Chapter 4 - The Bride Finally Confesses
Renata spent thirty-one hours refusing to speak.
Then her attorney quit.
Alejandro learned about it while sitting in a conference room at the prosecutor’s office.
Luis placed a folder in front of him.
“Her attorney withdrew due to a conflict.”
“What conflict?”
“He represents one of Arturo Villaseñor’s companies.”
Alejandro almost laughed.
Of course he did.
Everything connected back to business.
Money.
Control.
Property.
He had spent his adult life believing wealth offered security.
Now it felt like wealth had built a larger target around him.
Luis slid another document across the table.
“We traced the transfers.”
Alejandro looked down.
Two shell companies belonged indirectly to Santiago Beltrán.
One connected to Arturo.
The trust remained linked to Mateo.
“Can the money be recovered?”
“Most likely.”
“Most?”
“One payment already moved internationally.”
“How much?”
“Two-point-eight million dollars.”
Alejandro leaned back.
“Where?”
“Panama.”
He rubbed his temples.
Luis watched him.
“You should go home.”
“I am home.”
“You know what I mean.”
Alejandro looked through the glass partition.
Renata sat in another room.
No wedding dress now.
No veil.
No diamonds.
She wore plain clothing supplied by her attorney’s office.
Without the bridal glamour, she looked younger.
Smaller.
Almost ordinary.
Luis followed his gaze.
“She wants to speak with you.”
“Why?”
“She says she’ll cooperate only if you’re present.”
“That isn’t how investigations work.”
“No.”
Luis paused.
“But the prosecutor thinks hearing her out could be useful.”
Alejandro stood.
The interview room smelled like stale coffee.
Renata looked up when he entered.
Her eyes were swollen.
He sat across from her.
Neither spoke.
Finally Renata whispered, “Do you hate me?”
Alejandro stared at her.
“That’s your first question?”
She lowered her eyes.
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“Try the truth.”
She flinched.
Alejandro leaned forward.
“Start with Mateo.”
Renata took a breath.
“We met before you and I started dating.”
Alejandro hadn’t expected that.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“At a fundraiser?”
She nodded.
“Mateo introduced us.”
Alejandro remembered.
He had believed Mateo was introducing him to a woman he admired.
He had never considered they were already involved.
“Were you together then?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you date me?”
Renata’s eyes filled again.
“Mateo asked me to.”
Alejandro froze.
“What?”
“He said if I became close to you, I could convince you to bring him back into the company.”
Alejandro stared at her.
The relationship had been false from the first day.
Every dinner.
Every vacation.
Every conversation.
Everything.
“At what point did this become about money?”
She looked away.
“It was always about money.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“But…”
“But what?”
“I didn’t expect to love you.”
He almost laughed.
“You don’t know what that word means.”
“I know you won’t believe me.”
“You planned to drug me.”
“No.”
“Then explain the champagne.”
Her hands trembled.
“That wasn’t part of the original plan.”
“What was?”
She swallowed.
“You were supposed to sign the power of attorney tomorrow morning.”
“Why would I?”
“Because Esteban altered several documents in the travel package. You would have thought you were giving me authority only for routine matters while you were overseas.”
“And then?”
“We would transfer shares into temporary holding companies.”
“Temporary.”
“That’s what Mateo told me.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“You believed him?”
“No.”
That answer surprised him.
She continued.
“I knew he wanted control.”
“So you continued anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her expression twisted.
“My father owed Santiago nearly fourteen million dollars.”
Alejandro said nothing.
“Our family looked rich. We weren’t. The hotels were failing. Two developments had stalled. My father borrowed privately.”
“Santiago.”
“Yes.”
“And he demanded my company in exchange.”
“He demanded access.”
Alejandro understood.
“Through you.”
Renata nodded.
She wiped her face.
“My father told me if I didn’t cooperate, the Villaseñor companies would collapse. Hundreds of employees would lose their jobs.”
“And you believed that justified destroying me?”
“No.”
“But you did it.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Alejandro leaned back.
“What changed at the wedding?”
“Mateo.”
“What did he do?”
“He panicked.”
“About what?”
“You had scheduled an independent audit.”
Alejandro had ordered a compliance review before traveling.
Routine.
Nothing unusual.
But Mateo didn’t know that.
“Esteban said the transfers would be discovered.”
“So?”
“Mateo wanted more time.”
“How does poisoning me create more time?”
Renata looked toward the camera in the corner.
Then back at Alejandro.
“He said you only needed to be unconscious.”
Alejandro’s expression hardened.
“For how long?”
“Two days.”
“Why?”
“So the board could invoke temporary incapacity provisions.”
Alejandro understood.
His company bylaws allowed an emergency committee to appoint temporary executive authority if he became medically incapacitated.
