Chapter 4 - Rosa Did Not Quit
By six that evening, my villa had become quieter than any empty building I had ever owned.
No one raised their voice.
No one slammed a door.
The silence was worse because every person inside the house understood that something had changed.
Laura Estevez arrived with a family-law attorney named Carmen Vidal.
Carmen was in her fifties, calm, direct, and uninterested in appearances.
She spent twenty minutes speaking to Dr. Marquez.
Then she asked to speak with me alone.
"The immediate priority is Isabella's safety."
"Agreed."
"The second priority is preserving evidence."
"Javier is doing that."
"The third priority is preventing this from becoming a war conducted through the child."
That sentence mattered.
"What do you recommend?"
"Do not interrogate Isabella."
"I haven't."
"Good."
"Do not make promises about what will happen to Beatriz."
"I haven't."
"And do not confront Beatriz with evidence you have not secured."
I almost smiled.
"That part I understand."
Carmen nodded.
"Then understand one more thing."
"What?"
"You being wealthy will not protect you from mistakes."
I leaned back.
"I know."
"No."
She held my gaze.
"Men in your position often think resources can fix chaos after the fact."
"And they can't?"
"Resources can hire good lawyers."
She spoke evenly.
"They cannot erase a reckless decision."
I respected her immediately.
"Tell me what not to do."
"Do not throw Beatriz out tonight without a legal plan unless there is an immediate threat."
"I don't want her near Isabella."
"Then separate them inside the property while we coordinate next steps."
"Fine."
"And do not touch her phone, laptop, or accounts without proper authority."
"Even if she is deleting evidence?"
"Javier can preserve what belongs to your security system."
She paused.
"Everything else needs to be handled carefully."
I nodded.
That was when Javier entered the study.
"I found something you need to hear."
Laura closed the door.
Javier placed a small audio recorder on the desk.
"This came from one of the hidden camera archives."
"Video?"
"Audio only for this clip."
He pressed play.
At first, there was static.
Then Beatriz's voice.
"Sit down."
A child's voice answered.
"I'm sorry."
Isabella.
My hands tightened.
Beatriz spoke again.
"Sorry is not useful."
"I didn't mean to call Rosa."
"But you did."
"I wanted Dad."
There was a long pause.
Then Beatriz said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
"Your father wants the version of you that behaves."
Isabella sniffed.
"He loves me."
"He loves his hotels."
My vision narrowed.
Laura reached over and stopped the recording.
"That's enough for now."
"No."
My voice sounded unfamiliar.
"Play the rest."
She looked at me.
"Alejandro."
"Play it."
Javier continued.
Beatriz's voice filled the room.
"If you make me call him because you're causing problems, he will be angry that you interrupted his work."
"I won't."
"And if Rosa tries to help you again, Rosa will lose her job."
"Please don't fire her."
"Then learn."
The clip ended.
I sat motionless.
Carmen spoke first.
"When was that recorded?"
Javier checked.
"Twenty-seven days ago."
"Rosa supposedly quit three weeks ago."
"Correct."
I looked at him.
"Find Rosa."
"Already trying."
My phone rang.
It was my company's finance director.
I ignored it.
It rang again.
Then Laura's phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
"Your finance director."
That was not normal.
Laura answered.
She listened for ten seconds.
Her expression changed.
"When?"
Another pause.
"Freeze nothing until I call you back."
She ended the call.
"What happened?"
"Someone initiated a transfer request from one of your private holding accounts."
"How much?"
"Eight million euros."
The room went quiet.
"To whom?"
"A trust company in Gibraltar."
Javier looked up.
"Mercer works through Gibraltar."
Laura nodded.
"The transfer has not completed."
"Who authorized it?"
"The request bears your digital signature."
I felt cold.
"I didn't sign anything."
"I know."
Carmen leaned forward.
"Could Beatriz have access?"
"Not to that account."
"Who does?"
"Me, Laura, and our finance director."
Laura's face hardened.
"And someone who cloned your credentials."
Javier stood.
"I need to check the house network."
Before he reached the door, his phone rang.
He answered.
"Ruiz."
He listened.
Then he looked at me.
"We found Rosa."
"Where?"
"Fuengirola."
"Is she all right?"
He did not answer immediately.
"She's at a private clinic."
My stomach tightened.
"Why?"
Javier's voice lowered.
"She was admitted twelve days ago after what the clinic records describe as a fall down a staircase."
I stood.
"Does she want to talk?"
"She told my investigator she has been waiting for you to come home."
"Then I'm going to her."
Javier raised a hand.
"There is more."
I stopped.
"Rosa says she did not quit."
"I knew that."
"She says Beatriz fired her after she tried to contact you."
"What else?"
Javier's expression became grim.
"She says the night she was fired, she took something from this house because she was afraid Beatriz would destroy it."
"What?"
"A red notebook Isabella had been keeping under her mattress."
I thought of my daughter's locked bedroom.
"Where is it now?"
"Rosa says she hid it."
"Why?"
Javier looked toward the closed study door before answering.
"Because Isabella had written down every night Daniel Mercer came to the villa."
Before we left for the clinic, Javier obtained Rosa's payroll file.
Beatriz had not processed a resignation.
She had processed a termination.
The reason entered into the household system was "breach of confidentiality and insubordination."
I stared at the words.
"What confidentiality?"
Javier opened the attached note.
Rosa had allegedly discussed private family matters with an outside party.
"The outside party was me," I said.
"Looks that way."
The termination occurred thirty minutes after a redirected call from the kitchen extension.
That timing was almost too neat.
Then Javier found a second document.
A release agreement carrying Rosa's electronic signature.
It stated she accepted severance and agreed not to discuss the family.
"Did she sign this?"
"We ask her."
At the clinic, Rosa answered before Laura finished showing her the page.
"No."
Her voice shook with anger.
"I never saw that."
"Did Beatriz offer severance?"
"She gave me an envelope with cash and told me to leave."
"How much?"
"Five thousand euros."
The release listed fifty thousand.
Someone had created paperwork for money Rosa never received.
"Did you keep the envelope?" Laura asked.
"The cash is at my daughter's house."
"Good."
"I didn't spend it."
Rosa looked at me.
"It felt wrong."
Then she told us what happened the night she fell.
She had returned to the neighborhood two weeks after being fired because she wanted to check on Isabella from outside the school gate.
She never approached my daughter.
She did not want Beatriz to accuse her of causing trouble.
On the way home, a dark car followed her for several streets.
She changed direction twice.
The car remained behind her.
She became frightened and entered a parking structure attached to a shopping center.
While hurrying down a stairwell, she missed a step and fell.
No one pushed her.
No one touched her.
But fear had put her on the stairs.
"Did you see the driver?"
"No."
"License plate?"
"No."
"Could it have been coincidence?"
Rosa looked at Laura.
"Yes."
She hated the answer.
"But the next morning, Daniel called me."
I leaned forward.
"Daniel had your number?"
"He said I should enjoy retirement and stop watching the family."
The room went silent.
"Exact words?"
"Very close."
Laura wrote them down.
"Did he threaten you?"
"Not directly."
Rosa looked at me.
"He didn't need to."
The man knew she had gone near the school.
May you like
That meant someone had been watching.
And Rosa's so-called resignation had been backed not only by false paperwork but by pressure after she left.
