Chapter 10 — The Son Who Came Home
Three nights later, Alonso appeared at Renata’s hotel.
He did not reach her room.
Security guards found him in the underground garage, bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow.
He carried no weapon.
He asked for his wife.
Renata watched through a security camera as police handcuffed him.
His expensive suit had been replaced by jeans and a dirty shirt. His shoes were covered in mud.
He looked smaller than she remembered.
At the station, Alonso agreed to speak only if Renata entered the interview room.
Lucía advised against it.
Renata went anyway.
A wall of reinforced glass separated them.
Alonso sat with his wrists cuffed to a metal ring.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he said, “You look different.”
“I am not covered in salad.”
His mouth tightened.
“I came back to protect you.”
“From whom?”
“My mother.”
Renata almost smiled.
“You had six years.”
“I know.”
“No, you know that you were caught.”
He leaned forward.
“She left me in Oaxaca.”
“Why?”
“Because I refused to go through with her plan.”
“What plan?”
“To take you.”
Renata’s stomach turned.
“Take me where?”
“The ranch.”
“Why?”
“She wanted you to sign a confession.”
Alonso looked down.
“A statement saying you created the shell companies and stole from Grupo Ibarra. She planned to record it.”
“And if I refused?”
He did not answer.
Renata’s voice hardened.
“If I refused?”
“Víctor was supposed to frighten you.”
“Frighten me.”
“I never agreed to kill you.”
“You agreed to cut the brakes.”
“I didn’t cut them.”
“You knew.”
His silence confirmed it.
Renata stood.
“I am done.”
“Wait.”
She turned toward the door.
“Rafael was alive after the warehouse.”
Renata stopped.
Alonso’s eyes filled with tears.
Not the laughing tears from the restaurant.
These were desperate and ugly.
“I confronted him,” he said. “I wanted the files. Víctor hit him. Rafael fell and struck his head.”
“Did you call an ambulance?”
“No.”
“Did you check whether he was alive?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He was breathing.”
Renata stared at him.
“What happened next?”
“My mother came.”
The room seemed to darken.
“She said Rafael would destroy all of us. She ordered Víctor to put him in the car.”
“You let them.”
“I was afraid.”
“You followed them.”
“Yes.”
“To the mountain road?”
“Yes.”
“What did Evangelina do?”
Alonso closed his eyes.
“She placed Rafael in the driver’s seat. Víctor pushed the car.”
Renata’s fingers curled against her palm.
“And you watched.”
“I told myself he was already dead.”
“But he was breathing.”
Alonso began crying.
“I know.”
She felt no pity.
Only horror.
“Why did you come back?”
“Because she will kill me next.”
There it was.
Not remorse.
Survival.
He had returned because Evangelina had finally turned her cruelty toward him.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You traveled together.”
“She met someone near Puerto Escondido. A man from our old security network. She said she had another plan.”
“What plan?”
“To get the original drive.”
“Rafael’s drive is in evidence.”
“She believes you made a copy.”
“I did.”
Alonso looked up sharply.
Renata had lied.
But his reaction told her what she needed to know.
Evangelina was still searching for evidence.
“She will come for you,” Alonso said.
Renata moved closer to the glass.
“Then tell Reyes every safe house, every driver, every contact.”
“My lawyer—”
“Your choice.”
She looked at the man she had once loved.
The man who had courted her because his mother selected her.
The man who forged her name, watched her humiliation, and stood beside a living man while a car was pushed into a ravine.
“You can protect yourself with the truth,” she said. “Or protect your mother with silence.”
Alonso lowered his head.
For once, Renata did not wait for his decision.
She walked out.
By morning, Alonso had signed a cooperation agreement.
He provided account passwords, names of officials, and details of Rafael’s death.
He also identified three properties Evangelina might use.
Two were empty.
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At the third, investigators found maps of Renata’s hotel, photographs of the security entrances, and a restaurant receipt dated the previous evening.
Evangelina was already back in Mexico City.
