Chapter 3 - What My Mother Left Behind
Elena left the hospital the following afternoon under strict instructions to rest.
She didn't return to the mansion.
Gabriel took her to his home.
Diego had been ordered to remain away from Elena while authorities reviewed the assault and coercion evidence. The property document was already being challenged.
But Elena barely thought about the house.
She thought about her mother.
And Marcus Vale.
“Tell me everything.”
Gabriel stood beside the fireplace in his study.
Elena sat opposite him.
Daniel remained near the door.
Gabriel looked older than he had twenty-four hours earlier.
“Your mother discovered financial irregularities inside my company.”
“When?”
“The year she died.”
Elena waited.
“She believed someone was using our logistics network to hide illegal transfers.”
“Marcus?”
“No. Marcus helped her investigate.”
Elena stared at the photograph on her phone.
“Then why was he declared dead?”
“Because three weeks after your mother's accident, Marcus's car was found burned outside Denver.”
“Body?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“No identifiable remains.”
“So you assumed.”
“Yes.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“You seem to have done a lot of assuming.”
Gabriel accepted the criticism.
“Your mother believed the person behind the scheme was someone close to our family.”
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
“Why?”
“I think she was trying to protect me.”
Elena stood carefully.
“Everyone keeps protecting me by hiding things from me.”
“That wasn't my intention.”
“It doesn't matter.”
She picked up her coat.
“Where are you going?”
“To the address.”
“No.”
Elena turned.
“Dad.”
“You're seven months pregnant. Yesterday you were hospitalized.”
“And yesterday my husband tried to steal everything I own.”
Gabriel didn't answer.
“Today someone sent me a photograph of my dead mother with a man who's supposed to be dead.”
She held up her phone.
“I'm going.”
Daniel cleared his throat.
“I can take her.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Daniel shrugged.
“She'll go without us otherwise.”
Twenty minutes later, they drove toward the address.
It led to a storage facility outside the city.
Gabriel came despite his objections.
Unit 314.
The lock had already been removed.
Daniel opened the door.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens.
Elena recognized her mother's handwriting immediately.
She stepped inside.
“Mom.”
One box contained journals.
Another contained photographs.
A third held financial records.
Gabriel looked stunned.
“I never knew these existed.”
Elena found a small digital recorder.
A label was taped to it.
FOR ELENA.
Her hands trembled.
She pressed play.
Static.
Then her mother's voice.
“Elena, if you're hearing this, something happened to me.”
Gabriel sat down.
Elena couldn't move.
Her mother continued.
“I discovered that someone close to our family has been transferring assets through companies designed to disappear. Marcus is helping me gather proof.”
A pause.
“I don't know who I can trust.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“I've protected one thing they cannot access. Elena's inheritance.”
Elena looked at her father.
The recording continued.
“The estate, the land, and the controlling shares are protected unless Elena voluntarily transfers them.”
Elena suddenly understood.
Diego hadn't simply wanted property.
He needed her signature because nothing else could bypass her mother's protections.
The recording crackled.
“If anyone pressures Elena to transfer those assets, assume the network has returned.”
Gabriel whispered, “My God.”
Elena stopped the recording.
Mercury Ridge.
Diego.
The forced signature.
None of it was random.
Someone had waited years.
Then Elena married the right man for their plan.
Or the wrong one.
“Was Diego chosen because of me?” she asked.
Nobody answered.
Daniel opened another box.
Inside was a folder.
DIEGO ALVAREZ.
Elena stopped breathing.
The folder was dated nine years before Elena had met him.
She opened it.
Photographs.
Bank transfers.
Employment records.
One photograph showed Diego much younger, standing beside Marcus Vale.
Elena sat down.
“No.”
Gabriel took the photograph.
His face hardened.
“Elena…”
“He knew.”
She felt sick.
“Diego knew who I was before we met.”
Daniel continued searching.
He found an envelope.
Inside was a handwritten note from Elena's mother.
If Diego Alvarez approaches Elena, stop him.
Elena stared at it.
Her entire marriage shattered in one sentence.
The restaurant where they'd supposedly met by accident.
The flowers.
The dates.
The proposal.
The pregnancy.
Had any of it been real?
Her hand moved to her belly.
No.
Her daughter was real.
Whatever Diego had done, this child belonged to Elena.
Nobody could corrupt that.
Gabriel touched her shoulder.
“We're leaving.”
Elena didn't argue.
As they stepped outside, Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Gabriel watched him.
Daniel lowered the phone.
“Diego disappeared.”
Elena froze.
“From where?”
“His attorney's office.”
“How?”
“Nobody knows.”
Gabriel immediately called security.
Then Elena's phone vibrated.
Diego.
She stared at the name.
Gabriel said, “Don't answer.”
Elena answered.
Silence.
Then Diego spoke.
“Elena.”
Her chest tightened.
“Where are you?”
“Listen to me.”
“You knew my mother.”
A long pause.
“Who told you?”
“You knew who I was before we met.”
“Elena, there are things you don't understand.”
“Then explain them.”
“I can't over the phone.”
“You sprayed your pregnant wife with freezing water for a signature.”
“I know.”
“You could have hurt our daughter.”
His voice cracked.
“I know.”
For the first time, Diego sounded ashamed.
But Elena didn't trust it.
“Why did you marry me?”
Silence.
Then Diego whispered:
“At first?”
Elena closed her eyes.
That answer hurt more than she expected.
“At first, I was supposed to get close to you.”
Gabriel clenched his fists.
“And afterward?”
“I fell in love with you.”
Elena almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“But the people behind this don't care whether you believe me.”
“Who?”
Diego inhaled.
“The person who ordered me to get your signature.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
Elena looked at Gabriel.
“Then who?”
Diego started to answer.
A sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Diego suddenly whispered, “They're here.”
“Who?”
The line crackled.
“Elena, whatever happens, don't trust—”
A loud impact.
Then silence.
“Diego?”
Nothing.
“Diego!”
The call ended.
A second later, a photograph arrived from Diego's number.
It showed Diego tied to a chair.
Someone stood behind him.
Only one hand was visible.
On that hand was a distinctive gold ring.
Gabriel stared at it.
His face went white.
Elena looked at her father.
“You recognize it.”
Gabriel didn't answer.
“Dad. Who wears that ring?”
Gabriel slowly sat down.
May you like
Then he said a name Elena had not heard since childhood.
And the person it belonged to was someone who had been sitting at their family dinner table for twenty years.
