Chapter 6 - The Photograph That Had Been Designed to Destroy Them
By sunrise, Alejandro had not slept.
Valeria rested under observation.
Mateo remained in contact with the hospital team.
Two police detectives had arrived.
Alejandro gave them everything he had.
The laboratory report.
The cup.
Teresa’s call.
The security records.
The unknown message.
And finally, the photograph that had started the entire nightmare.
The image showed Mateo leaving the Aranda mansion shortly after midnight.
At first glance, it appeared simple.
A married woman.
A strange man.
A secret visit.
Exactly the kind of image that could poison a marriage before anyone asked questions.
Detective Isabel Cruz studied it on Alejandro’s phone.
“Who sent this to you?”
“Anonymous number.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
“Can you forward the original?”
“Yes.”
She sent the file to a digital evidence technician.
Twenty minutes later, the technician called back.
The photograph had been edited.
Not heavily.
Just enough.
The timestamp had been altered.
The original image had been taken almost two weeks earlier.
Someone had changed the date to make it appear as though Mateo’s visit happened during Alejandro’s most recent business trip.
More importantly, the image had been cropped.
The full frame included another person.
A woman.
Camila Ortega.
The Aranda family’s longtime housekeeper.
She was standing in the doorway behind Mateo.
Alejandro stared at the uncropped version.
“If Camila was there, then it wasn’t some secret romantic meeting.”
Detective Cruz nodded.
“It looks like the photo was intentionally cropped to remove a witness.”
Alejandro felt sick.
Someone had not merely discovered Mateo’s visits.
Someone had packaged them into a lie.
A lie designed specifically for him.
Designed around his jealousy.
His pride.
His weaknesses.
“Who had access to the camera?”
“Your estate security team.”
“Who controls them?”
He already knew the answer.
“My mother.”
Detective Cruz looked at him.
“Who would know you were away on those exact dates?”
“My entire family office.”
“And who would know this photograph would provoke you?”
Alejandro looked down.
“My mother.”
He hated how easily the answer came now.
He remembered Esther’s face when she first showed him the photograph.
She had not sent it directly.
She had arranged for a family adviser to “discover” it.
Then she had sat beside Alejandro in his office while he stared at the image.
“I always thought Valeria loved you,” Esther had said softly.
Not “she betrayed you.”
Not directly.
That was Esther’s gift.
She planted the thought and waited for someone else to grow it.
Alejandro had done exactly that.
He had returned home furious.
He had cornered Valeria.
He had demanded answers.
And every time she refused, he became more convinced.
Now he understood why she had refused.
If she had told him Mateo was secretly treating her, she would also have needed to accuse Esther.
And until yesterday, Alejandro would have defended his mother.
The truth embarrassed him.
It disgusted him.
He sat beside Valeria’s hospital bed when she woke.
Her eyes opened slowly.
“Baby?”
“Still doing well.”
She exhaled.
Alejandro took her hand.
“I know about the photograph.”
Valeria looked at him.
“It was edited.”
She closed her eyes.
“I thought so.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because Camila was there every time Mateo came.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“You could have told me.”
“I almost did.”
“What stopped you?”
She was silent.
Then she said, “The way you looked at me.”
He felt the words in his chest.
“You had already decided I was guilty.”
“I know.”
“I was scared.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“You kept asking me whether I loved him.”
Alejandro looked down.
“I know.”
“I was trying to keep our baby alive.”
Her voice cracked.
“And you were asking if I was sleeping with the doctor.”
Alejandro’s eyes filled.
There was nothing he could say that would erase that.
“I failed you.”
Valeria looked toward the window.
“Yes.”
The answer was quiet.
Honest.
Alejandro accepted it.
After several minutes, she looked back.
“But you can decide what you do next.”
Before he could respond, the door opened.
Detective Cruz entered.
“We found Teresa.”
Alejandro stood.
“Where?”
“At the central terminal.”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her phone?”
“She dropped it when she saw someone following her.”
“Who?”
Cruz placed a printed photograph on the table.
The image came from a terminal surveillance camera.
Esther’s driver, Héctor Salas, stood fifteen feet behind Teresa.
Alejandro stared at it.
“Did you arrest him?”
“We detained him.”
“And?”
“He says Mrs. Aranda sent him.”
“For what?”
“That depends on which version you believe.”
Alejandro frowned.
“What’s his version?”
“He says Esther wanted him to bring Teresa home.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Detective Cruz placed a second image on the table.
It showed Héctor carrying a leather envelope.
“He says this contained money.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
Valeria whispered, “To make her disappear.”
Cruz nodded.
“That is what Teresa believes.”
Alejandro looked toward the door.
“Where is she now?”
“Giving a formal statement.”
“Will she testify?”
Detective Cruz hesitated.
“She says she will.”
Alejandro exhaled.
Cruz wasn’t finished.
“She also gave us something.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
Valeria’s eyes widened.
“Of Esther?”
“Possibly.”
Detective Cruz removed a small flash drive from an evidence envelope.
“Teresa recorded a conversation the night she decided to run.”
Alejandro stared at the drive.
“What did my mother say?”
Cruz’s expression told him it was worse than he expected.
“She talked about the staircase.”
Valeria went completely still.
Alejandro turned to her.
“What staircase?”
Valeria stared straight ahead.
May you like
For several seconds, she could not speak.
Then she whispered, “The place where I got the bandage on my leg.”
