Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN BEFORE ME
Daniela Ruiz did not look like a jealous former girlfriend.
She looked terrified.
That distinction mattered.
She sat across from me in Adrian’s conference room.
Her hands remained wrapped around a paper cup of water.
“When did you date Mauricio?”
I asked.
“Four years ago.”
“How long?”
“Almost two years.”
“Why did it end?”
She looked at my bruised wrist.
“Because his mother told him to hit me.”
Nobody spoke.
Daniela continued.
“It wasn’t the first time she interfered.”
“She chose my clothes.”
“She criticized my job.”
“She wanted access to my bank account.”
“She said married women should turn over their salaries to the family.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“The laundry?”
Daniela looked up sharply.
“What?”
“Did she ever tell you to wash the men’s laundry?”
Her face went pale.
“The first night I stayed at their house.”
Of course.
“What happened?”
“I did it.”
That answer hurt more than I expected.
Daniela looked ashamed.
“I was twenty-six.”
“I thought refusing would cause a scene.”
“So I washed everything.”
“And Mauricio?”
“He watched television.”
Rafael swore under his breath.
Daniela continued.
“After that, it became a test.”
“If I refused his mother, he said I was disrespectful.”
“If I disagreed with him, she said I was trying to separate them.”
“Eventually, she told him a man who couldn’t control his woman wasn’t a man.”
“And he hit you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you report it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He apologized.”
The oldest sentence in an abusive relationship.
“He cried.”
“He bought me flowers.”
“He promised it would never happen again.”
“Then Camila came over the next morning and told me I should be grateful he loved me enough to correct me.”
My fingers tightened.
“What made you leave?”
“His father.”
“Hector?”
“Yes.”
Daniela looked toward the door.
“He cornered me in the kitchen.”
“He said if I married Mauricio, everything I earned would belong to the family.”
“I told him that wasn’t legal.”
“He laughed.”
“Then he told me legality depended on what you could prove.”
I exchanged a look with Adrian.
“What happened next?”
“I started recording things.”
Smart woman.
“I recorded Camila.”
“Mauricio.”
“Hector.”
“One night I heard Hector talking to someone named Martin.”
My breath caught.
“What year?”
“Four years ago.”
“What did they say?”
Daniela opened her handbag.
She removed an old phone.
“I kept it.”
Adrian immediately asked.
“Has this been altered?”
“No.”
“Do you have the original device?”
“That is the original.”
He almost smiled.
“What did you record?”
Daniela pressed play.
Hector’s voice filled the room.
“…doesn’t matter who Mauricio marries.”
Then Martin.
“It matters if he marries the correct woman.”
Hector laughed.
“My son doesn’t even know her.”
“He will.”
“Camila thinks this is insane.”
“Camila has spent twenty years wanting revenge.”
Hector’s voice became quieter.
“And if the girl refuses him?”
Martin answered.
“Then he finds a way to make her need him.”
The recording ended.
My hands had gone cold.
“What girl?”
I asked.
Daniela met my eyes.
“You.”
I stopped breathing.
“How do you know?”
“Because two days later, I found this.”
She took a folded photograph from her bag.
It showed me leaving Horizonte headquarters.
The image was four years old.
My name was handwritten underneath.
ELENA REYES.
Future controlling shareholder.
Personal habits.
Potential vulnerabilities.
I looked at Daniela.
“You had this?”
“I stole it from Mauricio’s father.”
“And you never contacted me?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t know what it meant.”
“I thought they were investigating you for business.”
“Then Mauricio proposed to me.”
“Two weeks later, Camila suddenly told him I was unsuitable.”
“She convinced him to end our engagement.”
“Why?”
Daniela’s mouth tightened.
“Because I found the photograph.”
I understood.
They removed her because she knew too much.
“What did Mauricio know?”
“That is the part you’re going to hate.”
“I already hate most of this.”
“He knew your name.”
The room went silent.
“He knew before meeting you.”
My chest felt hollow.
“How much?”
“Not everything.”
“Martin told him your family had money.”
“He told Mauricio you were estranged from most of it.”
“He said you had access to your father’s estate but no real corporate power.”
“So Mauricio believed I was moderately wealthy.”
“Yes.”
“Not chairwoman of Horizonte.”
“No.”
“Why approach me?”
“Because Martin promised him an investment.”
“What investment?”
“Enough money to save Mauricio’s father’s company.”
The first fifty-thousand-dollar payment.
Then seventy-five.
Then one hundred.
“Payment for dating me.”
Daniela nodded.
“Initially.”
My stomach twisted.
“What changed?”
“I don’t know.”
Maybe Mauricio developed genuine feelings.
Maybe he became comfortable.
Maybe the lines blurred.
None of it mattered enough.
“He married me because Martin paid him.”
“At first, he was supposed to get close to you.”
“Marriage came later.”
“Whose idea?”
“I think Camila’s.”
“Why?”
“She believed once you married into the family, they could use you to reach whatever assets your father left.”
“But Mauricio thought I was an administrative assistant.”
Daniela nodded.
“That part confuses me too.”
I understood before she did.
“He forgot.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Not literally.”
“He started with partial information.”
“He knew Elena Reyes had money.”
“But I introduced myself as Elena Cruz.”
“Martin probably told him not to reveal that he knew anything.”
“Over three years, the performance became reality.”
“He started believing the version of me I showed him.”
Rafael stared.
“That sounds almost too stupid.”
“You’ve met Mauricio.”
“Fair.”
Daniela leaned forward.
“There’s more.”
“Where is he?”
“That’s why I came.”
She removed a handwritten note.
“I received this under my apartment door this morning.”
The handwriting belonged to Mauricio.
I recognized it immediately.
Dani.
I know I have no right to ask.
If Elena is in danger, tell her San Marcos was only a transfer site.
They are going to the Valejo property.
Tell her Martin has a second board list.
Do not trust Nathan Cole.
Nathan Cole.
One of Horizonte’s independent directors.
One of the unpredictable votes.
My blood ran cold.
“Why would Mauricio send this to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you been speaking to him?”
“No.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Four years ago.”
Rafael looked suspicious.
“How did he know where you lived?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian took the note carefully.
“Valejo property?”
Sofia spoke.
“Hector owns farmland outside Valejo.”
“How far?”
“Two hours.”
Rafael was already calling security.
I stopped him.
“No.”
He glared at me.
“No?”
“We tell police.”
“And?”
“And we do not charge into a property owned by people who may be committing felonies.”
“I wasn’t going to charge.”
“Rafael.”
“Fine.”
Law enforcement moved faster this time.
Mauricio’s note gave probable cause combined with the photographs and suspicious circumstances.
By evening, officers reached the Valejo property.
They found another empty building.
Fresh tire marks.
Discarded food.
Documents burned inside a metal barrel.
And blood.
Not much.
But enough.
Testing would take time.
Then officers discovered a basement room.
Inside were restraints.
A broken phone.
And one piece of paper someone had failed to burn.
A list of Horizonte directors.
Eleven names.
Beside each name was a number.
Some were positive.
Some negative.
Beside mine was a red circle.
Beside Martin’s was the number 2.
Beside Nathan Cole’s was the number 1.
Beside Sofia’s was minus 1.
Rafael stared at the photograph sent by investigators.
“Votes.”
“Yes.”
“They are counting board votes.”
“Yes.”
“To remove you.”
“Yes.”
The emergency board meeting Martin requested was scheduled for the next morning.
We finally understood why.
May you like
He wasn’t defending himself.
He was launching the attack.
