CHAPTER 4 – THE MAN NAMED ALEJANDRO
Elena replayed the video twice.
Neither of us spoke.
Isabella had fallen asleep in the adjoining bedroom.
For the first time that day, she looked peaceful.
I closed the door quietly.
“What does that mean?”
Elena didn't pretend not to understand.
“It could mean many things.”
“Give me the worst.”
She looked at me.
“They could have been planning to remove you from control of the company.”
“Or?”
“Daniel.”
“Say it.”
“They could have been planning to hurt you.”
I stared through the hotel window toward the harbor.
Three months in Dubai.
Three months during which Beatriz had isolated my daughter.
Sold her belongings.
Transferred money.
Fired the one employee who tried to intervene.
And met secretly with a man named Alejandro Cruz.
“Find him.”
Elena opened her laptop.
It took less than twenty minutes.
Alejandro Cruz.
Forty-one.
Former investment broker.
Two bankruptcies.
Fraud investigation seven years earlier.
Charges dismissed.
And then Elena found the photograph.
My stomach turned.
I knew him.
Not personally.
But I had seen him.
At our wedding.
Standing behind Beatriz in one of the photographs.
“Who is he?”
Elena zoomed in.
“I think you should ask your wife.”
“I already know she'll lie.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Daniel?”
Mateo.
I stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“Mateo?”
“Thank God.”
“Where are you?”
“Portugal.”
“Why?”
Silence.
“Mateo?”
“Because they threatened my grandson.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“Cruz.”
Elena started recording the call.
Mateo continued.
“I found out about the money.”
“I confronted Mrs. Navarro.”
“She denied everything.”
“Two days later, Cruz came to my house.”
“What did he say?”
“That accidents happen to old men.”
“And children.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why didn't you call me?”
“I tried.”
“What?”
“I called your Dubai office three times.”
I looked at Elena.
“I never received anything.”
“I know.”
“Your assistant said you were unavailable.”
Which assistant?
Then I remembered.
Beatriz had insisted I hire her cousin Lucía as my temporary personal coordinator before I left.
My stomach turned.
“How deep does this go?”
Mateo exhaled.
“Deeper than I know.”
“Come back.”
“I can't.”
“I can protect you.”
“Maybe.”
His voice dropped.
“But protect Isabella first.”
“I am.”
“Good.”
“Mateo, what are they planning?”
A long silence.
“I don't know exactly.”
“But I heard Cruz say something about your medication.”
I frowned.
“I don't take medication.”
“I know.”
Another silence.
“That is why it scared me.”
The call ended.
Elena looked at me.
“You need security.”
“I need answers.”
“You need both.”
She arranged two private security officers.
Then we contacted police.
Not dramatically.
Not yet.
We provided the doctor's report, security footage, financial documents, and Mateo's recording.
The investigator assigned to the case was Inspector Luis Ortega.
He watched everything without interrupting.
When it ended, he leaned back.
“Do not confront your wife again.”
“I already did.”
“Then don't do it twice.”
“Why?”
“Because people behave differently when they realize evidence exists.”
He tapped Mateo's phone.
“She knows you found something.”
“She doesn't know how much.”
“Keep it that way.”
That evening, Beatriz called seventeen times.
I answered the eighteenth.
“Where is Isabella?”
“Safe.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“She's my daughter.”
“I raised her.”
“You abused her.”
Silence.
Then Beatriz started crying.
Perfectly.
Almost beautifully.
“Daniel, please.”
I said nothing.
“I made mistakes.”
“Locking her outside wasn't a mistake.”
“I was overwhelmed.”
“Selling her dead mother's jewelry wasn't being overwhelmed.”
Silence.
That one hurt her.
“How did you find that?”
I smiled without humor.
“Good night, Beatriz.”
“Wait.”
I almost hung up.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Alejandro isn't what you think.”
I froze.
“I didn't mention Alejandro.”
Silence.
She had made the mistake herself.
“Beatriz?”
The call disconnected.
Elena looked at me.
“She knows.”
“Yes.”
“And now she knows you know.”
My phone buzzed again.
Not Beatriz.
A message.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
Taken outside the hotel.
It showed me standing near the window.
May you like
Below it were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN DUBAI.
