“One trap within another.”

Javier gritted his teeth.

For a moment he was tempted to justify his wife.

She had been deceived.

Manipulated.

Threatened.

But he remembered the two slaps.

Of false accusation.

And the way Lucía had witnessed her father’s assault without intervening.

Manipulation explained some of his decisions.

She did not erase them.

“Lucía will have to answer for what she did,” he finally says.

Pilar acquiesça.

“And Arturo and Ricardo too.”

At that moment, Javier’s phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

He hesitated before picking up.

“Hello?”

A female voice answered.

“Javier, that’s me.”

Lucia.

He closed his eyes.

“What do you want?”

“I need to see you.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I have something that could help you.”

Javier looked at his father.

“You’ve already told us a lot.”

“This time, I have proof.”

His voice trembled.

But she seemed different.

Less calculating.

More exhausted.

“What proof?”

Lucía took a few seconds to answer.

“A recording of Arturo.”

Javier redresses.

“When did it date?”

“From this morning.”

“What does he say?”

The young woman began to cry.

“That they never intended to pay off my debts.”

Javier remained silent.

Lucía continued.

“And that after they took over the house, they intended to make me bear all the responsibility.”

Don Ernesto looked up.

Javier turned on the speakerphone.

“Where are you?”

“At my sister’s.”

“We won’t go looking for you without first talking to the authorities.”

“I understand.”

His voice broke.

“Javier, there’s something else.”

He closed his eyes.

“Say it.”

“Arturo threatened to go after Pilar.”

The former secretary froze.

Javier immediately turned to her.

“What exactly did he say?”

“That he knows that she helps you.”

Pilar purses her lips.

Lucía took a deep breath.

“And that if you hand over the documents, he will say that Don Ernesto had been voluntarily involved in the operations for years.”

The old man shook his head.

“That’s not true.”

Javier spoke again.

“Does he have proof?”

Lucía responded with a sentence that took their breath away.

“He has a video.”

“What video?”

“A video in which we see your father signing documents with Ricardo.”

Don Ernesto frowned.

“I signed a lot of documents with him.”

Lucía continues.

“Arturo says he can edit the images to make it look like your father knew exactly what he was doing.”

Javier sentit son estomac se nouer.

“Where is this video?”

“In Ricardo’s computer.”

There was a pause.

Then Lucía added:

“And I have a copy of it too.”

Javier heard him breathe.

« Comment ? »

“Arturo sent it to me to scare me.”

“Can you send it to us?”

“Yes.”

Javier was silent for a few seconds.

Then he answered:

“Hand it over to the police, with Arturo’s recording.”

Lucía let out a sob.

“Will you help me?”

Javier regarda Don Ernesto.

He remembered his own guilt.

And Elena’s words.

Don’t run away from what you’ve done.

“I’m going to help bring out the truth.”

Lucía took a long time to answer.

“And the two of us?”

Javier felt deep pain.

“We can’t fix our relationship with another lie.”

He hung up.

Pilar regarda Don Ernesto.

“I believe that we now have enough evidence for the investigators to take a serious look at this case.”

But the old man kept looking at the phone.

“There’s something that worries me.”

“What?”

“Ricardo never needed to threaten anyone when he was in control of the situation.”

Javier frowned.

“What do you mean?”

Don Ernesto pointed to the files.

“That if he’s threatening now, maybe it’s because he’s losing control.”

Pilar acquiesça.

“Or because he intends to make certain evidence disappear.”

At that very moment, Javier received an email.

It did not contain any objects.

Only an attachment.

And a sentence.

YOUR MOTHER WASN’T THE ONLY ONE TO DISCOVER WHAT WE WERE DOING.

Javier felt a shiver.

He opened the file.

It was a photograph.

It showed Ricardo in an office.

Sitting in front of another man.

A man Javier did not recognize.

At the bottom was a date.

Seventeen years earlier.

And a handwritten annotation.

OPERATION MORALES: FIRST OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED.

Javier looked up.

“Dad… »

Don Ernesto contempla l’image.

His face lost all color.

“I know this man.”

Javier leaned over to him.

“Who is it?”

The old man took a few seconds to answer.

“It was the doctor who signed your mother’s first medical report.”

CHAPTER 9. THE DAY THE LIES COLLAPSED

The photograph did not prove that the doctor had harmed Elena.

Nor did it prove that Ricardo had caused his illness.

But it raised a question that Don Ernesto had been avoiding for years.

Why had the family’s lawyer met privately with one of the doctors involved in the administrative reports concerning his wife?