Chapter 4 - ANDRÉS CHOOSES A SIDE
Patricia called an emergency family meeting at the estate.
Lucia attended with Naomi, Daniel, and a court officer.
The same relatives who had watched the banquet humiliation now sat beneath portraits of Delacroix men.
Patricia denied altering the trust.
She claimed Mateo’s relationship with Elena had been fabricated. She called Lucia an opportunist and accused Naomi of manufacturing evidence.
Daniel produced bank records showing Patricia paid a private investigator to follow Elena for years.
The final payment occurred two weeks before Elena’s fatal car accident.
Lucia’s hands went cold.
Patricia saw the reaction.
“Do not turn tragedy into accusation.”
“Why were you watching my mother?” Lucia asked.
“To protect the family.”
“From what?”
“From scandal.”
Naomi asked whether Patricia had any role in the accident.
Patricia refused to answer.
Then Andrés entered.
He had spent the night reviewing company archives.
Patricia looked relieved.
“My son will confirm that these claims are absurd.”
Andrés placed a flash drive on the table.
“No.”
He had found recordings Mateo made during his final illness. In one, Mateo accused Patricia of pressuring Elena to disappear and promised to restore her branch of the family.
Patricia had hidden the recording after his death.
Andrés played it for everyone.
Mateo’s voice filled the room:
Patricia believes inheritance belongs to whoever can silence the others. She is wrong. The family will survive only when the erased child is named.
Patricia’s face lost color.
Andrés turned toward Lucia.
“I should have protected you at the banquet.”
“You should have protected our daughters.”
“I know.”
“No. You know now because there are consequences.”
He accepted the words without defense.
Andrés then voted, as acting trustee, to suspend Patricia from all family boards.
Patricia laughed.
“You think she will forgive you because you betray me?”
Lucia answered before Andrés could.
“This is not about forgiveness.”
The court officer served Patricia with an order preserving all personal files and electronic devices.
As officers searched the estate study, they found a locked drawer containing Elena’s letters.
One letter was addressed to Lucia.
Patricia had kept it for twenty-eight years.
Lucia opened it with shaking hands.
Elena wrote that she loved her daughter, that she had planned to reclaim her identity, and that if anything happened, Lucia should find a woman named Teresa Vale.
Teresa had witnessed Mateo sign the original trust.
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She had also been in the car with Elena the night of the accident.
Official records said Elena had been alone.
