Chapter 7 - Andrés Loses Control
The woman standing beside Valentina’s bed looked almost exactly like Andrés’s dead mother.
Same dark eyes.
Same high cheekbones.
Same slight tilt of the head.
But older.
Harder.
Alive.
Rafael stopped in the doorway.
His cane slipped from his hand.
“Elena.”
The woman looked at him.
“Hello, Rafael.”
Andrés felt every muscle in his body tighten.
“You’re Elena Talamantes?”
She turned toward him.
For several seconds, she simply stared.
Then her eyes softened.
“You have Rosa’s eyes.”
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
The word landed without ceremony.
“I’m Elena.”
Rafael took one step forward.
“You’re dead.”
Elena smiled without warmth.
“No. You just found that version easier.”
Gabriel entered behind Andrés.
Two security officers waited outside.
Elena noticed them.
“If I wanted to hurt Valentina, I had twenty-seven years to do it.”
Valentina pushed herself higher against the pillows.
“Why are you here?”
Elena looked at her.
“Because someone opened Rosa’s archive.”
Sebastián wheeled himself into the room.
“And how did you know?”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Sebastián.”
“Elena.”
No affection.
No surprise.
Only history.
“You knew she was alive?” Andrés demanded.
Sebastián shook his head.
“I suspected.”
“For how long?”
“Years.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I had nothing to prove.”
Elena laughed.
“You always needed proof.”
“And you always gave people reasons to doubt you.”
“Stop.”
Valentina’s voice cut through the room.
Everyone looked at her.
She placed one hand over her belly.
“I’m tired. I’m in a hospital. My doctor has already threatened half the people in this room. So somebody is going to tell me why my medical records led to Rosa Talamantes, why there was a third birth record, and why a woman everyone thought was dead just walked into my room.”
Elena studied her.
“You sound like Isabel.”
Valentina went still.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Well enough to owe her my life.”
Sebastián’s jaw tightened.
“That is not how Isabel described it.”
Elena glanced at him.
“Isabel had the luxury of being angry with me.”
“And Daniel?”
A shadow crossed Elena’s face.
“He had every right to hate me.”
Valentina looked between them.
“Why?”
Elena pulled a chair closer but did not sit.
“Because I brought danger into their home.”
Andrés frowned.
“What danger?”
“The Talamantes family.”
Rafael stiffened.
“Careful.”
Elena turned toward him.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“That instinct. Protect the name first.”
“I’m protecting the truth.”
“No. You spent your life protecting the version of it that made you comfortable.”
Andrés stepped between them.
“Where is Mateo?”
Elena looked at him sharply.
“Why?”
“He was just nominated to replace me.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“He said V.R. Holdings contacted him.”
Elena turned toward Valentina.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Sebastián?”
“No.”
Elena’s expression became alarmed.
“Then someone is using the old structure.”
“What old structure?” Andrés asked.
Elena sat now.
For the first time, she looked tired.
“The Rosa Continuity Trust.”
“You know it.”
“I helped create it.”
Rafael stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You were gone.”
“I was hidden.”
“From whom?”
Elena looked directly at him.
“Your father.”
Rafael’s face hardened.
“My father died twenty years ago.”
“Not soon enough.”
Andrés felt the temperature in the room change.
“What did my grandfather do?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your grandfather believed family was ownership.”
Rafael interrupted.
“He was difficult. He was not a monster.”
Elena’s eyes flashed.
“You weren’t the daughter who tried to leave.”
Silence.
She continued.
“When I was eighteen, I fell in love with a man your grandfather considered beneath us. He threatened him. Threatened his family. When I became pregnant, he offered me a choice.”
Andrés already knew he would hate the answer.
“What choice?”
“Give him the child and remain a Talamantes.”
Valentina covered her mouth.
“Or?”
“Disappear.”
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And Mateo?”
Elena’s eyes lowered.
“I gave birth to a son.”
Andrés felt the answer before she said it.
“Mateo?”
“Yes.”