Mateo was a family shareholder.
Arturo controlled two independent board members.
Santiago had relationships with several lenders.
A temporary medical crisis could be enough.
“But the dosage…”
Renata started crying.
“I didn’t know.”
“You poured it?”
“No.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Mateo.”
Alejandro’s hand curled into a fist.
“Did you see him?”
“Yes.”
“Did Esteban know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Santiago?”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
“And Arturo?”
Renata whispered, “My father knew about the takeover.”
“The drug?”
“I don’t know.”
Alejandro studied her.
For the first time, he believed that answer might be true.
“What about Valentina?”
Renata covered her face.
“I scared her.”
“You grabbed her.”
“She saw the ring.”
“The ring you secretly married Mateo with?”
Renata looked up sharply.
Alejandro stared.
It was an educated guess.
Her reaction confirmed it.
“You’re already married to him.”
She began crying harder.
“Civil ceremony. Eighteen months ago.”
Alejandro stood so quickly that the chair scraped backward.
“You married me yesterday while legally married to my brother?”
“The marriage was registered under another jurisdiction.”
“That doesn’t make it legal.”
“I know.”
“You committed fraud at the altar.”
“I know.”
He turned away.
For several seconds he couldn’t speak.
Then he looked back.
“What was February fourteenth?”
Renata whispered, “Our anniversary.”
The gold ring.
M + R.
Mateo and Renata.
Alejandro suddenly remembered Mateo standing beside him while Alejandro exchanged wedding vows.
The cruelty of it was almost elegant.
“You wanted me humiliated.”
“No.”
“Mateo did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Renata wiped her cheeks.
“Because he wanted you to discover everything afterward.”
Alejandro frowned.
“After he took the company?”
“He wanted you to know.”
A bitter realization formed.
“This wasn’t just greed.”
Renata shook her head.
“Mateo wants you to suffer.”
“Why?”
She looked at him.
“Because he believes you’re the reason his father never loved him.”
Alejandro went still.
“His father?”
Renata realized too late what she had said.
Alejandro stared.
“Our father.”
She looked away.
“Renata.”
Silence.
“What did Mateo tell you?”
“I shouldn’t—”
“Tell me.”
Her voice dropped.
“Mateo believes Eduardo Cárdenas wasn’t his biological father.”
Alejandro felt something strange move through him.
“What?”
“He found letters.”
“What letters?”
“Between Teresa and Santiago Beltrán.”
Alejandro’s face changed.
“No.”
“Mateo believes Santiago is his father.”
Alejandro sat slowly.
Impossible.
Yet suddenly pieces that had never fit began shifting.
Santiago’s interest in Mateo.
The resentment.
The favoritism.
The decades-old connection.
“My mother would have told me.”
“Maybe she didn’t know Mateo knew.”
Alejandro stood.
He left without another word.
Teresa was waiting outside.
One look at his face told her something had happened.
“What?”
Alejandro stopped in front of her.
“Is Santiago Beltrán Mateo’s father?”
Teresa’s body went completely still.
That silence was the answer.
Alejandro stepped back.
“Mamá.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“It happened before I married Eduardo.”
“You told him Mateo was his.”
“He knew.”
Alejandro stared.
“What?”
“Your father knew from the beginning.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because Santiago didn’t want a child.”
Teresa’s voice shook.
“He told me to end the pregnancy.”
Alejandro looked through the glass toward Renata.
Then back to his mother.
“Mateo knows.”
Teresa’s face drained.
“How?”
“Letters.”
“No.”
“He thinks Dad rejected him because he wasn’t his son.”
Teresa shook her head rapidly.
“Eduardo loved him.”
“Did Mateo know the truth?”
“No.”
“He knows enough to hate me.”
Teresa pressed a hand over her mouth.
Alejandro understood the tragedy now.
Mateo had spent years believing Alejandro stole a father who had never belonged to Mateo.
But Eduardo had known.
And loved Mateo anyway.
The hatred was built on a lie.
Alejandro looked at Luis.
“Where is Mateo?”
Luis checked his phone.
His expression changed.
“He made bail twenty minutes ago.”
Alejandro froze.
“How?”
“The attempted poisoning charge hasn’t been filed yet. Financial fraud is still under review.”
“Where did he go?”
Luis called an officer.
Seconds later he looked back.
“We don’t know.”
Then Teresa whispered:
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
“If he learned the truth about Santiago…”
Her face became terrified.
“He’ll go to the old warehouse.”
Alejandro knew exactly which warehouse she meant.
The one that burned twenty-two years earlier.
The place where his father believed Santiago had tried to destroy the family.
And where Mateo had nearly died as a child.
May you like
Alejandro grabbed his jacket.
This time, nobody tried to stop him.
