Chapter 10 - Teresa's Confession
Teresa was taken into custody before she could leave.
But she didn't look afraid.
She looked annoyed.
As if everyone around her had finally become inconvenient.
Jimena arranged for her statement to be recorded.
Teresa refused at first.
Then Gabriel entered.
The moment she saw him, her expression collapsed.
“You're alive.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You should have known better.”
Teresa stared at him.
“I buried you.”
“You buried a lie.”
She looked at Mateo.
“Daniel.”
He flinched.
“I am not Daniel.”
“You always were.”
“I am Mateo.”
Teresa smiled sadly.
“You became him because I needed you to.”
That sentence revealed more than any confession.
Teresa admitted that Victoria had tried to expose the family.
She admitted the foundation accounts.
She admitted the shell companies.
She admitted the forged insurance policy.
But she denied ordering my fall.
“That wasn't my decision.”
Everyone stared at her.
“Whose was it?”
She looked toward Mateo.
Then Gabriel.
Then me.
Finally, she whispered:
“Victoria.”
I felt cold.
“She's alive?”
Teresa nodded.
“She has been alive for fifteen years.”
“Where?”
Teresa smiled.
“You already know where.”
We didn't.
Until Andrés returned with a photograph.
The woman wearing my wedding ring had been captured on a security camera.
She was at the hospital.
Not yesterday.
Not last week.
The night I arrived after my fall.
Victoria had been there.
She had entered through the service corridor.
She had watched me being rushed into surgery.
And she had spoken to someone.
Mateo.
The footage showed them arguing.
Then Victoria handed him something.
A small metal key.
Mateo had lied about that night.
I confronted him.
He looked devastated.
“I met her.”
“Why?”
“She told me Teresa planned to kill you.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she said if I did, you'd die sooner.”
I closed my eyes.
Everything was tangled.
Teresa had betrayed Victoria.
Victoria had manipulated Mateo.
Mateo had hidden the truth.
And I had been caught between them.
Then the investigator found the final piece.
The key opened a safe deposit box.
Inside was a recording.
Victoria's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, Teresa failed.”
A pause.
Then:
“Valeria was never the target.”
I looked at Mateo.
Victoria continued:
“The target was you.”
The recording stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Then the safe box alarm on Andrés's phone activated.
A second file had appeared.
May you like
Its title was simple.
MATEO'S DEATH...