Rafael sat down.
“Oh God.”
Elena looked at him.
“You never knew?”
“No.”
“Rosa did.”
Rafael closed his eyes.
Of course Rosa knew.
She seemed to have known everything.
“What happened to Mateo?” Andrés asked.
“I couldn’t keep him.”
“Why?”
“My father found me.”
Elena’s voice remained controlled, but her fingers trembled.
“He told me if I stayed with my baby, Mateo’s father would die in an accident.”
Valentina whispered:
“So you gave him away.”
“I gave him to the only woman I trusted.”
“Carmen?”
Elena shook her head.
“I became Carmen.”
Andrés frowned.
“Then who raised him?”
“My friend Teresa Cruz. She let me live nearby under another identity. Mateo grew up believing Teresa was his aunt and that Carmen was his mother.”
“You were his mother.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know?”
“No.”
The answer was barely audible.
“He thought I died when he was twelve.”
Andrés stared.
“You let your son believe you were dead?”
“I had to disappear again.”
“Why?”
“My father discovered I was still near him.”
“But your father died years later.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you go back?”
Elena looked at Rafael.
“Because by then, someone else had inherited his methods.”
Rafael stood.
“You’re accusing me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Elena’s eyes moved toward the door.
“I never knew.”
That answer sounded different.
Not evasive.
Afraid.
Sebastián leaned forward.
“The Veracruz transfers.”
Elena nodded.
“I arranged them.”
Andrés stared.
“You moved the money Mateo was blamed for stealing?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone inside Talamantes Global had found the Rosa Continuity Trust.”
“And you thought Mateo was in danger.”
“I knew he was.”
“From whom?”
Elena reached into her handbag.
Gabriel immediately moved.
She stopped.
“It’s paper.”
“Slowly.”
She removed an envelope.
Inside were photocopies.
Emails.
Bank records.
Photographs.
She handed them to Gabriel first.
He examined them.
Then passed them to Andrés.
The first photograph showed Mateo leaving Talamantes headquarters eight years earlier.
A man stood across the street.
Watching.
The next showed Mateo entering his apartment.
Same man.
Another showed him at a restaurant.
Same man.
“Who is he?”
Elena shook her head.
“I never identified him.”
Andrés turned to Rafael.
His father stared at the photograph.
“I know him.”
Everyone froze.
“Who?”
Rafael took the photograph.
“Arturo Salcedo.”
Andrés frowned.
“Eduardo’s father?”
“Yes.”
Eduardo Salcedo.
His attorney.
The man who had sat beside him during the divorce.
The man currently investigating Valentina.
The man Andrés had ordered to dig into her entire life.
His stomach turned.
“Arturo died six years ago.”
Rafael nodded.
“He was general counsel to my father.”
Elena’s expression became grim.
“Then I was right.”
“About what?”
“The threat came from inside the family.”
Andrés immediately pulled out his phone.
He called Eduardo.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
A third time.
Voicemail.
Gabriel was already speaking quietly into his earpiece.
“Locate Eduardo Salcedo.”
Valentina looked at Andrés.
“What did you tell him?”
He hesitated.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Andrés.”
“I asked him to investigate your connection to Montoro.”
“You what?”
“I didn’t know any of this.”
“You gave your lawyer permission to investigate me?”
“I was trying to understand why my financing collapsed.”
“You could have asked me.”
“I did.”
“And when I didn’t answer fast enough, you investigated me.”
The disappointment in her voice hurt more than anger.
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep saying that after the damage is done.”
He had no defense.
Gabriel ended his call.
“Eduardo left Talamantes headquarters forty minutes ago.”
“Where did he go?”
“We don’t know.”
Andrés looked at Elena.
“Why would Eduardo care about the old trust?”
“Maybe he doesn’t.”
“His father did.”
“That doesn’t make him guilty.”
Sebastián nodded.
“She’s right.”
Andrés laughed bitterly.
“Wonderful. The first reasonable thing anyone says today is that my lawyer might not be betraying me.”
