“No.”
Pilar held the old man’s gaze.
“She told him that it was already too late.”
Javier felt a shiver.
“Too late for what?”
“Because she had prepared a second copy of everything.”
Pilar pointed to the USB stick.
“And now we need to find out if that second copy is still where Elena left it.”
CHAPTER 8. THE TRUTH BEHIND THE MONEY
The contents of the bank vault forever changed the way Javier would remember his mother.
Inside, there was no jewelry.
No more cash.
There were files.
Bank statements.
Photocopies of contracts.
Signed letters.
And a small voice recorder that still contained an old battery.
Javier stood still while Pilar examined the documents with a bank employee.
They had been able to access the safe after verifying their identity and completing the necessary formalities.
Don Ernesto held a photograph of Elena.
It was the same image he had seen in the living room.
His wife appeared smiling, her hair tied back, her eyes full of life.
“She’s always been braver than me,” he whispered.
Javier heard it.
“Dad… »
“It’s nothing, my son.”
But that wasn’t true.
He felt way too much.
He discovered that the best friend of his entire life had taken advantage of his wife’s illness to hide a network of embezzlement.
And that Elena had devoted part of her last months to trying to protect them.
When they got home, they spread out the documents on the dining room table.
Pilar had recommended that the originals be carefully preserved and that copies of the relevant documents be given to the authorities.
Javier turned on the recorder.
At first, only a buzzing sound was heard.
Then a breath.
And finally, a voice.
Elena’s voice.
“If you’re listening to this, it’s probably because I can’t explain it to you personally anymore.”
Don Ernesto covered his mouth.
Javier felt tears roll down his cheeks.
It had been sixteen years since he had heard his mother speak.
And this time, it wasn’t in an old birthday recording.
Nor in a family video.
She was speaking directly to him.
As if she had known that one day, he would be sitting at this table.
“Ernesto, my love, forgive me for hiding so many secrets from you.”
The old man began to cry.
Pilar handed him a handkerchief.
The voice continued.
“I discovered money movements that Ricardo was unable to explain.”
“At first, I thought it was administrative errors.”
“Then I found documents with signatures that I had never put up.”
“Some of them were about companies I’d never heard of.”
Javier looked at his father.
Don Ernesto had closed his eyes.
“I don’t want fear to decide for us,” Elena continued. That is why I have kept the evidence and left instructions for it to be examined. »
The recording was briefly interrupted.
Then his voice rang out again.
More tired.
Weaker.
“Javier, my son, if one day someone asks you to choose between love and truth, don’t let him convince you that these two things are enemies.”
Javier felt this sentence pierce him.
He saw Lucía’s face again.
Her fake tears.
The punch.
The look of his father.
“Loving someone doesn’t mean believing everything they tell you,” Elena continued. To love is also to have the courage to ask questions. »
Don Ernesto pencha sur la table.
His shoulders trembled.
His wife’s voice softened.
“And if you’re wrong, Javier, don’t run away from what you’ve done. Admit it. Fix what you can. Learn to become better. »
Then there were a few seconds of silence.
The recording ended with a final sentence.
“I love you. More than these words will ever be able to express it. »
Javier turned off the device.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Not because they lacked words.
But because all of them seemed insufficient.
Finally, Don Ernesto took his son’s hand.
Javier la serra.
There was no immediate forgiveness.
But there was something they both needed.
The certainty that they could still listen to each other.
That afternoon, Pilar showed them a set of documents linking several irregular transactions.
There were movements involving large sums.
Invoices for alleged services.
Inter-company loans.
And a correspondence establishing links between Ricardo and Arturo.
The company Inversiones Horizonte also appeared in this network.
Javier looked at a transfer.
Its date corresponded to the day after Lucía’s savings disappeared.
Thirty thousand euros had passed through a company account.
Soon after, payments were made to another company linked to Arturo.
“They’ve been using her all along,” he whispered.
Pilar acquiesça.
“That’s what it seems.”
“They took his money to force him to depend on them.”
“And when she was desperate, they offered her a solution that allowed them to access your wealth.”
Don Ernesto looked at the document.
