Chapter 4 - The Night Mauricio Disappeared
Mauricio stared at Elena's hands.
She saw his expression and immediately released the handles.
“What?”
He turned the phone over.
“Nothing.”
Her face changed.
“You just received something.”
“Yes.”
“And now you're looking at me differently.”
Mauricio said nothing.
Elena took a step back.
“If someone told you something about me, ask me.”
The directness disarmed him.
He showed her the message.
Elena read it.
Then looked at him.
“You think this means me?”
“You push my chair.”
“So does your therapist. Augusto does sometimes. The driver has.”
Mauricio nodded.
“You're right.”
“But you thought of me first.”
“Yes.”
That hurt her.
He saw it.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't apologize for being suspicious when someone is deliberately making you suspicious.”
Mauricio studied her.
“You aren't offended?”
“I am.”
That almost made him laugh.
“But being offended doesn't make the message less strange.”
She returned the phone.
“Are you going?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Mauricio raised an eyebrow.
“You don't get to order me around.”
“Apparently somebody needs to.”
He smiled despite himself.
“You realize that's exactly what I accused everyone else of doing.”
“Then make your own decision. Just make a better one.”
She walked toward the door.
“Elena.”
She stopped.
“Come with me.”
The hotel was forty minutes away.
Mauricio took his accessible sedan with a driver he trusted, but instructed the driver to remain outside.
Elena accompanied him.
The hotel lobby was nearly empty.
Valentina wasn't there.
At reception, Mauricio showed her photograph.
The clerk recognized her.
“She checked out this morning.”
“Was she alone?”
The clerk hesitated.
“Sir, I can't—”
Mauricio placed his business card down.
“This is about my safety.”
The clerk studied him.
“She was alone when she checked in.”
“And when she left?”
“A man picked her up.”
“Description?”
“Older. Gray hair.”
Mauricio and Elena exchanged a glance.
Augusto had gray hair.
“Anything else?”
“He drove a black sedan.”
That described half the cars in São Paulo.
They went upstairs.
Valentina's room had already been cleaned.
Nothing remained.
Except Elena noticed a piece of paper beneath the bedside table.
She bent down.
It was part of a pharmacy receipt.
On the back, handwritten:
M — YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE IN THAT CAR.
Mauricio read it twice.
His pulse quickened.
“What does that mean?” Elena asked.
“I don't know.”
But he remembered the night.
Dinner with Rafael.
A late meeting.
Rain.
He had originally planned to take a different vehicle.
His usual sedan.
At the last minute, Rafael had suggested Mauricio use the newly serviced coupe because the sedan's driver was delayed.
Except—
Mauricio closed his eyes.
“No.”
“What?”
“My sedan wasn't delayed.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the driver called me while I was already on the highway. He apologized for missing me.”
Elena understood.
“Someone told you he was delayed.”
“Rafael.”
They returned to the mansion.
Mauricio summoned Rafael immediately.
His cousin refused to come.
So Mauricio did something he hadn't done since the accident.
He went to the company headquarters.
Employees stopped talking when he entered.
Mauricio hated that.
Before the accident, nobody stared when he crossed a lobby.
Now people looked at the chair before they looked at him.
Elena walked beside him, not behind.
That helped.
Rafael was in a board meeting.
Mauricio entered without knocking.
Twelve executives looked up.
Rafael stood.
“What are you doing here?”
“Taking my company back.”
The room went silent.
Mauricio rolled to the head of the table.
His old position.
Rafael had been sitting there.
“Move.”
Rafael's face tightened.
“This isn't appropriate.”
“My name is on the building.”
“Mauricio—”
“Move.”
Rafael moved.
Mauricio addressed the board.
“As of today, every executive decision requiring vice-chair authorization also requires mine.”
One director cleared his throat.
“Your medical leave—”
“Ends today.”
Rafael leaned forward.
“You aren't ready.”
Mauricio looked at him.
“That decision belongs to me.”
For two hours, Mauricio reviewed everything that had happened during his absence.
Contracts.
Properties.
Loans.
Board changes.
Then he found something unexpected.
A proposed transfer of voting rights.
If Mauricio had married Valentina, a marital trust would have activated.
If Mauricio remained medically unable to perform executive duties, temporary voting authority could pass through the trust.
To whom?
Mauricio read the appendix.
Rafael Ferreira.
His cousin had not merely encouraged Valentina to marry him.
He had helped structure a system that could give him control afterward.
Mauricio looked across the table.
Rafael knew he had found it.
“You planned this.”
“No.”
“You needed the marriage.”
“I needed stability.”
“You needed my signature.”
“You were barely functioning!”
Rafael's voice echoed through the room.
Everyone froze.
Rafael realized too late what he had said.
Mauricio stared at him.
“You thought I was finished.”
“I thought the company couldn't wait indefinitely.”
“So you decided to take it.”
“I kept it alive.”
“For me?”
Rafael didn't answer.
“For yourself?”
Still nothing.
Mauricio closed the document.
“You're suspended pending an independent review.”
Rafael laughed.
“You can't do that.”
“I just did.”
Rafael leaned closer.
“You think the maid understands your world better than your own family?”
Mauricio's expression changed.
“How do you know Elena came with me?”
Rafael looked toward the glass wall.
Elena stood outside.
His mistake was visible immediately.
Mauricio lowered his voice.
“You've been watching me.”
“No.”
“You knew about the hotel too, didn't you?”
Rafael stood.
“This conversation is over.”
He walked out.
Mauricio called security.
“Do not allow Rafael access to company records.”
That evening, Mauricio returned exhausted.
But for the first time since the accident, the exhaustion felt earned rather than imposed.
Elena helped him into the library.
“You were terrifying today.”
“Good.”
“I don't think the board enjoyed it.”
“Better.”
She laughed.
Mauricio looked at her.
It was the first time he had heard her laugh.
Something warm moved through him.
Dangerously warm.
He looked away.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you work here?”
She seemed surprised.
“Because employment is traditionally exchanged for money.”
He laughed.
“I'm serious.”
“So am I.”
“You could do something else.”
Her smile faded.
“I used to.”
“What?”
“I was studying nursing.”
Mauricio looked at her.
“What happened?”
“My mother got sick. I left school to help her.”
“Is she all right?”
“She died three years ago.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“Why didn't you go back?”
“Money.”
Mauricio almost immediately offered to pay.
Then stopped.
He was beginning to understand that money could become another form of control when offered carelessly.
“Do you want to go back?”
“Yes.”
The answer came instantly.
He nodded.
“Then I hope you do.”
Elena looked at him differently.
Perhaps because he hadn't offered to solve her life.
That night, Mauricio woke at 2:17 a.m.
Something had disturbed him.
He listened.
Footsteps.
Outside his bedroom.
Mauricio reached for his phone.
The door opened.
A figure entered.
Mauricio turned on the bedside lamp.
Augusto stood there.
Fully dressed.
Holding a set of car keys.
“What are you doing?”
Augusto closed the door.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Now, Mauricio.”
Mauricio had never heard him use that tone.
“Tell me what's happening.”
Augusto looked toward the hallway.
“I know who changed the maintenance report.”
Mauricio's heart hammered.
“Who?”
A sound came from downstairs.
Glass breaking.
Augusto grabbed the wheelchair.
“We don't have time.”
“Augusto—”
“The person who arranged your accident knows you're investigating.”
Mauricio froze.
Augusto leaned close.
“And they're already inside the house.”
May you like
The bedroom lights went out.
Then Elena screamed downstairs.
