CHAPTER 5 — THEY REALIZED SHE WAS FIGHTING BACK
Mariana didn't answer the phone.
She looked once at Rodrigo's name flashing across the screen, pressed the power button, and silenced the call.
Outside her car, the security guard knocked again.
Harder this time.
"Ma'am, I'm speaking to you."
Mariana forced a polite smile and lowered the window only a few inches.
"I'm sorry. My GPS brought me to the wrong address."
The guard's eyes drifted toward the professional camera resting on the passenger seat.
"Then why are you taking photographs?"
"My husband and I are thinking about opening a rehabilitation center."
"I liked the architecture."
The lie came effortlessly.
The guard didn't seem convinced.
Before he could ask another question, the clinic's front door opened.
Teresa stepped outside.
She walked slowly toward the car, wearing the same elegant smile she used whenever she wanted people to underestimate her.
"My dear Mariana."
"What a coincidence."
Mariana smiled back.
"It certainly is."
Teresa leaned closer to the window.
"I didn't know you were interested in psychiatric clinics."
"I'm interested in many things."
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Passing traffic was the only sound between them.
Then Teresa's voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"Curiosity can be dangerous."
Mariana met her gaze without blinking.
"So can cruelty."
The older woman's smile faded.
"You should go home."
"I'll be there for dinner."
Mariana started the engine.
"I wouldn't miss it."
She drove away calmly.
Only after she turned the corner did she realize her hands were shaking so violently she could barely hold the steering wheel.
Twenty minutes later, she parked inside an underground garage owned by one of Lucía's clients.
Lucía was already waiting.
"So?"
Mariana handed her the camera.
"There."
Lucía scrolled through the images one by one.
Teresa entering the clinic.
The disgraced doctor.
Carlos Méndez.
The envelope full of cash.
Lucía looked up slowly.
"This is enough for a corruption investigation."
"But not enough to save Emiliano."
Mariana nodded.
"I know."
"We still have to prove what they did to him."
Lucía hesitated before opening another folder.
"I've been digging into Rodrigo's finances."
"What did you find?"
"He hasn't only been stealing from Grupo Villarreal."
"He borrowed money."
"A lot of money."
"From whom?"
Lucía pushed a photograph across the table.
A man in his late fifties.
Gray suit.
Cold eyes.
No smile.
"Arturo Zúñiga."
Mariana immediately recognized the name.
One of the country's most feared private lenders.
Officially, he financed struggling businesses.
Unofficially...
People who failed to repay him tended to disappear.
Lucía spoke quietly.
"Rodrigo owes him nearly twenty-eight million dollars."
Mariana frowned.
"That's impossible."
"He stole eighteen million from the company."
Lucía nodded.
"And he lost almost all of it."
"How?"
"Gambling."
Mariana stared at her in disbelief.
"Not casinos."
"High-risk currency speculation."
"He thought he could double the money before you came home."
"He failed."
Everything suddenly made sense.
Rodrigo hadn't replaced his family because he was in love.
He was desperate.
He needed Mariana's inheritance.
Her shares.
Her company.
Her death.
That evening, Mariana returned to the mansion.
The atmosphere felt strangely cheerful.
Paulina was decorating the dining room.
Rodrigo opened an expensive bottle of champagne.
Teresa even greeted Mariana with unusual warmth.
"Perfect timing."
Rodrigo smiled.
"We have wonderful news."
"What happened?"
He reached into his briefcase and placed a thick stack of documents on the table.
"The merger agreement."
Mariana looked at the cover.
Final Shareholder Authorization
Exactly what Lucía had warned her about.
Rodrigo poured champagne into two crystal glasses.
"If we sign tonight..."
"Our future is secure."
Paulina couldn't hide her excitement.
"We'll all finally be one happy family."
Mariana glanced toward Emiliano.
He wasn't sitting at the dining table.
He was standing silently in the hallway, watching everyone else eat.
No plate.
No chair.
No invitation.
She forced herself to smile.
"I'd like to read everything first."
Rodrigo laughed.
"You always read every page."
"I married a perfectionist."
Mariana picked up the contract.
Page after page of legal language.
Until one paragraph caught her attention.
Buried deep inside the agreement was a clause transferring emergency executive authority to Rodrigo if Mariana became...
Permanently incapacitated.
Not deceased.
Incapacitated.
Lucía had been right.
The "accident" didn't necessarily have to kill her.
It only had to leave her unable to fight.
Mariana slowly closed the folder.
"I'll sign tomorrow."
The room froze.
Rodrigo's smile disappeared for less than a second.
"Tomorrow?"
"I have a headache."
"I want a clear mind."
Teresa slammed her fork onto the table.
"What difference does one night make?"
Mariana looked directly at her.
"If there's no problem..."
"...waiting shouldn't matter."
Silence.
Finally, Rodrigo forced another smile.
"Of course."
"Tomorrow."
But Mariana noticed something else.
Under the table...
Paulina quietly squeezed Rodrigo's hand.
She looked terrified.
As if postponing the signature had ruined an important schedule.
Just after midnight, Mariana quietly left her bedroom.
She wasn't searching for evidence anymore.
She was searching for answers.
She entered the garage.
Rodrigo's black SUV sat exactly where it always did.
She crouched beside the front wheel.
Flashlight in hand.
At first, everything looked normal.
Then she noticed fresh scratches around the brake line.
Someone had recently worked on it.
She took several photographs.
Just as she stood up—
A deep voice echoed through the darkness.
"I wouldn't drive that vehicle."
Mariana spun around.
An elderly mechanic stepped out from the shadows.
She recognized him immediately.
Miguel.
He had maintained the Villarreal family's cars for more than twenty years before suddenly "retiring."
Miguel looked frightened.
"They fired me last month."
"Why?"
"Because I refused."
"Refused what?"
He swallowed hard.
"Rodrigo asked me to loosen the brake fittings."
"I told him I wouldn't murder anyone."
"So he hired someone else."
Mariana felt every hair on her body stand up.
Miguel stepped closer and lowered his voice.
"Listen carefully."
"I came tonight because I couldn't live with myself."
"I checked the SUV after the new mechanic finished."
"The brake system has been sabotaged."
"If you drive that car down a mountain road..."
"...you'll never make it back."
Mariana's heart pounded.
Rodrigo hadn't been making empty threats.
The accident was already prepared.
Miguel pulled a small envelope from inside his jacket.
"I stole something before they dismissed me."
He handed it to her.
Inside was a repair invoice.
At the bottom...
A handwritten instruction.
'Do not complete until Mrs. Villarreal signs the merger.'
Below the note...
Rodrigo's unmistakable signature.
Mariana looked up in shock.
But Miguel had already begun walking away.
He stopped only once.
Without turning around, he said quietly,
"Be careful who you trust."
"Because the person helping Rodrigo..."
"...isn't only inside your company."
"That person works inside the police."
Mariana's blood ran cold.
She had uncovered corrupt doctors.
A corrupt child protection official.
Now...
Someone inside law enforcement.
This was no longer a family betrayal.
It was a network.
May you like
And she had just become its biggest threat.
END OF CHAPTER 5
