At the age of eighteen, he moved to Madrid.
At the age of twenty-five, he founded a small building supplies company.
He had inherited no fortune.
He had not enjoyed any influential support.
He had built his wealth over forty years, getting up before dawn and returning home when his wife and son were already asleep.
Over time, this small family business had grown into a successful business.
He had bought several plots of land, two commercial premises and finally a mansion on the outskirts of Madrid.
But he had never forgotten his origins.
Despite his fortune, he had continued to wear the same watch for thirty years.
He drove a modest car.
And when an employee made a mistake, they would rather teach them how to work better than fire them.
His wife, Mercedes, had been the great love of his life.
They had met young and married when they had almost no money.
She had accompanied him during the most difficult times.
When Javier was born, Mercedes had quit her job to devote herself to their family.
Ernesto had never considered this an obligation.
He always repeated that half of everything he had accomplished belonged morally to his wife.
That is why, when Mercedes died of an illness, the old man lost much more than his companion.
He lost the habits that gave meaning to his days.
For months he scarcely left his room.
Javier, his only son, tried to keep him company.
But the company was going through a period of expansion and his job required him to travel constantly.
It was then that Lucía came into their lives.
The young woman had met Javier at a business reception.
She was attractive, intelligent and knew how to evolve in elegant environments.
She presented herself as an investment consultant.
She spoke with ease about real estate, companies and investment funds.
Javier fell under her spell.
Lucía, on the other hand, showed a particular interest in family history from the beginning.
She asked about Mercedes.
She listened with apparently sincere attention to the memories of Don Ernesto.
She even accompanied the old man to the cemetery for the second anniversary of his wife’s death.
This gesture moved him deeply.
“She is a good woman, my son,” he said to her one evening. Don’t let your work make you lose it. »
Javier smiled.
They married six months later.
The ceremony took place in the gardens of the manor.
Don Ernesto paid a large part of the expenses.
And when the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon, he offered them to live with him.
“This house is too big for a lonely old man,” he explained. It will do me good to hear young voices. »
Javier accepted with emotion.
Lucía took her stepfather in her arms.
“I will never forget what you do for us, Don Ernesto.”
The old man believed his words.
He did not yet know that, on her first visit to the mansion, Lucía had walked through the rooms mentally assessing their possibilities.
The library could become an office.
The former Mercedes lounge could be renovated.
The master bedroom had an extraordinary dressing room.
But there was a problem.
The mansion belonged exclusively to Don Ernesto.
And as long as this man remained alive and retained his decision-making capacity, Lucía would never be able to sell him or dispose of him freely.
At first, she did not reveal her true intentions.
She was preparing the old man’s breakfast.
She reminded him of his medical appointments.
She inquired about her medication.
When Javier was present, she affectionately called him “Papa Ernesto”.
But everything began to change when her husband accepted a professional project that required frequent travel to other cities.
The first time Javier was away for a week, Lucía fired Carmen, the domestic worker who had worked for the family for seventeen years.
“We need to cut expenses,” she explained.
Don Ernesto fut surpris.
“I’m the one who pays Carmen’s salary.”
Lucía smiles.
“Precisely. We want to help you manage your money better. »
Ernesto did not argue.
A week later, Lucía hired a part-time cleaner.
The new employee, Rosa, came only three mornings a week.
She didn’t know the history of the family.
She also didn’t have access to all the rooms.
Lucía then began to control small aspects of the old man’s life.
First of all, it changed the meal times.
Then she asked him not to receive any more visitors without warning.
Then she began to examine her mail.
“It’s for your safety,” she said.
Don Ernesto, who had always been a confident man, interpreted these decisions as an excess of solicitude.
Until the day he discovered that his daughter-in-law was lying to Javier.
