CHAPTER 4 — THE WOMAN INSIDE MY OFFICE WAS MY MOTHER-IN-LAW'S SPY
Renata stared at the photograph for several long seconds.
Her fingers slowly tightened around the edges until the paper began to bend.
The woman smiling beside a much younger Ofelia wasn't a stranger.
It was Mónica Herrera.
Her executive assistant.
The woman who had worked beside her for more than six years.
The woman who knew every meeting...
every contract...
every business trip...
every private conversation.
Renata looked at Laura.
"There has to be some mistake."
Laura shook her head.
"I wish there were."
The photograph had been taken almost twelve years earlier.
Behind Ofelia and Mónica stood the old Navarro family restaurant.
Everyone looked happy.
On the back, Alberto's handwriting read:
"Ofelia asked Mónica to stay close to Julián's future wife long before Julián even met her."
Renata stopped breathing.
"That's impossible."
"They didn't even know me back then."
Laura nodded.
"They didn't."
"But Ofelia always believed successful women would eventually find Julián."
"So she prepared."
Renata felt a chill spread through her body.
That meant...
Nothing had been a coincidence.
Not the introduction.
Not the relationship.
Not even the speed of the engagement.
Laura opened another folder.
"I've never shown this to anyone."
Inside were old emails Alberto had printed years earlier.
One message caught Renata's attention immediately.
From: Mónica Herrera
To: Ofelia Navarro
Subject: Candidate
The email contained only one sentence.
"She is intelligent, financially stable, respected by everyone... but she values family. She can be controlled if Julián falls in love first."
Renata's stomach twisted.
She looked away from the page.
"I..."
She couldn't finish the sentence.
For years she had believed her romance with Julián happened naturally.
Now she wasn't sure where fate ended...
and manipulation began.
Laura gently placed a hand over hers.
"I don't think Julián knew."
Renata immediately answered.
"I know he didn't."
There wasn't a second of hesitation.
Whatever his flaws...
deceiving her had never been one of them.
That night Renata barely slept.
Instead of confronting Mónica immediately...
she did what she always did when something didn't make sense.
She investigated.
By seven the next morning, she had requested six years of archived security logs from company headquarters.
She wasn't looking for money.
She wasn't looking for fraud.
She was looking for patterns.
Meetings.
Visitors.
Phone records.
Anything involving Mónica.
By lunchtime...
she found the first coincidence.
Every time Renata received a promotion...
Mónica had taken an unusually long lunch break.
Every major salary increase.
Every international conference.
Every board meeting.
Always the same day.
Always around the same time.
Then she checked the company phone records.
Dozens of calls.
One number appeared repeatedly.
Never saved under a name.
Only numbers.
Renata copied the phone number into a search database.
The registered owner appeared.
Ofelia Navarro.
Her blood ran cold.
She didn't cry.
She didn't panic.
Instead...
she smiled.
Because now she had proof.
That afternoon Mónica entered her office carrying coffee.
"The board meeting starts in twenty minutes."
Renata looked up.
For the first time...
she truly studied the woman sitting across from her.
Perfect posture.
Perfect smile.
Exactly like Ofelia.
Almost rehearsed.
"Everything alright?" Mónica asked.
"Of course."
Renata smiled warmly.
"I actually wanted to thank you."
"For what?"
"For always looking after me."
Mónica smiled.
"It's my job."
Renata quietly replied,
"I know."
"You've been doing it much longer than I realized."
For one brief second...
Mónica's smile disappeared.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then it returned.
But Renata had already noticed.
That evening she arrived home carrying several shopping bags.
For the first time all week.
Ofelia's face immediately brightened.
"So you finally bought groceries."
Renata nodded politely.
"Everything for Saturday."
Ofelia opened one bag.
Premium chocolate.
Imported spices.
Fresh vegetables.
Expensive cuts of meat.
She smiled with satisfaction.
"Good."
"I knew you'd eventually understand your responsibilities."
Renata simply nodded.
"Oh...
I understand much more than you think."
Late that night, after everyone went to sleep, Renata quietly carried every single grocery bag...
not into the kitchen...
but into the trunk of her own car.
By sunrise...
the refrigerator was empty again.
Exactly as before.
Saturday morning arrived.
The memorial dinner.
Twenty-six relatives.
Every chair prepared.
Every candle lit.
Fresh flowers decorated Alberto Navarro's portrait.
Cars began arriving before noon.
Uncles.
Aunts.
Cousins.
Children running through the house.
Everyone expecting the famous meal Ofelia had proudly promised.
She greeted every guest with confidence.
"My new daughter-in-law has been cooking since dawn."
"Today you'll see what a wonderful wife Julián chose."
Renata smiled politely beside her.
She said nothing.
At exactly one o'clock...
Ofelia walked proudly into the kitchen.
She opened the refrigerator.
Nothing.
Not a single ingredient.
She froze.
Then opened the freezer.
Empty.
The pantry.
Locked.
She turned around slowly.
"Renata..."
"Where is the food?"
The entire kitchen fell silent.
Twenty-six relatives could hear every word from the dining room.
Renata calmly reached into her handbag.
Everyone expected her to pull out receipts.
Or grocery lists.
Instead...
she removed the black notebook.
She placed it gently on the kitchen table.
"I followed every rule exactly as written."
Ofelia's confident smile disappeared.
"For today's meal..."
Renata said softly,
"I decided the menu should honor the traditions you value most."
She opened the notebook to the first page.
Read the rule aloud.
"The daughter-in-law may not touch the family's food before the elders have eaten."
Then she slowly looked around the room.
"So..."
She closed the notebook with a quiet snap.
"...who exactly was supposed to cook?"
A deep silence swept across the house.
For the first time in decades...
every member of the Navarro family realized that the rules they had laughed about...
made absolutely no sense.
And standing in the back of the dining room...
an elderly aunt quietly whispered eight words that changed the entire atmosphere.
"That notebook was never my sister's handwriting..."
Every head turned toward her.
Including Ofelia's.
The color drained from Ofelia's face.
Because the one person she never expected to speak...
May you like
had just opened the door to a secret buried for more than thirty years.
End of Chapter 4
