Elena withdrew her hand.
—And you don’t understand what it’s like to spend six years hearing that your father destroyed his own life.
Lucia watched her.
—If you do this in public, there’s no going back.
—There isn’t one anymore.
When Elena stood up, Lucia said:
—There’s one thing you should know before you get married.
Elena turned around.
Lucia took a deep breath.
—Diego received an offer from Tomás six months ago. If he could get you to sell your mother’s plot of land before the end of the year, Tomás would hand over the presidency of the group to him.
Elena felt the hotel room tilt.
—Did he accept?
—He said no.
—And you believed him?
Lucia lowered her gaze.
—Until a week ago.
—What happened a week ago?
Lucía took out her phone.
He showed her a photograph taken from afar.
Diego left Tomás’s office with a thick envelope under his arm.
The date was in the corner.
Seven days before the wedding.
Elena looked at the picture.
—What was in the envelope?
-Don’t know.
Lucia put the phone away.
—But since then Diego has stopped answering me when I ask him about Valdemora.
Elena left the hotel with the frame in her bag and an unbearable certainty.
Perhaps Diego was not the man Tomás wanted him to be.
But he wasn’t the man Elena thought she knew either.
Chapter 5 — The Wedding
On the morning of the wedding, Diego called three times.
Elena did not answer the first two.
On the third try, he did it.
-Where are you?
—In my room.
—Marta says you’re acting strange.
—I’m four hours away from getting married.
Diego remained silent.
—Elena, if it’s about Valdemora, I’ll tell you everything after the wedding.
She closed her eyes.
—That’s exactly the problem.
-That?
—Always afterwards.
After dinner.
After the trip.
After the wedding.
After signing.
Diego lowered his voice.
—I don’t want to talk about this over the phone.
-Of course.
Elena hung up.
At midday, Fernando and Pilar arrived discreetly at the hotel. Elena handed them an encrypted copy of the ROJO files and the deeds to her mother’s plot of land.
“If something absurd happens to me tonight, hand everything over to the Prosecutor’s Office,” he said.
Fernando paled.
-Don’t say that.
“I don’t think anything will happen to me. But I no longer intend to depend on the goodwill of the Salvatierras.”
Pilar took the envelope.
—Are you going to cancel the wedding?
Elena looked at her dress hanging by the window.
—I don’t know yet.
He didn’t cancel.
At six in the evening she walked towards Diego down the central aisle of a private chapel. He looked at her as he had always dreamed: excited, almost incredulous.
During the ceremony, Elena looked for a lie on his face.
He didn’t find any.
That was worse.
When Diego pronounced his vows, his voice trembled.
—I promise you that you will never again have to carry the past alone.
Elena almost stopped the ceremony.
He didn’t.
Perhaps because she still loved him.
Perhaps because I wanted to give him one last chance.
Perhaps because a part of her needed the secrets to be revealed in front of everyone.
After the ceremony, the guests moved to the grand hall.
Tomás presided over one of the main tables as if he were the true host. Lucía arrived late in a burgundy dress and avoided looking at Elena.
Diego approached her during the cocktail party.
—I need to talk to Lucia for five minutes.
-Speaks.
-In private.
Elena smiled sadly.
-Of course.
He watched them walk away.
Half an hour later, the scene occurred that would end up changing everything.
Diego and Lucía took a selfie.
Then they danced.
The proximity was enough to break Elena’s last reserve.
But later I would learn that that moment was not what it seemed.
Lucía had received a message from Tomás minutes earlier: “I have the original agreement. If Diego doesn’t comply, I’ll hand it over to the board and he’ll be held responsible for Rojo Uno.”
The selfie wasn’t romantic.
Lucía was photographing, reflected behind them, the envelope that Tomás carried in the inside pocket of his jacket.
Dancing allowed them to speak without being overheard.
—Don’t sign anything—Lucía told Diego.
—I don’t plan to do it.
—Then tell Elena.
-Tonight.
—You always say tonight.
—I’m not going to ruin her wedding.
Lucia looked at him harshly.
—You’ve already done it.
Elena didn’t hear any of that.
She only saw bodies too close and a trust that she no longer shared.
Marta gave him the microphone.
Elena lifted the frame.
And Tomás reacted.
Then came the words.
The demand.
The confirmation.
And finally, the blackout.
When the emergency lights came back on, the frame had disappeared.
