CHAPTER 5 — THE LETTER HIS FATHER LEFT BEHIND
No one moved.
The conference room, moments earlier filled with legal documents and polished smiles, had become a crime scene without a single drop of blood.
Rodrigo stared at the faded envelope in his hands.
His father's handwriting was unmistakable.
Every birthday card.
Every Christmas note.
Every short message left on the kitchen table before leaving for work...
The same careful handwriting.
The same steady strokes.
For a moment, he wasn't a successful businessman.
He was twelve years old again, standing beside Don Ernesto in their small warehouse, learning that a person's word was worth more than any contract.
His father used to say:
"Money can build a business. Character is what keeps it standing."
Rodrigo swallowed hard.
He had spent years believing his father died of a sudden heart attack.
Now...
He wasn't so sure anymore.
Attorney Esteban Salazar broke the silence.
"Rodrigo..."
"I think you should read it."
"But read every word carefully."
Rodrigo slowly unfolded the yellowed pages.
The paper was brittle with age.
Across the top, in neat blue ink, was written:
My son,
If this letter ever reaches you, it means I failed to protect our family while I was alive.
Rodrigo's breathing stopped.
He continued reading.
There is something I never told you because I hoped I could solve it myself.
Someone close to our family has been stealing from the company for years.
Not a stranger.
Someone who smiles at our table.
Someone who knows every corner of our home.
I have gathered evidence, but it isn't enough yet.
If anything happens to me before I finish... trust no one until you know the whole truth.
Rodrigo lowered the paper.
His hands trembled.
His father had known.
Years before Paola entered their lives...
Someone was already betraying the Mendoza family.
"Keep reading," Esteban said quietly.
Rodrigo nodded.
The next paragraph hit even harder.
You will probably suspect the wrong person first.
That is exactly what they want.
The one giving orders almost never appears.
The people you see are only pieces on the board.
Rodrigo slowly looked toward Paola.
She avoided his eyes.
Then he looked at the investigators.
Finally...
His gaze settled on Mauricio, who had just been escorted into the room by two officers after being detained at company headquarters.
His expensive suit was wrinkled.
His confident smile was gone.
For the first time in twenty-three years...
He looked afraid.
"Mauricio," Rodrigo whispered.
His former friend couldn't answer.
Rodrigo folded the letter and walked toward him.
"Was any of it real?"
"The years we studied together?"
"The nights my mother fed you because you had nothing to eat?"
"The day I paid your tuition?"
Mauricio lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
Rodrigo's voice hardened.
"No."
"You're sorry you got caught."
Silence.
Then Mauricio quietly nodded.
"Yes."
The answer hurt more than any lie.
One of the investigators placed several binders on the table.
"We've completed a preliminary review of the financial records."
Esteban opened the first binder.
"There are more than eighty fraudulent transactions."
Another page.
"False supplier invoices."
Another.
"Corporate funds transferred into shell companies."
Another.
"Property taxes deliberately left unpaid to reduce market value."
Rodrigo frowned.
"Reduce the value?"
"So they could purchase company assets cheaply during a forced liquidation," Esteban explained.
"It wasn't simple theft."
"It was a long-term takeover."
The room became quiet again.
Then the lead investigator spoke.
"There's something else."
He placed a photograph beside the letter.
Rodrigo immediately recognized the people in it.
His father.
Mauricio.
A third man whose face had been partially torn away.
Only part of his jaw remained visible.
"What is this?"
"It was hidden inside the same storage box."
Rodrigo turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
October 18... eleven years ago.
That was only six months before Don Ernesto died.
Beneath the date...
His father had written one sentence.
He is the one you must never trust.
But the name had been intentionally scratched away.
Paola suddenly laughed.
Everyone turned toward her.
It wasn't the confident laugh they knew.
It sounded desperate.
"You still don't understand."
Rodrigo stared at her.
"What don't I understand?"
She shook her head slowly.
"You think I created all of this."
"I didn't."
"I walked into a game that had already started."
Esteban narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
Paola looked toward Mauricio.
Then toward the damaged photograph.
Finally she whispered,
"I wasn't the first person they recruited."
Mauricio immediately shouted,
"Paola, don't!"
She ignored him.
"There was someone before me."
"Someone much closer to Rodrigo."
The investigators exchanged glances.
Rodrigo felt his stomach tighten.
"Who?"
Paola hesitated.
For the first time since anyone had met her...
She looked genuinely conflicted.
Then she spoke.
"It was the person your father trusted more than anyone else."
Before she could say another word...
A loud crash echoed through the building.
The conference room lights flickered.
Someone outside screamed.
One of the investigators grabbed his radio.
"All units!"
"We've got an emergency!"
Another officer burst through the door.
His face was pale.
"Sir..."
"The evidence storage room..."
He struggled to catch his breath.
"It's on fire."
Every piece of evidence collected over the past three weeks...
The financial records.
The original recordings.
The hidden documents.
Everything that could expose the conspiracy...
Was now only a few walls away from a growing fire.
Rodrigo looked at the burning hallway outside the conference room.
Then back at the letter in his hands.
He suddenly understood.
Whoever had been pulling the strings for more than a decade...
Had just realized they were losing.
May you like
And they were willing to burn everything to keep their identity hidden.
End of Chapter 5...
