Chapter 10 - The Night I Wasn't Supposed to See
I crouched in front of Camila.
“What do you mean, baby?”
Sofía immediately raised one hand.
“Mariana.”
She was warning me not to question her.
I nodded.
Camila returned to coloring.
But the sentence stayed with me.
Mommy wasn't supposed to come home early.
Why did that matter?
The dinner had been extravagant.
But it wasn't the first expensive dinner they had charged to me.
There had to be another reason they were worried about my arrival.
That afternoon, Sofía requested building records for the evening I returned.
Visitor logs.
Parking entries.
Service access.
Security footage.
The building manager called us two hours later.
“There was a real estate broker in the apartment that afternoon.”
My heart stopped.
“A broker?”
“Yes.”
He entered at 3:12 and left at 4:06.”
I had arrived shortly after seven.
Sofía requested the broker's name.
He remembered Daniel.
Very well.
Daniel had contacted him about a private sale.
Of my apartment.
The broker claimed Daniel told him I had agreed to sell because our family planned to relocate.
He had photographed the rooms.
Measured the balcony.
Discussed pricing with Carmen.
Even Camila's bedroom had been photographed.
I felt violated in a way that went beyond money.
Daniel was preparing to sell my home while I was traveling.
The forged loan had created financial pressure against the property.
A private sale could have allowed him to cover the debt before I discovered it.
Or perhaps move money somewhere I couldn't reach.
The broker forwarded his messages with Daniel.
One message was sent two hours before I returned.
My wife won't be back until Monday.
We can have everything signed before she sees the final papers.
I read it twice.
Then three times.
My early return had not merely interrupted a seafood dinner.
It had interrupted something else.
A plan.
Sofía sat across from me.
“You understand what this means?”
“Yes.”
“They expected you to sign something.”
“Yes.”
“Probably under pressure.”
I remembered Daniel insisting we needed to review “routine refinancing paperwork” the following week.
I had promised to look at it after Monterrey.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
The dinner.
The celebration.
The luxury wine.
Valeria's joke about my salary.
They had believed the difficult part was almost over.
All they needed was my signature.
Instead, I came home early.
And found my daughter on the balcony.
By accident, Carmen's cruelty had exposed Daniel's fraud.
That evening, Daniel sent another message.
We need to meet privately.
No lawyers.
I showed Sofía.
She shook her head.
“Absolutely not.”
Then another message arrived.
There are things about your finances you don't know.
I stared at it.
May you like
Daniel followed with one final sentence.
And if you keep pushing, you may lose more than the apartment.