His phone buzzed.
A message from Eduardo.
Finally.
WE NEED TO TALK.
Andrés typed.
WHERE ARE YOU?
The reply came immediately.
NOT SAFE TO SAY.
Then:
DO NOT TRUST THE BOARD.
Andrés stared.
Another message.
THE FINANCING COLLAPSE WAS ENGINEERED.
His pulse jumped.
He showed Sebastián.
The old man read it twice.
“That is impossible.”
“Why?”
“Montoro suspended the facility legitimately.”
“Yes. But someone knew what would happen next.”
Valentina understood first.
“The lenders.”
Andrés nodded.
“Someone prepared them.”
Rafael whispered:
“The leak.”
“Exactly.”
The financing suspension had been real.
But the panic afterward?
Maybe not.
Someone had leaked the news.
Someone had pushed lenders.
Someone had accelerated the crisis.
Someone wanted Andrés removed quickly.
“Mateo’s nomination,” Valentina said.
Everyone looked at her.
“It happened too fast.”
Andrés nodded.
“Three weeks of preparation.”
“The same three weeks when my medical records were accessed.”
Elena’s face tightened.
“And the archive opened.”
Sebastián looked at Gabriel.
“Find the first access attempt.”
“I already requested logs.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Sebastián nodded.
Valentina suddenly winced.
Andrés moved instantly.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Valentina.”
“Just a cramp.”
He pressed the call button.
She glared.
“I said nothing.”
“And I heard cramp.”
Dr. Navarro entered less than a minute later.
She examined the monitor.
“Everyone out.”
Nobody argued this time.
In the corridor, Andrés leaned against the wall.
He could see Valentina through the glass.
He hated how small she looked in the hospital bed.
Six months pregnant.
Divorced for less than a day.
Surrounded by secrets she had inherited from dead people.
And he had spent that morning trying to make her feel small.
His phone rang.
Martín.
“Andrés.”
“What happened?”
“Mateo withdrew.”
“I know.”
“The board has another candidate.”
“Already?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“They haven’t disclosed the name.”
“Of course.”
“There’s something worse.”
Andrés closed his eyes.
“What?”
“Someone started buying our distressed bonds.”
“Who?”
“Unknown.”
“How much?”
“Enough to matter.”
Andrés straightened.
“If they acquire enough debt, they can force restructuring.”
“Yes.”
“Or convert into equity.”
“Yes.”
“Who authorized the sale?”
“Nobody. It’s secondary market.”
“Price?”
“Sixty-two cents.”
His company’s debt was being purchased at panic prices.
The crisis was becoming an acquisition opportunity.
Someone was not merely trying to remove him.
Someone wanted Talamantes Global.
“Trace the buyer.”
“We’re trying.”
“Try faster.”
He ended the call.
Elena was watching him.
“What?”
“You still do it.”
“Do what?”
“Speak to people like fear makes them work faster.”
Andrés almost snapped at her.
Then stopped.
Maybe she was right.
He called Martín back.
Martín answered cautiously.
“Yes?”
Andrés forced himself to slow down.
“Sorry.”
Silence.
“What?”
“I said I’m sorry.”
“For yelling?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“Are you dying?”
Despite everything, Andrés laughed.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Find the buyer. Please.”
“I’m on it.”
He ended the call.
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“Miracles happen.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
For the first time, she smiled.
It looked so much like Rosa that Andrés had to look away.
“Tell me about my mother.”
Elena’s smile vanished.
“What do you want to know?”
“Something that isn’t a secret.”
She thought.
“Rosa hated pears.”
Andrés blinked.
“What?”
“She absolutely hated them.”
A laugh escaped him.
“My father bought pears every week.”
Rafael looked offended.
“She never told me.”
Elena laughed.
“That was Rosa.”
For one brief moment, the hospital corridor became something else.
Not corporate warfare.
Not hidden trusts.
Just three people remembering a woman they loved.
Then Gabriel’s phone rang.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
He listened.
