Chapter 2
Rosa did not open the envelope immediately.
She carried it inside.
Mateo followed.
Arturo remained outside.
He did not ask to enter again.
That alone made Rosa suspicious.
Arturo had never been a man who waited.
He had always pushed.
Always insisted.
Always found a way to make his wishes sound like necessities.
Now he sat silently on the porch.
Rosa placed the envelope on the kitchen table.
The same table where Arturo had once discussed sending her away.
The same table where Mateo had hidden the key.
The same table where Rosa and Ernesto had shared thousands of meals.
She looked at the envelope.
“Open it,” Mateo said.
Rosa nodded.
The paper was old.
The seal had already been broken.
Inside were three documents.
The first was a copy of an old property deed.
The second was a bank statement.
The third was a handwritten note.
Rosa unfolded the note.
Her breath stopped.
She recognized the handwriting immediately.
Ernesto's.
“Rosa, if Arturo ever finds this, it means I was right to be afraid.”
Rosa's fingers began to shake.
Mateo leaned closer.
“What does it say?”
She continued reading.
“I never told you the whole truth about the building on Calle Durango.”
Rosa sat down.
She remembered that name.
Calle Durango.
Ernesto had mentioned it once.
Long ago.
Before Arturo was born.
He had said it was an investment.
A business project.
Something that had failed.
Rosa had never asked more.
She had trusted him.
The letter continued.
“The building was not lost. It was transferred.”
Rosa's eyes widened.
“Transferred to whom?”
She kept reading.
“Your brother's wife.”
Rosa dropped the letter.
Mateo picked it up.
“Your uncle's wife?”
Rosa nodded slowly.
“My sister-in-law.”
The woman had been dead for almost ten years.
But her son was alive.
His name was Sebastián.
Rosa had not seen him in more than twenty years.
She remembered him as a young man with a sharp smile.
A man who always seemed to know more than he said.
Mateo looked at the deed.
“Why would your father transfer the building to her?”
Rosa shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then she looked toward the window.
Arturo was still sitting outside.
“Ask your father,” Mateo said.
Rosa did not answer.
She walked to the door and opened it.
Arturo stood immediately.
“Come in.”
He looked surprised.
Rosa stepped aside.
Arturo entered the house.
For the first time in five years, he stood inside the home he had taken from her.
But this time, he did not walk like an owner.
He walked like a guest.
Rosa placed the documents on the table.
“What is this?”
Arturo looked at the papers.
His face changed.
“You opened it.”
“Answer me.”
Arturo sat down.
“I found those documents after your house was returned.”
“Where?”
“In the wall.”
Rosa stared at him.
“What?”
Arturo looked at Mateo.
“There was a loose brick behind the old cabinet.”
Mateo's eyes narrowed.
“And you only found it now?”
Arturo looked away.
“No.”
The room became silent.
Rosa understood.
“You found it years ago.”
Arturo said nothing.
Rosa's voice became colder.
“How long have you known?”
Arturo slowly raised his eyes.
“Four years.”
Mateo stepped forward.
“You knew for four years?”
Arturo nodded.
Rosa felt something inside her collapse.
“You knew my father had left documents about another property.”
“Yes.”
“You knew that property might have belonged to my family.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
Arturo closed his eyes.
“I was already in debt.”
Rosa stared at him.
“Of course you were.”
Arturo looked at her.
“I thought I could fix everything.”
“You always say that.”
This time, Arturo had no answer.
Rosa picked up the deed.
“Who owns the building now?”
Arturo hesitated.
Then he said:
“Sebastián.”
Rosa looked at him.
“Your cousin?”
“Yes.”
“And he knows?”
Arturo nodded.
“He knows everything.”
Mateo looked at the documents.
“Then why did you keep this secret?”
Arturo's voice became barely audible.
“Because Sebastián offered me money.”
Rosa went completely still.
Arturo continued.
“He said if I helped him keep the documents hidden, he would help me with my debts.”
Rosa stared at her son.
“How much?”
Arturo looked down.
“Enough to make me believe I could buy my way out.”
“And you chose money.”
Arturo's eyes filled with tears.
“I chose wrong.”
Rosa picked up the old letter.
“No, Arturo.”
She looked directly at him.
“You chose repeatedly.”
And then Mateo noticed something strange.
The bank statement was not from twenty-two years ago.
It was from last month.
Someone had continued moving money from that property.
May you like
And the account receiving it was not Sebastián's.
It was Verónica's.
