Chapter 5 - The Contract
Elena placed a folder on the dining table.
Teresa refused to sit.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
Teresa laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Elena looked at Javier.
“Your family has spent years trying to obtain assets they never legally owned.”
Javier looked at his mother.
“Why?”
Teresa's silence answered him.
Mariana whispered,
“What did you do?”
Teresa turned on her.
“Everything I did was for this family.”
“No,” Elena said. “You did it because you couldn't tolerate losing.”
Teresa glared.
“You don't know me.”
“I know enough.”
Elena opened the folder.
Inside was a contract.
Javier read the first page.
Then the second.
His face changed.
“What is this?”
Teresa looked away.
“An old agreement.”
“You transferred Sofia's inheritance?”
“It was temporary.”
“You forged her consent.”
Teresa's face hardened.
“She was a child.”
“She was nineteen.”
“She didn't understand business.”
Javier shook his head.
“She understood enough to sign.”
Elena's eyes became cold.
“She signed because she trusted you.”
Teresa looked at her.
“You think you're better?”
“No.”
Elena closed the folder.
“I think Sofia is.”
Javier looked confused.
“Why?”
“Because she could have destroyed you four years ago.”
Elena paused.
“She didn't.”
Mariana asked,
“Why not?”
Elena looked toward the dark windows.
“Because she believed you might change.”
Javier lowered his head.
A painful silence filled the room.
Then Elena's phone vibrated.
She read the message.
The account has been accessed.
Elena's expression changed.
“Who accessed it?”
The security officer answered.
“Someone inside The Pines.”
Teresa immediately looked at Mariana.
Mariana looked offended.
“You think it was me?”
Javier turned toward the manager.
“Lock the house down.”
The manager nodded.
But before he could move, every light in the estate went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A single phone screen illuminated Teresa's face.
May you like
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“You should have listened when Sofia asked if you were sure.”
