Chapter 4 - The Contract Javier Never Wanted Me to See
Mateo looked terrified.
Not nervous.
Terrified.
He entered Gabriel’s conference room carrying a laptop bag and a thick envelope.
“I didn’t know,” he said before sitting down.
Gabriel closed the door.
“Know what?”
“That María hadn’t agreed.”
I watched him carefully.
“You submitted documents with my signature.”
“I submitted what Javier gave me.”
“You didn’t call me?”
“He said you wanted privacy.”
“Convenient.”
Mateo looked ashamed.
“He said this was part of estate planning.”
Gabriel asked, “What exactly did Javier ask you to do?”
Mateo opened the envelope.
Inside were copies of emails, contracts, property valuations, and architectural concepts.
The truth emerged piece by piece.
Javier had created a plan almost a year earlier.
First, transfer the beach house to his parents through a symbolic transaction.
Then, after a short period, Antonio and Elena would contribute the property to a family holding company.
That company would enter a development partnership.
The estimated value after redevelopment was enormous.
My father’s home would become a luxury coastal retreat.
“And his parents?” I asked.
Mateo hesitated.
“They were supposed to receive an apartment.”
I stared at him.
“An apartment?”
“In the completed development.”
Elena believed she was getting the house.
Javier planned to give her a condominium.
Suddenly, something almost funny occurred to me.
He had deceived everyone.
Me.
His parents.
Possibly Mateo.
Maybe even the developers.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
Mateo looked down.
“Because Javier called me twenty minutes ago.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me to delete everything.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Everything?”
“Emails. Drafts. Messages. Contracts.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Mateo looked directly at me.
“Because when someone tells you to destroy documents, you finally start wondering what those documents prove.”
That evening, my marriage stopped being merely broken.
It became evidence.
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And the next morning, Elena discovered that her son had betrayed her too.
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