Chapter 7 - The Choice
No one spoke.
The recording ended.
Javier looked at Mariana.
Mariana looked at Teresa.
Teresa looked at the manager.
The manager raised both hands.
“I didn't.”
Elena watched them carefully.
“You're all looking at each other.”
Javier said,
“Because one of us did it.”
Mariana shook her head.
“I didn't touch anything.”
Teresa's voice was cold.
“Then someone else has access.”
Elena looked at the security officer.
“Check every employee.”
He nodded.
Javier walked toward the table.
“I need to tell Sofia the truth.”
Teresa grabbed his shoulder.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what she'll do.”
Javier pulled away.
“She already knows everything.”
“No.”
Teresa's eyes filled with something close to panic.
“She doesn't know everything.”
The room went silent.
Elena looked at her.
“What don't you want her to know?”
Teresa said nothing.
Mariana whispered,
“Mom?”
Teresa finally spoke.
“Sofia wasn't abandoned because of the merger.”
Javier stared.
“Then why?”
Teresa looked toward the window.
“Because she discovered who her father really was.”
Javier froze.
“What?”
Elena's expression became hard.
“Be careful.”
Teresa continued.
“Sofia's father wasn't the man everyone believed.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What did you tell her?”
“Nothing.”
“You lied to her.”
“I protected her.”
Elena's voice dropped.
“From what?”
Teresa shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Teresa looked at Javier.
Then Mariana.
Then the manager.
Finally, she whispered,
“Her father had another family.”
Javier frowned.
“That changes nothing.”
Teresa looked at him.
“It changes everything.”
Elena's phone vibrated again.
This time the message was from Sofia.
I know.
Elena stared at the screen.
A second message appeared.
But I don't know why he left me the company.
Elena's face went pale.
May you like
Because there was only one person who could answer that question.
And that person had disappeared twenty years ago.
