Chapter 13 - The Rabbit
I drove to Sofia’s house faster than I should have.
Isabella was in the garden.
The rabbit was beside her.
I picked it up.
She immediately looked worried.
“What?”
“Did anyone ever ask you about this?”
She shook her head.
“Mateo?”
“No.”
“Lucas?”
“No.”
“Beatriz?”
Her face changed.
“She tried to throw him away.”
“When?”
“A lot.”
“Why?”
“She said he was dirty.”
I examined the rabbit.
Old.
Cream fabric.
One ear slightly crooked.
Elena had bought it in London before Isabella was born.
There was nothing visibly unusual.
Then Sofia touched the bottom seam.
“This was repaired.”
I looked.
The stitching was different.
Newer.
I brought scissors.
Isabella watched.
“Are you hurting him?”
“No.”
I smiled.
“We can fix him.”
I opened two centimeters of stitching.
Something hard was inside.
A small USB drive.
My pulse changed.
Sofia stared.
“What is that?”
I knew before opening it.
Elena.
She had hidden evidence inside Isabella’s toy.
Not because she wanted to involve her daughter.
Because nobody would think to search a child’s rabbit.
Except eventually they had.
Mateo knew.
How?
The USB contained video recordings.
Elena.
Thin.
Pale.
Sitting in my old study.
The timestamp was five years earlier.
She looked directly into the camera.
“If you are watching this, either I became paranoid for nothing or I was right.”
My throat tightened.
Isabella sat beside me.
I almost stopped the video.
Then Elena continued.
“Daniel, if this is you, I’m sorry.”
Isabella whispered,
“Mom.”
We watched.
Elena explained the transfers.
Lucas’s debts.
Mateo’s involvement.
Marianne’s warnings.
Then she said something I had never heard.
“Lucas believes Dad promised him control of the company.”
I frowned.
Our father.
“He believes Daniel stole what should have been his.”
My chest tightened.
That resentment explained decades.
“But that isn’t what frightens me.”
Elena looked exhausted.
“What frightens me is that Lucas has started talking about Isabella’s shares as if they already belong to him.”
I looked at my daughter.
She stared at the screen.
Elena continued.
“I amended the trust.”
Then she smiled weakly.
“Daniel will be furious.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Isabella looked at me.
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Mom knew?”
“Yes.”
The video continued.
“If Lucas tries to take control after I die, Marianne has the financial evidence.”
Then Elena lifted the rabbit.
“This copy stays somewhere nobody in that family notices anything.”
Sofia laughed through tears.
“Accurate.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“And if Beatriz Romero ever enters Daniel’s life…”
I froze.
Isabella looked at me.
The room disappeared.
Elena had said her name.
Beatriz.
Years before we met.
I rewound.
Played again.
And if Beatriz Romero ever enters Daniel’s life, do not assume it is coincidence.
I stopped breathing.
Sofia whispered,
“Oh my God.”
The video continued.
“Marianne found payments from Lucas to an events consultant named Beatriz Romero.”
Elena held up a photograph.
Beatriz.
Younger.
But unmistakable.
“She has been asking questions about Daniel.”
My skin went cold.
So Elena knew.
Before she died.
“She may be harmless.”
Elena continued.
“But Lucas does not spend money without expecting return.”
Then she looked directly into the camera.
“Daniel, if you meet her, please do the one thing you hate doing.”
A pause.
“Wait.”
I covered my mouth.
She knew me.
Even from five years away, she knew exactly what mistake I would make.
The next file contained bank statements.
Transfers from Lucas-controlled entities to Beatriz.
Consulting payments.
Travel reimbursements.
Cash retainers.
Years before our first meeting.
Then came email screenshots.
Lucas:
He’ll be vulnerable after Elena. Don’t rush.
Beatriz:
What if he doesn’t like me?
Lucas:
He will. You know the profile.
I stopped reading.
Sofia whispered,
“Daniel.”
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t.
Our first dinner.
Her questions.
Her sympathy.
The way she never pushed me to remove Elena’s photographs.
I had thought that showed compassion.
It was research.
Everything had been planned.
Then one email changed the picture again.
Beatriz to Lucas:
I won’t involve the girl.
Lucas:
You won’t need to.
Beatriz:
I mean it.
Lucas:
Then don’t make the mistake of caring about her.
That was three years earlier.
Perhaps Beatriz had once intended not to hurt Isabella.
It didn’t matter.
Intent does not erase what happened.
The final file contained a recording from Marianne.
Her voice.
“Lucas owes more than sixty million.”
Exactly what Arturo told me.
“He needs control before lenders discover the guarantees are unsupported.”
Then:
“Mateo is helping him move money.”
Then the sentence that changed the entire investigation:
“Daniel’s father knew.”
I stared.
Marianne continued.
“Eduardo protected Lucas because exposure would destroy the family name.”
My father had not only covered theft.
He had enabled everything.
“If Daniel ever discovers this, he must understand that the conspiracy began with cowardice, not genius.”
That line stayed with me.
Cowardice.
My father’s refusal to confront Lucas.
My refusal to listen to Elena.
Clara’s silence.
Pilar’s fear.
Isabella’s silence.
Every layer of the disaster existed because somebody believed telling the truth would cost too much.
Then the final recording.
Marianne.
Taken weeks after Elena’s death.
“I am moving the original files.”
She looked nervous.
“Someone entered my apartment.”
A pause.
“If anything happens to me, do not believe it was necessarily Lucas.”
My skin prickled.
“Mateo has begun acting independently.”
Another pause.
“And there is a lawyer involved.”
Hugo?
No.
Hugo had joined later.
Marianne said:
“His name is Stefan Keller.”
The banker Beatriz had been waiting for at Málaga airport.
The same man carrying original transfer papers from Zurich.
Marianne continued.
“Keller created the private structures hiding Lucas’s debt.”
I looked at Javier.
“Find Keller.”
He was already calling.
The doorbell rang.
Sofia froze.
Security camera.
Police.
An officer entered.
He looked at me.
“We found Mateo.”
“Where?”
“Port of Algeciras.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief.
Not for him.
For evidence.
“Did he talk?”
“No.”
“Anything recovered?”
The officer held up an evidence bag.
Inside was a passport.
Cash.
And a phone.
“We found a draft message.”
“To whom?”
“You.”
My pulse changed.
“What did it say?”
The officer read:
Lucas doesn’t know the whole plan. Keller does. If you want Isabella safe, stop Zurich before October fourth.
I looked at Javier.
The mastermind had shifted again.
Lucas built the conspiracy.
Mateo corrupted it.
Beatriz exploited it.
But Stefan Keller had built the financial machinery.
May you like
And unlike the others, he had not panicked.
Not once.
