Chapter 10 - RODRIGO AND MY FATHER
Rodrigo knew Dad admired him. That was not speculation.
He had letters. Dad mentored him after college.
I never knew the extent. Rodrigo came from a family that looked affluent but was constantly unstable. His father lost money in ventures. His mother borrowed from relatives. College scholarships covered what appearance hid.
Dad liked Rodrigo’s ambition. He taught him credit structures, distressed investing, and one lesson he probably regretted: “Cash flow buys time.”
Rodrigo turned that into a worldview. Time could fix anything.
Move money now. Repay later.
Hide truth now. Explain later.
Borrow trust now. Earn forgiveness later.
Then Rodrigo’s defense produced old emails from Dad. One after a failed startup investment: Don’t confuse a temporary hole with permanent fraud. Fix it fast and disclose it before someone else discovers it.
Rodrigo emphasized the first sentence. Ignored the second.
That was how inherited lessons become excuses. Then Dad had loaned Rodrigo $250,000 personally years earlier.
Repaid in full. No issue.
Then another loan, one million, to Rodrigo’s family office. Repaid.
Dad trusted him. Then the crucial email, five years ago: If Ethan ever gets too insulated by success, tell him the truth before I do.
I cried when I read that. Dad thought Rodrigo would protect me from arrogance.
Instead Rodrigo learned exactly how much I trusted him. Then prosecutors uncovered a voice memo on Rodrigo’s phone from six months before Dad died.
Rodrigo speaking to himself? More likely dictation note.
Robert won’t convert. Gregory won’t step down. Mariana won’t choose. Ethan is the only movable piece. Movable piece. Me.
Then: Need Ethan emotional, not financial. There.
The affair may not have started as love at all. Was Mariana targeted too?
Rodrigo denied strategic seduction. Mariana admitted he pursued her after a period of intense conflict between us.
Did he use corporate knowledge to create intimacy? Likely.
Could not reduce human relationship to scheme automatically. Then another message from Rodrigo to a friend: I’m in love with her. This is a disaster.
That made it messy. He may have loved Mariana too.
Again. Real feeling inside manipulation.
Then his friend replied: Then quit Meridian. Rodrigo: Can’t.
Why? Because by then his family office depended on Meridian-related assets and Aster cash.
Leaving would expose everything. Same pattern.
Then regulators charged Rodrigo with multiple fraud-related offenses tied to false trustee documents, unauthorized transfers, and money movements. Some counts remained contested.
He was not charged for having an affair. Not for being smug.
Law does not punish betrayal of friendship as a crime. Good.
Then he asked to meet me through attorneys. I agreed once.
He looked different without the expensive suit. “Why?” I asked.
He said: “At first, money.” At least honest.
“Mariana?” “At first, proximity.”
I felt sick. “Then?”
“I loved her.” “And me?”
He looked at me. “You were my brother.”
“Were?” “I don’t know what word survives what I did.”
Good. Then he said the thing I did not expect.
“Your father would hate me.” “Yes.”
“I know.” No defense.
May you like
Then: “But he would also know exactly how I became this.” I answered: “Understanding the road does not make you less responsible for driving it.”
Rodrigo nodded. For once, my best friend had nothing clever to say.
