Chapter 4: Bellavista Burns
The fire consumed Bellavista before investigators could reach it.
By the time firefighters arrived, flames had torn through the roof and shattered the library windows.
The house had stood for nearly a century.
Within two hours, most of it was gone.
Mariana arrived the next morning wearing borrowed clothes and a hospital bracelet.
Beckett tried to stop her from crossing the police line.
“That building is unstable.”
“My grandmother left me that house.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Bellavista had been the only place in the Salcedo world where Mariana had felt safe.
Her grandmother, Isabela, had taught her that wealth meant nothing without independence.
Rodrigo had hated those lessons.
Now the library where Mariana had hidden the ledgers was a field of blackened wood and wet ash.
A fire investigator approached.
“The alarm system was disabled remotely at eleven fifty-six.”
Three minutes after Mariana fell.
“And the cause?” Beckett asked.
“Accelerant in the library and office.”
Mariana looked toward the ruins.
“My father knew exactly where the documents were.”
“Were those the only copies?”
Mariana did not answer immediately.
Her grandmother had trusted no one completely.
Not even Mariana.
Especially not banks controlled by Salcedo money.
But Isabela had once given Mariana a key.
A small brass key hidden inside the lining of an old white evening dress.
Mariana had transferred it into her wedding gown.
Then, years later, into the silk dress she wore aboard the yacht.
She reached for the damaged hem.
The key was still sewn inside.
“No,” she said.
Beckett turned.
“No what?”
“Those weren’t the only copies.”
Two hours later, Mariana entered a private bank vault with Beckett and Priya.
The safe deposit box contained six handwritten ledgers, property documents, encrypted drives, and an envelope addressed to her.
Inside was a letter from her grandmother.
My dearest Mariana,
Your father believes control is the same as power. It is not. Control can be broken. Proof cannot.
If Rodrigo ever turns against you, follow the money. Do not trust Elena. Do not trust Gabriel. And never allow them to gain control of Nico’s inheritance.
Mariana read the last sentence twice.
Her grandmother had written the letter before Nico was born.
“How did she know about Nico?” Beckett asked.
“She didn’t.”
Mariana opened the original trust document.
The controlling shares of Salcedo International did not legally belong to Rodrigo.
They belonged to Isabela’s direct chosen heir.
Mariana.
Upon Mariana’s death, they would pass to her first child.
Nico.
“That’s why they needed Adrian,” Mariana said.
Priya looked up from one of the drives.
“Adrian would control Nico’s assets as his father.”
“Until Nico turned twenty-one.”
Rodrigo had not tried to kill Mariana only to silence a financial investigation.
May you like
He had tried to seize the entire company.
And Adrian had intended to inherit it through their son.
