Chapter 11 - The Second Victim
The file contained a photograph.
Mateo lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
The timestamp was from three weeks earlier.
I looked at him.
“When did this happen?”
He shook his head.
“It didn't.”
But the photograph was real.
Andrés enlarged it.
The hospital room was different.
The patient had Mateo's face.
His clothes.
His wedding ring.
But something was wrong.
The man in the photograph had a scar on his left hand.
Mateo didn't.
Someone had been pretending to be him.
A double.
A man who could sign documents.
Move money.
Appear in security footage.
And give orders.
The investigation expanded.
The impersonator had accessed the Ledesma foundation six times.
He had met Teresa.
He had met Victoria.
He had even entered my home.
The terrifying possibility was obvious.
The person who grabbed my wrist on the terrace might not have been Mateo.
It might have been the double.
Then we found his identity.
His name was Nicolás Varela.
Former security contractor.
Former employee of the Ledesma family.
And he had disappeared two months before my accident.
We found him in a rural property outside the city.
But he wasn't alone.
Victoria was there.
She had been living under another name.
She surrendered without resistance.
Her story was different from Teresa's.
Victoria said she had spent years trying to destroy Teresa.
She admitted manipulating Mateo.
She admitted sending the anonymous messages.
But she denied ordering my murder.
“I wanted you to expose them,” she said.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“And you endangered me.”
“Yes.”
I hated how calmly she admitted it.
Then she told us the truth.
Nicolás had acted independently.
He had discovered the insurance policy.
He had planned to kill me and blame Teresa.
But someone else had hired him first.
Someone outside the family.
Someone who wanted the Ledesma fortune destroyed.
“Who?”
Victoria looked at Mateo.
“Your business partner.”
Mateo's face went pale.
“Esteban?”
Victoria nodded.
Esteban had been moving money from the company for years.
The foundation investigation had threatened him.
He had used Teresa's obsession and Victoria's revenge against each other.
Then he had hired Nicolás.
But one question remained.
Who loosened the railing?
Nicolás finally answered.
“I did.”
He looked at me.
“But I didn't expect you to survive.”
He reached into his pocket.
The police immediately stopped him.
He slowly pulled out a key.
Then he said:
“The person who gave me access to the terrace wasn't Teresa.”
May you like
He looked directly at Mateo.
“It was your father.”
