Chapter 7 - The First Counterattack
By the time I landed in Málaga, my brother had filed an emergency motion with the board of Navarro Development.
The reason:
Concern regarding my mental fitness.
I read the notice in the back seat while Luis drove.
Lucas had attached witness statements.
Hugo Ferrer.
Mateo Salazar.
Beatriz Navarro.
All three described me as unstable.
Obsessive.
Paranoid.
Volatile.
According to them, I had returned unexpectedly from Dubai, accused multiple people of conspiracy, removed Isabella from her home, threatened my wife, and launched an unauthorized forensic audit based on “irrational suspicions.”
It was almost brilliant.
Because most of it was technically true.
I had returned unexpectedly.
I had accused them.
I had removed Isabella.
I had ordered the audit.
Truth is often the best foundation for a lie.
You simply change why it happened.
The board scheduled a meeting for forty-eight hours later.
Lucas wanted temporary executive authority.
Javier met me at the clinic.
“So this is the plan.”
“Yes.”
“He needs you declared unstable before October fourth.”
“And if the board removes me?”
“He controls the company.”
“Not Isabella’s trust.”
“No.”
“But it supports the incapacity narrative.”
“Yes.”
I looked through the glass.
Isabella was coloring beside Sofia.
“They’re building parallel cases.”
Javier nodded.
“Business incompetence.”
“Parental instability.”
“And medical incapacity.”
“They only need enough doubt.”
Exactly.
I had always believed major betrayals arrived with dramatic mistakes.
They don’t.
The smartest ones arrive as paperwork.
That night I moved Isabella to Sofia’s house under the protection plan agreed with investigators.
The villa was no longer safe.
Not because I believed anyone would physically attack us.
Because I no longer knew how many people had access to our lives.
At Sofia’s home, Isabella refused to sleep alone.
I put a mattress beside her bed.
Around midnight, she whispered,
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Are you sick?”
The question hit me.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Uncle Lucas said you are.”
My body tightened.
“When did he tell you?”
“He came to school.”
I sat up.
“When?”
“Before you came home.”
“How many times?”
“Two.”
“Why?”
“He said you were tired.”
I forced myself to breathe slowly.
“What else?”
“He said sometimes people who work too much imagine bad things.”
I stared into the darkness.
The conditioning had started before Dubai ended.
“What bad things?”
“He said if you ever got angry with Beatriz, I shouldn’t believe everything you said.”
I felt physically ill.
Lucas and Beatriz had been preparing Isabella to distrust me before I even knew there was a problem.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“Beatriz was there.”
I lay back.
Isabella whispered,
“Are you mad?”
“Yes.”
She became still.
I realized immediately.
“Not at you.”
“Oh.”
“I will never be angry because you tell me the truth.”
She was quiet for a long time.
Then:
“Even if it’s bad?”
“Especially then.”
Another silence.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Uncle Lucas said Mom was selfish.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
“He said she made the trust because she didn’t trust you.”
I slowly sat up again.
“When?”
“At school.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said my mom put money in a box because she thought you would waste it.”
My hands went cold.
Lucas knew details of Elena’s trust.
Details even I hadn’t known.
“How did the conversation start?”
“He gave me chocolate.”
Of course.
“He asked if I remembered my mom.”
“Then?”
“He asked if I still had her necklace.”
There it was.
“Did you tell him?”
“I said yes.”
“When was this?”
“Before it disappeared.”
I stared at the wall.
Lucas had located the key through my daughter.
Mateo had stolen it.
Beatriz had isolated Isabella so she wouldn’t tell me.
It was organized.
Not improvised.
The next morning, I met Clara Beatriz.
Beatriz’s younger sister.
She contacted me.
Not the other way around.
We met in a café near Estepona.
Clara looked nothing like Beatriz.
Short hair.
No jewelry.
Nervous hands.
She placed her phone on the table.
“I don’t like you.”
An interesting opening.
“I didn’t know we knew each other well enough.”
“We don’t.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because I like Isabella.”
I said nothing.
Clara looked out the window.
“My sister has always been ambitious.”
“That’s a polite word.”
“I’m not defending her.”
“Good.”
“She called me last night.”
“What did she want?”
“Money.”
“For what?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
I watched her.
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Finally, somebody honest.
Clara pushed the phone toward me.
“I recorded her.”
I played the file.
Beatriz’s voice.
Angry.
Fast.
“I need ten thousand in cash.”
Clara asked why.
“Because Daniel froze the cards.”
“What happened?”
“He came home early.”
A pause.
“Did he find out about Mateo?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It sounds like it matters.”
“No.”
Then Beatriz said something important.
“Lucas promised this would be finished before October.”
Clara asked,
“What would be finished?”
Silence.
Then Beatriz:
“Everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I wouldn’t have to spend another year pretending I care about his spoiled daughter.”
My jaw tightened.
Clara’s voice sharpened in the recording.
“She’s eight.”
“She’s an obstacle.”
My hand froze on the phone.
An obstacle.
Not a child.
Not family.
An obstacle.
Clara asked,
“What are you talking about?”
Beatriz lowered her voice.
“She owns things.”
“What things?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Beatriz.”
Then came the sentence that changed my understanding again.
“I wasn’t supposed to marry Daniel forever.”
The recording ended.
I stared at Clara.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I knew, I would have sold the information to you before today.”
I almost smiled.
At least she understood herself.
“Why help now?”
Clara looked down.
“Because she called Isabella an obstacle.”
That answer I believed.
“She hated Elena,” Clara said.
I looked at her.
“They never met.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
“Lucas talked about her constantly.”
My body went still.
“Lucas knew your sister before I did?”
Clara looked surprised.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
She leaned back.
“Oh.”
One word.
But everything inside me changed.
“How long?”
“I thought you knew.”
“How long did Lucas know Beatriz?”
“Years.”
“How many?”
“Maybe six.”
I stopped breathing.
I had met Beatriz three years earlier.
Clara continued.
“She worked at one of his events companies in Madrid.”
“When?”
“Before Elena died.”
I stared at her.
“Did Beatriz know who I was before we met?”
Clara hesitated.
“I think so.”
My marriage suddenly rearranged itself in my memory.
The charity dinner where Beatriz and I “accidentally” met.
Her surprise when she learned my name.
Her interest in Isabella.
Her patience.
Her perfect understanding of my grief.
None of it felt accidental anymore.
My phone vibrated.
The forensic accountant.
He had traced Solstice Leisure Holdings.
The company trying to buy Isabella’s land for half its value.
It was owned through three shell entities.
The beneficial owner was hidden behind a Luxembourg trust.
But one person had signed the original incorporation paperwork.
Lucas Navarro.
I looked at Clara.
My brother had known my future wife before I did.
He had introduced her into my life without ever appearing to introduce us.
And now he was trying to use that marriage to take my daughter’s inheritance.
May you like
The betrayal had started years before Dubai.
Possibly before Elena died.
