Chapter 6 - Renata Arrives
Ofelia had submitted the document herself.
She had signed as a witness.
I left the notary's office shaking with anger.
Emilia met me outside.
“Did you get copies?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I handed them over.
She read quickly.
“This is enough to challenge the filing.”
“Not enough to expose the whole scheme.”
“I know.”
Gabriel arrived ten minutes later.
He looked at the documents.
Then at me.
“They're getting desperate.”
“How do you know?”
“They've accelerated.”
“Why?”
“Because Renata was born.”
I looked at my daughter sleeping in her car seat.
Gabriel continued.
“Your daughter's inheritance changed the timeline.”
“What inheritance?”
He handed me another document.
My father had created an investment account in Renata's name.
It contained shares.
Property rights.
And a trust distribution scheduled for her eighteenth birthday.
Rodrigo couldn't touch it.
Unless he obtained legal authority.
That was why they needed my signature.
I finally understood the message.
After the birth, they wanted me tired.
Confused.
Dependent.
They wanted to present paperwork as routine.
But they had made one mistake.
They assumed I was alone.
I wasn't.
I had Emilia.
Gabriel.
My father's records.
And now I had evidence.
That evening, Rodrigo came home.
He stood in the doorway holding flowers.
“You look beautiful.”
I almost laughed.
“You left me in labor.”
“I came back.”
“After Renata was born.”
“I was traveling.”
“With your mother.”
“She needed me.”
I looked at him.
“More than I did?”
He didn't answer.
His eyes moved toward the baby.
“Can I hold her?”
I stepped aside.
He picked her up.
For a moment, he looked like the father I once believed he would become.
Then his phone buzzed.
He glanced at it.
I watched his expression.
Fear.
Only for a second.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
I smiled.
“Who was it?”
“Work.”
He walked away.
I waited.
Then I said:
“Rodrigo.”
He turned.
“Yes?”
“Did you know my father?”
His face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
“Of course.”
“Before our wedding?”
“I met him.”
“When?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I found a photograph.”
His jaw tightened.
“What photograph?”
“Of you.”
Silence.
“With RC Desarrollos.”
He placed Renata in the crib.
“Mariana, you're confused.”
“No.”
“You've just given birth.”
“I know exactly what I saw.”
He stepped toward me.
“Who has been filling your head with this?”
“My father.”
He froze.
I smiled.
“He left records.”
Rodrigo's face went pale.
Then he laughed.
“You're bluffing.”
“No.”
He stared at me.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Hello?”
I watched him listen.
His expression became darker.
He turned away.
When he hung up, he looked at me.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
“Go on.”
“He wasn't the man you think he was.”
I felt a chill.
“What does that mean?”
Rodrigo stepped closer.
“He had secrets.”
“So did you.”
He stared at me.
Then he walked out of the room.
I waited until he was gone.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Gabriel.
Do not confront him again.
Then another.
I found the original trust agreement.
I opened it.
There was a clause I'd never seen.
A clause my father had added one month before his death.
It said that if anyone attempted to fraudulently obtain control of the trust, ownership would immediately transfer into a protected structure.
And the protected structure had a beneficiary.
Me.
But underneath my name was another.
Renata.
I stared.
Then I saw the final page.
There was a handwritten note from my father.
Mariana, if Rodrigo ever discovers this, he will come for the house first.
I looked around.
The house suddenly felt unfamiliar.
Because Rodrigo had keys.
He knew every room.
Every safe.
May you like
Every document.
And somewhere downstairs, I heard the front door lock click...
