Chapter 9 - WHAT BEATRIZ WANTED
Thirty-two million euros.
That was what they had already taken.
The trust was what they planned to control.
And if the Dubai emails meant what I feared, my death was supposed to make everything easier.
I sat alone in my office as dawn turned the Mediterranean pale blue.
For years, I had believed my greatest weakness was working too much.
I was wrong.
My greatest weakness was assuming the people inside my home wanted the same thing I did.
Family.
Security.
A future for Isabella.
Beatriz wanted access.
Alejandro wanted money.
Carmen wanted revenge.
Maybe they had all found one another because greed recognizes itself.
By breakfast, the police had enough to freeze several accounts.
Carmen disappeared before they could question her.
Beatriz denied knowing anything.
Alejandro remained hospitalized.
Then Isabella surprised me.
She walked into my office holding a small silver key.
“I think this is important.”
I took it.
“Where did you find it?”
“She gave it to me.”
“Who?”
“Lucía.”
“When?”
“Before she left.”
Isabella lowered her voice.
“She told me not to tell Beatriz.”
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
The key had a number engraved on it.
Adrian recognized the style.
“Private bank box.”
We traced it to a secure storage facility in Málaga.
The box was registered under Sofia’s maiden name.
That made no sense.
Sofia had been dead for five years.
At the facility, I presented documents proving I was executor of her estate.
Box 214 opened.
Inside was a stack of papers.
A memory card.
And one handwritten letter.
The handwriting belonged to Lucía.
Mateo.
If this box is open, then you finally know enough to be careful.
Beatriz found old copies of Sofia’s identity documents in your archive.
She used them to create accounts she thought you would never check.
I discovered this accidentally.
The memory card contains what I copied before she caught me.
Please do one thing before you watch it.
Do not watch in front of Isabella.
I inserted the memory card into Adrian’s laptop.
The first video showed Carmen in our villa.
The date was four months earlier.
The second showed Alejandro giving Beatriz a folder.
The third had audio.
Carmen’s voice.
“When it happens in Dubai, everything must look accidental.”
Beatriz answered.
“And Isabella?”
Alejandro laughed softly.
“She’ll have me.”
Then Beatriz spoke.
“No.”
A pause.
“She’ll have me.”
My stomach turned.
But Carmen’s next sentence changed everything.
“Not for long.”
Silence.
May you like
Then Carmen added.
“Once the trust transfers, none of us needs the child anymore.”
