Chapter 9 - The Attorney Who Had Been Waiting Five Years
Gabriel Serrano agreed to meet that evening.
He refused to come to the hospital.
He refused to enter any Aranda property.
Instead, he chose a small law office above a closed bookstore across town.
Alejandro left two security officers outside Valeria’s room and went with Detective Cruz.
Gabriel Serrano was seventy-two.
Thin.
Silver-haired.
Sharp-eyed.
He looked at Alejandro for a long time before offering his hand.
“You look like Emilio when you’re angry.”
Alejandro did not smile.
“Did my grandfather believe my mother might harm my future child?”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“No.”
Alejandro felt a small amount of relief.
Then Gabriel continued.
“He believed she might destroy anyone standing between her and control.”
The relief disappeared.
Gabriel opened a locked cabinet.
Inside were old files.
“You need to understand your grandmother.”
“She isn’t my grandmother.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Your mother.”
The mistake had been simple.
But Alejandro realized how completely Esther had become identified with the Aranda dynasty.
Even outsiders sometimes spoke of her as though she had founded it.
Gabriel placed a folder on the desk.
“Esther married into the Aranda family when your father was twenty-six.”
Alejandro knew that.
“What you may not know is that your grandfather never intended her to hold executive authority.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t trust the way she used people.”
Rafael had never told Alejandro that.
Gabriel continued.
“Esther was brilliant.”
“She still is.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel nodded.
“That made her dangerous when paired with resentment.”
He opened the file.
“Your grandfather watched her gradually isolate your father.”
Alejandro frowned.
“From whom?”
“His brother.”
Alejandro remembered Uncle Javier.
He had left the company when Alejandro was a teenager.
The family story was that Javier stole money.
“Javier was innocent?”
Gabriel did not answer immediately.
“That accusation was never proven.”
Alejandro’s stomach tightened.
“And who made it?”
“Esther.”
The pattern was becoming impossible to ignore.
Discredit someone.
Isolate them.
Create documents.
Control the story.
Gabriel pushed another file toward Alejandro.
“This is a copy of the original estate structure.”
Detective Cruz leaned forward.
“Why did you keep copies?”
“Because Emilio asked me to.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed documents inside the Aranda offices might someday disappear.”
Alejandro thought of the disabled cameras.
The stolen medical records.
The forged evaluation.
His grandfather had seen the danger years earlier.
Alejandro asked, “What happens legally when my child is born?”
“Assuming the child is yours and survives birth, the voting trust activates immediately.”
“And Esther loses control.”
“Yes.”
“Can she challenge it?”
“She can try.”
“Can she win?”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“Not if I am alive.”
Alejandro stared at him.
“That’s why she fired you.”
“One reason.”
“What was the other?”
Gabriel’s expression became serious.
“I refused to alter the trust.”
Alejandro went still.
“She asked you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“What did she want changed?”
“She wanted the child clause removed.”
Alejandro looked at Detective Cruz.
Gabriel continued.
“I refused.”
“What happened?”
“The next week, the board received anonymous allegations that I had mishandled client funds.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
Again.
Same method.
Different victim.
“Were you cleared?”
“Eventually.”
“But your reputation was damaged.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Gabriel leaned back.
“You were twenty-nine and completely loyal to your mother.”
The truth stung.
“I tried once.”
“When?”
“At your grandfather’s memorial.”
Alejandro remembered.
An older lawyer had approached him.
Esther had taken Alejandro’s arm and whispered that the man was disgraced.
Alejandro had walked away.
He stared at Gabriel.
“That was you.”
“Yes.”
Alejandro looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
Gabriel shrugged.
“You were young.”
“I was old enough.”
“Yes.”
The simple answer hurt more.
Detective Cruz asked, “Do you have evidence Mrs. Aranda attempted to alter the trust?”
Gabriel opened another drawer.
“I have the letter she sent me.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“She put it in writing?”
“Not the motive.”
Gabriel handed Cruz the document.
“But the requested changes are clear.”
Cruz read silently.
“This could establish financial motive.”
“Yes.”
Alejandro asked, “Will you testify?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“I have been waiting five years to be asked properly.”
Alejandro nodded.
Then Gabriel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“When?”
He listened.
“Call the fire department.”
Alejandro stood.
“What happened?”
Gabriel ended the call.
“My archive office.”
Detective Cruz was already moving.
“What about it?”
May you like
Gabriel looked at the files surrounding them.
“Someone just set it on fire.”
