Chapter 4 - MY BROTHER
Alejandro and I had been close once.
Then money entered the relationship.
Not mine.
His need for it.
He spent recklessly.
Invested badly.
Borrowed constantly.
Three years earlier, I gave him a senior position in one of my smaller development companies.
He called it an opportunity.
I called it one last chance.
Now his voice was coming through the speakers in my home.
Talking to my wife.
About my daughter.
Beatriz folded her arms.
“You’re assuming too much.”
I looked at her.
“What am I assuming?”
“That Alejandro knew about the chores.”
“He just asked whether I was coming home early.”
“We were planning your birthday.”
“My birthday is five months away.”
She said nothing.
I called Alejandro.
Beatriz’s eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
He answered on the third ring.
“Brother.”
His voice was cheerful.
“Still in Dubai?”
I looked directly at Beatriz.
“No.”
Silence.
“I came home today.”
Another silence.
“Oh.”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“Of course I’m surprised.”
“Where are you?”
“At the office.”
“Which office?”
“Our Puerto Banús office.”
I looked at Adrian.
He was already typing on his phone.
“Stay there.”
“Why?”
“I want to see you.”
“Mateo, I have meetings.”
“Cancel them.”
I hung up.
Adrian looked up.
“He isn’t at the office.”
“Where is he?”
“My investigator just checked the building access logs.”
He turned the screen toward me.
“Alejandro hasn’t entered the office in six days.”
Beatriz moved toward the door.
I blocked her path.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Beatriz, you should consider calling your own lawyer.”
She looked at him sharply.
“This is none of your business.”
“It became my business the moment Mateo called me.”
She turned to me.
“So this is what we are now?”
“What are we?”
“Enemies?”
I stared at her.
“My daughter was afraid to cry.”
For once, Beatriz had no answer.
That night, Isabella slept in my room.
She insisted she wasn’t scared.
Then she asked me to leave the bathroom light on.
At midnight, I heard her talking in her sleep.
“No.”
A whisper.
“No, I finished it.”
I sat beside her until she calmed down.
At 1:17 a.m., my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR WIFE IS REALLY AFTER.
A photo followed.
Alejandro and Beatriz sat together at a restaurant.
Their hands were touching across the table.
The timestamp was six weeks earlier.
Then another message appeared.
LOOK AT ISABELLA’S TRUST.
I stared at those four words.
When Isabella was born, I created a trust fund in her name.
Property.
Investments.
Life insurance.
By the time she turned twenty-five, it would likely be worth more than sixty million euros.
But the trust had one unusual clause.
If I died while Isabella was a minor, the person legally appointed as her guardian would control the trust until she reached adulthood.
I had written the clause before marrying Beatriz.
Back when I believed family would always protect family.
My stomach turned.
I opened my laptop.
The trust documents were stored in an encrypted folder.
I entered the password.
The file opened.
I scrolled to the guardian section.
My blood went cold.
There had been an amendment.
Filed seven weeks earlier.
My signature was at the bottom.
Except I had never signed it.
May you like
The new guardian was Beatriz.
And the alternate guardian was Alejandro.
