“Because I wanted to know what I really wanted to do first.”
“And now, do you know?”
“I’m starting to know.”
Javier s’approcha.
“This house is yours, Dad. You have nothing to prove to me. »
The old man took her hand.
“I never wanted to show you that I had money.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to teach you what you can do with it.”
This conversation transformed their relationship.
Javier realized that he had spent too many years measuring his success through his company’s numbers.
His father, on the other hand, was beginning to measure the last years of his life through the people he could still help.
CHAPTER 19. THE INVESTIGATION
Over the next few months, the authorities examined the documents submitted by the various parties.
The authenticity of the signatures attributed to Don Ernesto was investigated.
Bank movements and operations related to Víctor’s company were also examined.
Lucía was heard with the assistance of her lawyer.
Víctor also had to explain his participation.
The investigation did not automatically turn every suspicion into an established fact.
But it made it possible to reconstruct a series of operations that were difficult to justify.
The signature on one of the main documents was submitted to an expert opinion.
The result revealed important differences from Don Ernesto’s authentic signatures, consistent with a possible imitation.
It was also established that several transfers had been made by means of electronic accesses that the old man did not personally use.
The records and testimonies made it possible to link certain operations to the steps taken by Lucía and Víctor.
The lawyers of the two applicants disputed these conclusions.
However, the weight of evidence eventually caused a rift between the former partners.
Lucía admitted to having participated in the preparation of documents whose true significance she knew.
She also admitted to presenting Javier with a false and exaggerated picture of her father’s deteriorating mental state.
Víctor attempted to assign most of the blame to Lucía.
She responded by presenting messages in which he gave instructions regarding documents and transfers.
Elena explained to Don Ernesto that the legal consequences would depend on the facts finally established and the court decisions.
The old man nodded.
“I’m not trying to make them suffer out of revenge.”
“I know,” the lawyer replied.
“But I also don’t want them to be able to do the same thing to someone else.”
As the proceedings progressed, agreements were reached to return various sums of money and to abandon the disputed property claims.
The manor remained in the name of Don Ernesto.
No transfer of ownership took place.
The old man fully retained his right to decide his future.
Meanwhile, Javier initiated separation proceedings.
It was a painful decision.
He had genuinely loved Lucía.
For a while, he wondered if any part of their marriage had actually been genuine.
He remembered their travels, their conversations, and their happy moments.
He couldn’t say that everything had been faked.
But he knew one thing.
The woman he had married had deliberately mistreated her father and had hidden serious facts about his assets from him.
And he was not willing to continue this relationship.
One afternoon, Lucía wrote him one last letter.
She did not ask for money.
Nor did she ask to return.
She acknowledged some of the harm she had caused and explained that she was beginning to understand the consequences of her decisions.
Javier read the letter.
He put it away.
He did not answer.
He had learned that turning a page did not always require a last argument.
Sometimes it was enough to accept that trust was gone.
CHAPTER 20. DON ERNESTO’S DECISION
Six months later, Don Ernesto reunites Javier, Elena and Carmen in the living room of the manor.
He had prepared coffee and pastries.
On the table lay a blue file.
Javier looked at him curiously.
“Dad, what is that?”
The old man smiled.
“A decision I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”
Elena opened the file.
It contained a project to create a foundation to support elderly people who are victims of abandonment, isolation or financial abuse.
Don Ernesto had decided to devote a significant part of his estate to it.
It had also planned to allocate, in the future and within an appropriate legal framework, part of the value of certain real estate properties to the financing of this project.
The mansion would not be sold immediately.
He would continue to live there.
But he had begun to prepare what he wanted to see happen after his death.
“I want this house to have a second life,” he explained.
Javier read the proposed name.
Mercedes Valcárcel Foundation.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Mom would be proud.”
Don Ernesto looked at the photograph of his wife.
