had since been promoted to Detective for her role in dismantling Ernest’s network—and three senior trust officers from our father's firm.
On the table sat two thick black leather folders stamped with gold foil letters: THE SALAZAR SISTERS TRUST.
"Happy birthday, girls," Uncle Samuel said, sliding the folders across the table toward us.
Inside were the official court documents certifying our full legal independence. The four-million-dollar principal trust, along with the recovered assets seized from Ernest's shell accounts, had been fully restored and merged into an independent foundation governed solely by Camila and me.
We were free.
Not just legally independent, but financially secure, physically safe, and completely unburdened by the dark shadows that had once filled the hallways of the Bellevue mansion.
"What are you going to do now?" Dr. Mendoza asked softly, sipping his morning coffee with a warm, proud smile.
Camila looked at me, a soft, radiant smile spreading across her face—a real smile that reached her eyes, lighting up her face in a way I hadn't seen since we were fourteen years old.
"First," Camila said, "we are selling the house in Bellevue. We're tearing down the walls, clearing the lot, and turning the property into a community youth crisis shelter named the Gabriel Salazar Center."
"And second?" Detective Miller asked.
I reached into my bag, pulling out two acceptance letters printed on heavy cream paper from Stanford University.
"We're going to college," I said. "Camila is studying pediatric medicine. And I'm studying forensic accounting."
May you like
Uncle Samuel let out a booming laugh, raising his coffee mug into the air. "To the Salazar sisters. The quiet one, and the brave one."
"We're both quiet," Camila corrected him gently, clinking her glass against his. "And we're both brave."
