CHAPTER 4 — Someone Was Already Inside My House
Mariana stared at the photograph on her phone.
It wasn't an old image.
The morning newspaper was still lying on her front steps.
Her bedroom light was on.
Even her silver SUV was parked exactly where she had left it.
Whoever had sent the picture wasn't threatening her.
They were proving one thing.
They were watching her in real time.
She immediately called Mauricio.
"Don't go home," he said before she could speak.
"I've already sent two investigators."
"Call the police?"
Mariana looked at the photo again.
"No."
"If this is connected to the missing company money, I need to know who panics first."
An hour later, they parked across the street from Mariana's house with the lights off.
Nothing looked unusual.
The garden was perfectly trimmed.
The porch lights glowed softly.
Everything appeared exactly as it should.
Too perfect.
One of Mauricio's investigators adjusted his binoculars.
"Someone's inside."
Mariana frowned.
"I didn't leave anyone there."
The front curtains moved.
Only slightly.
As if someone had quickly stepped away from the window.
The investigator quietly spoke into his radio.
"Movement confirmed."
Three minutes later, they entered through the back gate.
No broken locks.
No shattered windows.
No signs of forced entry.
The alarm system...
Had been disabled using the master security code.
Only four people knew that code.
Mariana.
Eduardo.
Beatriz.
And the head of household security.
Inside the house, nothing seemed stolen.
The jewelry was untouched.
Cash remained inside a desk drawer.
The expensive paintings still hung on the walls.
Whoever entered hadn't come to rob her.
They had come looking for something.
The office was the first clue.
Every file cabinet had been opened.
Folders sat neatly stacked on the floor.
Not messy.
Organized.
Someone had searched carefully.
"They knew exactly what they wanted," Mauricio whispered.
Mariana walked to the bookshelf.
One law book was slightly out of place.
She pulled it forward.
Behind it was a small fireproof safe.
The door stood open.
Empty.
Her pulse quickened.
"What was inside?" Mauricio asked.
Mariana didn't answer immediately.
Finally she whispered,
"My father's original shareholder agreements."
The documents proving how ownership of Grupo Biomédica had passed to her years earlier.
Without them...
Replacing the originals would become much more complicated.
"They're trying to erase the paper trail," Mauricio said quietly.
Mariana nodded.
"No..."
"They're trying to rewrite it."
Later that evening, Mariana requested a copy of the home's security footage.
The technician looked uncomfortable.
"There's a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"The cameras stopped recording."
"When?"
He checked the system log.
"Exactly thirty-two minutes before the intruder entered."
"Technical failure?"
He shook his head.
"No."
"They were remotely disabled."
"Can you recover anything?"
The technician hesitated.
"One camera uploaded a backup image before the signal was cut."
He opened the final frame.
The picture was grainy.
Dark.
Barely recognizable.
A man wearing a black baseball cap stood near the front entrance.
His face was hidden.
But one detail caught Mariana's attention.
His left hand.
A silver ring engraved with two initials.
A.V.
Mauricio looked at her.
"Alejandro Valdés?"
"Maybe."
Mariana zoomed in.
The ring matched the one from the torn photograph.
But something felt wrong.
"Alejandro is left-handed."
"So?"
"The man in this image is carrying the flashlight in his left hand."
Mauricio stared at the screen.
"Meaning?"
"If he were Alejandro..."
"He would naturally use his dominant hand for the difficult task."
Instead...
The stranger was using his right hand to unlock the door.
Almost as if...
He wanted people to believe he was Alejandro.
Someone was planting evidence.
The next morning, Mariana returned to the hospital.
Eduardo appeared unusually nervous.
Before she could speak, he asked,
"Did you sign the documents?"
She smiled softly.
"No."
His expression darkened.
"You don't trust me anymore."
Mariana looked directly into his eyes.
"Should I?"
He looked away.
For several seconds neither of them spoke.
Finally Eduardo whispered,
"You don't understand what's happening."
"Then explain it."
He swallowed hard.
"My mother..."
The hospital room door burst open.
Beatriz entered, interrupting him.
"Eduardo needs to rest."
Mariana noticed something unusual.
Beatriz wasn't carrying flowers.
She was carrying Eduardo's phone.
"I'll take care of everything," Beatriz said.
Before leaving, she placed the phone beside Eduardo's pillow.
Mariana watched carefully.
As Beatriz turned toward the door...
A folded piece of paper slipped from her handbag.
She didn't notice.
After she left, Mariana quietly picked it up.
It wasn't a receipt.
It wasn't a letter.
It was a visitor authorization issued by a private rehabilitation clinic.
One patient's name had been blacked out with a marker.
But another name remained perfectly visible.
Alejandro Valdés.
Below it, handwritten in blue ink, were four chilling words.
"Move him before Friday."
Mariana felt a chill run down her spine.
Move who?
Eduardo?
Ximena?
Or someone else they were desperately trying to keep hidden?
Before she could think further, her phone vibrated.
It was a message from an unknown number.
No greeting.
No explanation.
Just one sentence.
"If you want the truth about the crash... stop looking at your husband. Start looking at the woman who died three years ago."
Mariana read the message twice.
Then a third time.
She had spent days searching for the living.
May you like
She had never considered that the key to everything...
might belong to someone who was already dead.
