Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF PRIDE
Alejandro reached the hallway first. The front door swayed once on its hinges, letting
in a blade of cold evening air. Beyond the glass, the driveway curved through rows of
wet cypress trees toward the iron gate. A dark motorcycle was already disappearing
beyond the stone wall. Tomás, who had followed the group in a second car, moved past
everyone with his phone in hand, calling the gatehouse and security team. Whoever had
entered the Romero mansion knew the layout, knew the safe might be opened, and knew
exactly when the family would be distracted.
“Was anything taken?” Clara asked. Elena stared toward Arturo’s study. “The contract.”
They rushed back. The original refinancing agreement was still on the desk beneath
Gabriel’s hand. The old phone remained beside Dev’s laptop. Nothing obvious was missing.
Tomás returned from the hallway. “The gate camera caught the motorcycle, but the plate
was covered. A side service entrance was found unlocked. No sign of forced entry.” Elena
looked sick. “Only staff know that door.” “Former staff too,” Alejandro said.
They spent the next hour inventorying the study. Finally Clara noticed a thin rectangle
of dust on a shelf behind Arturo’s desk, cleaner than the wood around it. “What was
here?” Elena looked. Her face changed. “A photograph.” “Of what?” “Arturo with Ricardo.
At the opening of their first hotel twenty-five years ago.” Alejandro frowned. “Why
steal a photograph?” Gabriel’s gaze moved toward the empty space. “Maybe the frame
contained something.”
Elena sat heavily in Arturo’s chair, then immediately stood again, as though occupying
it felt forbidden. “My husband hid documents everywhere. He never trusted a single
safe.” She removed the portrait hanging behind the desk. Nothing. She opened drawers,
books, cigar boxes. Alejandro searched the cabinet beneath a model of an old theater.
Clara watched the scene with growing unease. The lost photograph might be meaningless,
or it might explain why someone had risked entering a house now crawling with security.
At last Elena stopped. “I cannot think.” She pressed her fingers to her temples. “This
is what he wanted. Ricardo always does this. He makes you feel that if you move too
slowly, everything collapses.” Alejandro looked at her. “Then stop moving at his speed.”
Elena stared at her son. For once, she did not argue.
The next morning brought another blow. Romero Development’s largest supplier suspended
deliveries, citing uncertainty over payment. A bank froze an unused credit facility. Two
clients postponed closings. The company was not yet insolvent, but panic could make
insolvency arrive faster than mathematics. Hundreds of employees depended on the next
payroll cycle. Clara understood why Elena had kept signing desperate agreements. Fear
could turn terrible decisions into reasonable ones one step at a time.
At Valdés headquarters, Gabriel assembled a small group of financial advisers. Their
conclusion was simple: Valdés Global could buy Romero Development’s debt within hours
and end Salcedo’s immediate leverage. The amount was substantial but manageable. To
anyone outside the room, it would look like a romantic rescue. To Clara, it looked like
a dangerous shortcut.
“We should not do it,” she said. Alejandro, seated across the table, looked surprised.
Elena looked even more so. Gabriel leaned back. “Explain.” Clara folded her hands. “If
we purchase the debt, Salcedo will accuse us of interfering to protect my boyfriend.
Elena’s board will lose what remains of its independence. Employees will think their
jobs depend on my father’s generosity. And Alejandro will spend years wondering whether
his company survived because he loved me.”
Alejandro met her eyes. “That would not bother me if it saved the staff.” “It would
bother you later.” “Maybe.” “It would bother me too.” Clara’s voice softened. “I do not
want our relationship tied to a bailout.”
Elena’s expression tightened, but not with anger. “Then what do you suggest?” Clara
turned to the advisers. “Separate the people from the owners. Create an emergency
payroll facility secured by receivables, not by family shares. Keep employees paid for
sixty days while the contract fraud is challenged. If the company survives, it repays
the facility at market terms. If it fails, the workers are not the first people
sacrificed.” Gabriel’s mouth curved slightly. “Your mother would have liked that.” “You
say that every time I cost you interest.” “Because she did the same thing.”
Elena lowered her gaze. “Why would you help our employees after what I did to you?”
Clara looked at her. “Because they did not slap me.” The sentence was almost gentle.
Elena swallowed hard.
Later, Clara found her alone on the terrace outside the conference room. The city spread
below them in bright glass and traffic. Elena stood without a coat despite the wind. “I
hated you before I knew you,” she said, not turning around. Clara waited. “That is the
truth I keep trying to dress in better words. I told myself I was protecting Alejandro.
I told myself I was protecting the company. But when I saw you with him, happy in a way
he had not been since Arturo died, I felt something uglier.”
“Fear?” Clara asked. “Jealousy.” Elena finally faced her. “Not romantic jealousy.
Control. I had spent two years making every decision for everyone. Then you appeared,
and Alejandro began making choices without asking me. I looked at your simple clothes
and decided you were beneath us because that made it easier to dismiss you. If I had
known your surname, I would have smiled. I would have invited you to lunch. I would have
become everything I pretend to be.” Her eyes filled, but she did not wipe them. “That
may be the worst part.”
Clara appreciated the honesty more than an elegant apology. “It is a bad part.” Elena
gave a broken laugh. “You do not make forgiveness easy.” “Forgiveness is not supposed to
be easy.” “Will you ever forgive me?” Clara looked back toward the city. “I do not know
yet. But I am listening.”
Inside, Dev called for them. He had traced the forged memo’s source to a laptop
registered to a shell consulting company. The company’s director was a former Romero
Development IT manager named Mateo Ruiz. Alejandro recognized the name instantly. Mateo
had been fired eighteen months earlier after Arturo discovered unauthorized data
exports. Elena had not known the reason; Arturo had handled the dismissal privately.
“Where is Mateo now?” Gabriel asked. Dev turned the screen around. “According to public
records, he works for a Salcedo subsidiary.” That was enough to support suspicion, not
enough to prove the forgery. Then Tomás entered carrying a small evidence bag. Inside
was the missing photograph from Arturo’s study, recovered by security near the service
road. The glass had shattered when whoever stole it dropped it while escaping. Tomás had
removed the backing carefully.
Behind the photograph was a folded piece of paper. Elena unfolded it with trembling
hands. The note was in Arturo’s handwriting. If anything happens to me before the
refinancing is cleared, do not trust Ricardo. The hotel fire was not an accident. Mateo
has the copies.
No one moved. Alejandro read the line again. “What hotel fire?” Clara asked. Elena had
gone completely pale. “The Santa Aurelia,” she whispered. “One of Arturo and Ricardo’s
first projects. It burned sixteen years ago. A night guard died.”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened. “And what does that have to do with the company now?” Elena
looked at the note as if it had opened a grave. “Arturo used to say the fire was the day
he stopped trusting Ricardo. He never told me why.”
Alejandro’s phone rang. Unknown number. He answered on speaker. A man’s frightened voice
spoke quickly. “Mr. Romero? My name is Mateo Ruiz. If you found Arturo’s note, you are
already in danger. Do not call the police from your own phones. Ricardo has people
watching you.”
Alejandro gripped the table. “Where are you?” There was a pause, followed by the sound
of traffic and breathing. “I can prove the memo was forged,” Mateo said. “And I can
prove what happened at the Santa Aurelia. But if Salcedo finds me first, none of you
will ever see the evidence.”
The call ended. For several seconds, the room remained silent. Then Clara looked at
May you like
Tomás. “Can you find him?” Tomás was already reaching for his coat. “Before Salcedo
does? We are about to find out.”