“How certain?”
Another pause.
“Send it.”
He ended the call.
Sebastián looked at him.
“The archive?”
“Yes.”
“Who accessed it?”
Gabriel glanced toward Andrés.
“The credentials belonged to Valentina.”
She was still inside the hospital room.
Andrés frowned.
“She didn’t do it.”
“No.”
“Then someone copied them.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Biometric authentication.”
Sebastián went still.
“That’s impossible.”
“Unless she authorized it.”
“She didn’t.”
Andrés looked through the glass.
Valentina was speaking with Dr. Navarro.
Then he remembered something.
“The first bleeding episode.”
Everyone turned.
“Three weeks ago, Valentina was here.”
Sebastián understood.
“The hospital.”
Gabriel was already calling security.
“If someone obtained biometric access while she was undergoing treatment…”
“They could have copied what they needed,” Andrés finished.
“But who knew she was here?”
Sebastián asked.
Silence.
Andrés knew one person.
Rafael.
Valentina had called him.
But someone else?
Dr. Navarro opened the door.
“She’s stable. One visitor.”
Andrés looked at Valentina.
She nodded toward him.
He entered.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
He sat beside her.
“Gabriel traced the archive breach.”
Her face tightened.
“It used my biometric credentials.”
“What?”
“We think someone captured them here three weeks ago.”
Valentina stared.
“That’s not possible.”
“Who visited you?”
“No one.”
“Think.”
“I came alone.”
“Who knew?”
“Sebastián.”
“Rafael?”
“Afterward.”
“Your attorney?”
“No.”
“Hospital staff?”
“Obviously.”
She suddenly stopped.
“What?”
Valentina looked toward the door.
“There was a man.”
Andrés felt cold.
“What man?”
“I thought he was hospital administration.”
“What did he do?”
“He brought a tablet.”
“For what?”
“Insurance authorization.”
“You don’t use insurance.”
“I know. I was bleeding and scared. I didn’t think.”
“How did you sign?”
“Fingerprint.”
Andrés stood.
“Can you describe him?”
“Mid-forties. Gray suit. Glasses.”
“Name?”
“I didn’t ask.”
The door opened.
Gabriel entered without knocking.
“We found the security footage.”
He held out his phone.
Valentina watched.
A video showed her hospital room three weeks earlier.
A man entered carrying a tablet.
Gray suit.
Glasses.
He approached Valentina’s bed.
Andrés leaned closer.
The man turned toward the camera.
Andrés knew him.
Not well.
But he knew him.
“Who is that?” Valentina asked.
Andrés’s mouth went dry.
“Tomás Herrera.”
Sebastián stared.
“The banker?”
Andrés nodded.
CEO of Banco Nacional.
The same bank that had frozen Talamantes Global’s facility hours earlier.
The same man Andrés had told Martín to call.
Valentina whispered:
“Why would a bank CEO pretend to be hospital administration?”
Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
He read the incoming report.
Then looked at Andrés.
“Because Herrera wasn’t here for the bank.”
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel turned the screen.
A corporate registry record appeared.
Tomás Herrera had been appointed trustee of a private entity two months earlier.
The entity’s name made Rafael step backward.
ROSA CONTINUITY TRUST.
Andrés stared.
“That trust belongs to my mother.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“Rosa created it.”
She looked at the document.
“But she was never the final beneficiary.”
“Who was?”
Before Elena could answer, the lights in the corridor flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the hospital wing went dark.
Emergency lights came on.
Gabriel reached for his radio.
“Lock the floor.”
A nurse screamed somewhere down the hall.
Andrés turned toward Valentina.
Her bed was empty.
The bathroom door stood open.
The window beside it was unlocked.
And on her pillow lay a phone that did not belong to her.
Its screen lit up.
One new message appeared.
BRING THE ORIGINAL CONTRACT TO THE PARKING GARAGE.
May you like
Then another line appeared beneath it.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT TO SEE VALENTINA AGAIN.
