Chapter 12 - Ofelia's Secret
We arrived at the old hospital before sunrise.
The building had been renovated twice.
But the basement remained.
Gabriel found the original maintenance plans.
There was a sealed room beneath the old records department.
Inside, we found a metal box.
The lock was broken.
The contents were gone.
Except for one envelope.
My father's handwriting.
I opened it.
Mariana,
If they ever come looking here, they already know too much.
The truth isn't in this building.
It's with the person you trusted least.
I looked at Emilia.
“Ofelia.”
We returned home.
Rodrigo was waiting.
He looked exhausted.
“Where were you?”
“Finding the truth.”
He looked at Lucía.
“You came back.”
“Yes.”
“I thought you were dead.”
Lucía smiled sadly.
“I wanted you to think that.”
Rodrigo sat down.
“I should have told her.”
“You should have told her years ago.”
He looked at me.
“I was afraid.”
“So was everyone.”
I placed the envelope on the table.
“My father says the truth is with the person I trusted least.”
Rodrigo looked at Ofelia's name.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
“What does that mean?”
He shook his head.
“My mother had another life.”
Lucía spoke.
“She wasn't always Ofelia Cárdenas.”
I stared.
“What?”
“She changed her name.”
“To what?”
Lucía opened a folder.
Inside was an old identity document.
The name wasn't Ofelia.
It was Ofelia Salgado.
My father's sister.
My blood ran cold.
“No.”
Lucía nodded.
“She is your father's sister too.”
I looked at Rodrigo.
“You married your cousin?”
He shook his head rapidly.
“No.”
Lucía explained.
“Ofelia was adopted into another family when she was young. Rodrigo isn't related to the Salgados by blood.”
I struggled to process it.
Then everything became clear.
Ofelia had been involved with my father long before Rodrigo met me.
She had access.
Knowledge.
Motive.
But there was another document.
A marriage certificate.
Ofelia had married Rodrigo's father under another name.
She had hidden her identity.
Why?
Because my father had cut her out of the family trust.
She wanted revenge.
But she didn't act alone.
She had recruited Varela.
And eventually Rodrigo.
I looked at Rodrigo.
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“After we married.”
“And you stayed?”
“She threatened you.”
Lucía interrupted.
“She also threatened me.”
I turned.
“With what?”
“Your father's final evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Lucía's face became grim.
“She claimed to have destroyed it.”
“She didn't.”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
Lucía looked at me.
“Your father gave it to me.”
My heart raced.
“Then where is it?”
She reached inside her bag.
But before she could answer, the front door burst open.
Police entered.
“Mariana Salgado?”
“Yes.”
“You're being served with an emergency guardianship petition.”
My heart stopped.
A second officer stepped forward.
“And there's a complaint alleging financial fraud.”
I looked at Emilia.
She remained calm.
“Who filed it?”
The officer handed me the papers.
I read the name.
Rodrigo Cárdenas.
I turned toward him.
He looked horrified.
“I didn't.”
The officer frowned.
“It was submitted electronically using your credentials.”
Rodrigo grabbed his phone.
Someone had hacked his account.
Then Emilia noticed something.
“Mariana.”
“What?”
She pointed at the final page.
The signature wasn't Rodrigo's.
It was mine.
Again.
But beneath it was a second signature.
One we had never seen before.
And beside that signature was a name:
Lucía Salgado.
Lucía stepped backward.
May you like
“I didn't sign that.”
Then the lights went out...
