PART 6
Mauricio looked at her.
“That was authorized marketing.”
“Show me the campaigns,” I said.
He rubbed his forehead.
“Not every marketing expense produces a physical deliverable.”
I almost smiled.
Then I placed my phone on the table.
I played the video I had recorded in San Ángel.
His own voice filled the room.
This house is practically yours.
Mauricio went completely still.
Renata whispered, “You were there?”
“Yes.”
My husband stared at me.
“You followed me?”
“My flight was canceled.”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
I turned toward Renata.
“Mom’s porcelain cup.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“You used it as an ashtray.”
“I didn’t—”
“You stood there and watched them do it.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
And I felt nothing.
Not because I hated her.
Because I finally understood tears could be tools too.
“I paid for your university,” I said quietly. “I hired you when nobody else would give you management experience. I trusted you inside my business.”
Renata suddenly slammed her palm against the table.
“There it is.”
Everyone stared at her.
“The saint.”
Her voice shook.
“You always say you helped me. You paid for this. You gave me that. You got me my job.”
“Because you asked me to.”
“Exactly! You were always the one giving. Do you know what that makes the other person?”
I said nothing.
“Small.”
The word hung in the room.
Renata wiped her face angrily.
“Mom trusted you with everything. The house. Her papers. Every important decision. After she died, everyone looked at you like you were some replacement mother.”
“So you forged my signature?”
“I deserved something that was mine.”
“The house was never yours.”
“I know!”
Her scream startled everyone.
And then I understood.
This had never really been about the house.
It was about resentment.
Years of it.
Silent, polished, smiling resentment.
Mauricio stood.
“That’s enough.”
Renata turned toward him.
“No. You don’t get to do that.”
“Stop talking.”
“You said she would never find out.”
The room went silent again.
Mauricio’s face hardened.
“Renata.”
“You said once the loan closed, you’d pay everything back before the audit.”
Laura whispered, “There was going to be another loan?”
Mauricio looked like he wanted to disappear.
Renata realized what she had just admitted.
Elena calmly wrote something on her legal pad.
Mauricio pointed at her.
“This conversation is over.”
“No,” I said. “Your access is.”
He looked at me.
I slid a document across the table.
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