Chapter 10 - THE MAN DIEGO TRUSTED
Diego did not confront Santiago immediately.
For once, he resisted instinct.
He began checking.
The deeper he looked, the worse it became.
Santiago had worked first for Elena.
Then Rafael.
Then Diego.
He knew every schedule.
Every private number.
Every assistant.
Every internal security protocol.
If Rafael wanted information intercepted, Santiago could do it.
If Paulina wanted archived footage, Santiago could expand permissions.
If someone wanted to manipulate foundation payments, Santiago knew how.
Diego asked Lucía to audit Santiago’s records quietly.
Meanwhile, he returned to Valle de Bravo.
Marisol saw his face.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“That means something happened.”
He told her.
She sat down.
“Santiago?”
“Yes.”
“He has always been kind to me.”
“So was my father when people were watching.”
Marisol thought.
“What if he was following orders?”
“That still matters.”
“Yes.”
“But it is different from creating them.”
Diego agreed.
The next morning, Santiago arrived at the lake house after Diego summoned him.
He entered calmly.
Until he saw the old Madrid memo on the table.
Then he stopped.
Diego watched him.
“You signed the processing code.”
“Yes.”
“Did you forge my signature?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Santiago remained silent.
Diego’s voice hardened.
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
The room became still.
Diego stared.
“My mother was already sick.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she extend my stay away from Mexico?”
“To keep you away from your father.”
Diego laughed in disbelief.
“That makes no sense.”
Santiago reached into his briefcase.
He removed a sealed envelope.
“I was told to give you this only if Rafael’s interference became public.”
“By whom?”
“Elena.”
Diego did not touch it.
“My mother died six years before Madrid.”
“Yes.”
“Then how could she order anything?”
“She didn’t order the extension.”
“She created a contingency.”
Santiago explained.
Before Elena died, she instructed him that if Rafael ever began interfering in Diego’s romantic life, Santiago should create distance between father and son until evidence could be secured.
When Marisol’s calls began, Santiago saw Rafael intercept them.
He panicked.
He extended Diego’s Madrid assignment using a preauthorized signature mechanism Elena had established years earlier.
“You kept me away from Marisol.”
“I thought keeping you away from Rafael would protect you.”
“You made the same choice he did.”
Santiago lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Diego was stunned by the repetition.
Everyone claimed to protect him.
Everyone lied.
“What about my letters?”
“I sent several directly.”
“They disappeared.”
“Rafael controlled your residential mail.”
“What about Marisol’s letters?”
“I recovered some.”
“Teresa has them.”
“I gave them to her.”
Diego stared.
“You and Teresa were working together.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did no one tell me?”
“Because Rafael discovered the arrangement.”
Santiago’s composure cracked.
“He threatened my daughter.”
Marisol stiffened.
“What?”
“She was studying medicine.”
“Rafael threatened to expose a financial mistake I made years earlier.”
“It could have destroyed her scholarship and put me in prison.”
“So you became silent.”
“Yes.”
“Then Paulina?”
Santiago shook his head.
“I never helped her knowingly.”
“You expanded her security access.”
“Rafael instructed me.”
“You transferred foundation authority.”
“Rafael instructed me.”
“The leaked footage?”
“I found the breach after it happened.”
Diego stared.
“Can you prove any of this?”
Santiago slid his phone across the table.
Old audio recordings.
Emails.
Instructions.
Enough to implicate Rafael in years of interference.
But there was one final recording.
Rafael speaking with Paulina three months earlier.
Paulina’s voice:
“If the child is Diego’s, the wedding is over.”
Rafael:
“Then make certain he never has reason to ask.”
Paulina:
“You want me to remove them?”
Rafael:
“I want Marisol gone before Diego notices what is in front of him.”
Marisol covered her mouth.
Diego’s face became stone.
His father had not merely hidden Valentina before birth.
He had continued hiding her while she lived under Diego’s roof.
Santiago spoke quietly.
“I should have told you sooner.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid.”
“Yes.”
“I am sorry.”
Diego looked at him for a long time.
“I believe you.”
Santiago looked relieved.
“That doesn’t mean you keep your job.”
The relief disappeared.
Diego continued.
“Trust has consequences.”
“I understand.”
“I won’t destroy you.”
“But you will cooperate with investigators.”
“Yes.”
“And you will testify.”
Santiago swallowed.
“Yes.”
After he left, Diego sat beside the lake.
Marisol joined him.
“Everyone lied to you.”
He stared at the water.
“Yes.”
“Does that make trusting harder?”
He looked at her.
“It makes choosing who deserves it more important.”
For a long moment they said nothing.
Then Marisol reached for his hand.
This time she did not stop halfway.
Diego turned toward her.
“I still love you.”
Her eyes filled.
“You don’t know me anymore.”
“I know.”
“That isn’t romantic.”
“It’s true.”
He smiled faintly.
“I loved who you were.”
“I think I could love who you became.”
Marisol’s voice trembled.
“And if I’m different?”
“You are.”
“So are you.”
They leaned closer.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Their first kiss in four years was not dramatic.
It was uncertain.
Brief.
Almost painful.
When they separated, Marisol rested her forehead against his.
“We go slowly.”
“Yes.”
“Very slowly.”
“Yes.”
“Valentina first.”
“Always.”
Behind them came a tiny voice.
“Daddy kiss Mommy.”
They turned.
Valentina stood in the doorway.
Diego looked horrified.
Marisol laughed so hard she covered her face.
Valentina smiled.
“Again.”
“No,” Marisol said.
Diego whispered, “Maybe later.”
Marisol elbowed him.
For ten beautiful seconds, their life felt ordinary.
Then Santiago called.
Investigators had arrested the intermediary who purchased Nicolás’s medical records.
He had agreed to cooperate.
And he had named the person who paid him.
May you like
Not Paulina.
Rafael.
