Chapter 11 - The Name on the Second Contract
I didn't open the door.
Emilia stood behind me.
Rodrigo had gone pale.
The woman outside knocked again.
“Mariana.”
Her voice was calm.
Almost gentle.
“Open the door.”
I looked at Rodrigo.
“You know her.”
He nodded.
“She won't hurt you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if she wanted you dead, she wouldn't knock.”
Emilia grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
I stepped away from the door.
“Lucía, leave.”
A laugh came from outside.
“You sound like your father.”
That sentence broke something inside me.
I opened the door.
A woman stood there.
She was older than me.
Elegant.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Her face carried the same shape as my father's.
My face.
She looked at me for several seconds.
Then she said:
“You really do look like him.”
“Why did you disappear?”
“Because your father wanted me dead.”
“That isn't true.”
“He told everyone I stole from him.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
I stared.
She smiled.
“But not for myself.”
I didn't understand.
She stepped inside.
Emilia blocked her.
“Stay where you are.”
Lucía looked at her.
“You're Emilia Cortés.”
“Yes.”
“Your father trusted mine.”
Emilia's face changed.
“How do you know?”
“Because your father helped mine.”
She placed a folder on the table.
“Everything you believe about this family is incomplete.”
I opened it.
Inside were bank records.
But these weren't transfers from my trust.
They were transfers into it.
Millions of pesos.
Dating back decades.
I looked at Lucía.
“My father was laundering money?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He was protecting stolen assets.”
“Stolen from whom?”
“People who had stolen them first.”
She sat down.
“Your father discovered a network involving construction companies, shell corporations, corrupt officials, and fake property transfers.”
I stared.
“Why involve Rodrigo?”
“I didn't.”
“Then who did?”
She looked at him.
“Varela.”
Rodrigo lowered his eyes.
Lucía continued.
“Varela recruited Rodrigo because he was close to your family.”
“Close?”
“He became your husband.”
The words hurt.
Even though I already knew.
Lucía pulled out another document.
“This is the contract that started it.”
I read it.
Rodrigo's name.
Varela's name.
And another.
Ofelia Cárdenas.
But there was a fourth signature.
Lucía Salgado.
I looked up.
“You signed this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to protect your father.”
“Then why did he accuse you?”
“Because he didn't know the full plan.”
“What plan?”
She leaned closer.
“Your father and I were working together.”
I stared at her.
“You were?”
“Yes.”
“Then why disappear?”
“Because the night he died, I was the only person who could expose them.”
“What happened?”
Lucía's eyes filled with tears.
“I arrived too late.”
She opened another file.
Inside was a photograph.
My father.
Alive.
Taken hours before his death.
Standing beside Varela.
Beside him was Ofelia.
And behind them was Rodrigo.
Young.
Terrified.
I looked at Rodrigo.
“You told me you tried to stop them.”
“I did.”
“Then why were you there?”
“Because I was trapped.”
Lucía answered for him.
“Varela threatened his family.”
I looked at her.
“And you?”
“I made the same mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Trusting that people would stop once they had enough money.”
She placed another document on the table.
“This is why they need Renata's inheritance.”
I read it.
The assets my father had protected weren't ordinary investments.
They were controlling shares.
If Renata inherited them, the companies Varela had been manipulating would lose control.
My daughter wasn't just an heir.
She was the legal key to dismantling the entire structure.
I looked at Lucía.
“What happens now?”
“They will try one final move.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“What move?”
She looked at Rodrigo.
“Your husband knows.”
I turned to him.
“What are they going to do?”
He looked terrified.
“Tomorrow morning, Varela will petition the court.”
“For what?”
“Emergency guardianship.”
My blood ran cold.
“Of Renata?”
“Yes.”
“On what grounds?”
“Your alleged medical instability.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So they will claim I'm unfit.”
Rodrigo nodded.
“They'll use the forged documents.”
I looked at Emilia.
“Can they win?”
“Not if we expose the fraud.”
“But we need the original records.”
Lucía stood.
“I know where they are.”
“Where?”
She walked toward the door.
“In the place your father died.”
Then she stopped.
“Mariana.”
May you like
“What?”
“The records are hidden under the hospital floor.”
