Documentation reserved for the private meeting at 10:30 PM. Confirmation from Mr. Daniel Romero.

I looked at my watch.

It was 10:17 at night.

Thirteen minutes remained.

And for the first time since I had arrived at the hotel, I understood that this party might not have been organized solely to celebrate an engagement.

Someone intended to use it to close a business deal.

A business deal with my company.

Without my authorization.

Then I heard a voice behind us.

“Mrs. Romero, please don’t open the last page.”

I turned around.

The hotel’s general manager was standing a few steps away.

His face was completely contorted.

And he was holding in his hand an envelope with my own company’s seal.

“If you open it here,” she whispered, “your son could become involved in something far more serious than he imagines.”

CHAPTER 3

“Daniel’s signature appears on a document that should never have left our offices.”

Those were the first words the manager uttered as we closed the door to a small meeting room.

His name was Mauricio Salcedo.

He had been managing the Hotel Brasa del Pacífico for six years.

He had always been a meticulous man.

Punctual.

Discreet.

And that’s precisely why it worried me to see him so upset.

“Start from the beginning,” I ordered him.

Mauricio placed the envelope on the table.

“This morning we received instructions to prepare an investor meeting following the commitment.”

“Who sent them?”

“The law firm that represents the Holguín family.”

I felt my jaw harden.

“And why didn’t you warn me?”

Mauricio lowered his gaze.

“Because they came with internal authorization.”

He opened the envelope.

Inside there were three documents.

The first was a proposal to incorporate a company linked to the Holguín family as the commercial operator of a new hotel expansion.

The second one contained financial projections.

And the third was a letter of intent.

The name Daniel appeared on it.

Alongside a signature that looked remarkably similar to his own.

But something didn’t fit.

“Daniel does not have the authority to commit shares of Propiedades Brasa del Pacífico,” I said.

“I know,” Mauricio replied. “That’s why I didn’t allow anything to be processed.”

“So, what did they intend to do?”

“To get you to ratify the deal tonight.”

I remained motionless.

Those words began to put the pieces in order.

The commitment.

The invited businesspeople.

The insistence on keeping me out of the photographs.

The private meeting.

They didn’t want it to disappear forever.

They wanted to keep me out of the way until it was time to use my signature.

“Who assured them that I would accept?”

Mauricio hesitated.

“According to the office, you had already given your verbal consent.”

I let out a dry laugh.

“Nobody asked me anything at all.”

Mauricio rubbed his hands together.

“That’s what made me suspicious.”

I then remembered Mr. Holguín’s words.

Our families will be united.

Perhaps he wasn’t talking about marriage.

Perhaps he was talking about companies.

I took the gray folder that Lucas had given me.

“And Altamar Consulting?”

Mauricio paled even more.

“It’s the company that would charge for structuring the transaction.”

“Who controls it?”

“I don’t have that information.”

I watched him in silence.

“Then let’s find out.”

I called Verónica Cárdenas, the legal director of my business group.

It was almost ten thirty.

He answered the second ring.

“Isabel, what a surprise. I thought you’d be celebrating.”

“I need you to review a letter of intent and a supplier called Altamar Consulting. There is a possible unauthorized transaction.”

His tone changed immediately.

“Send me photographs. Don’t sign anything and keep the originals.”

Lunch.

Then I asked Mauricio to discreetly request the access logs for the room reserved for that meeting.

I didn’t want to accuse anyone without proof.

But I also wasn’t going to allow them to use my company as an engagement gift.

When I returned to the hall, the party seemed completely different.

The music continued.

The waiters were serving desserts.

The guests chatted as if nothing extraordinary had happened.

However, he now noticed details that had previously gone unnoticed.

Mr. Holguín was speaking in a low voice to two men in gray suits.

Carlota was constantly looking at her phone.

And her mother smiled too much whenever someone mentioned the upcoming wedding.

I approached Daniel.

“I need to talk to you.”

Her face tensed.

“Is it about Carlota again?”

“No. Because of some documents.”

I led him to a side terrace.

I showed him the letter of intent.

Daniel read it.

His expression changed.

First confusion.

Then disbelief.

Finally, a concern that he could not hide.

“Where did you get this?”

“From a business meeting that someone arranged at my hotel without informing me.”

Daniel looked at his signature again.