Chapter 7 - Thirty-Two Million.
Daniel's statement was so large that for a moment it sounded meaningless.
Thirty-two million euros was not money that vanished because somebody entered the wrong account number.
It was a deliberate movement requiring signatures, approvals, internal controls, and people who believed nobody important was looking.
"Say that again."
Daniel's voice remained level.
"Your company is missing thirty-two million euros."
"And you're telling me this now?"
"I'm telling you because you found the wrong piece of the right problem."
I looked at Elena.
She put the call on speaker and began recording with Daniel's consent request deliberately omitted from the conversation because she intended the call first as intelligence, not courtroom evidence.
"Where is the money?"
"Moving."
"Through the vendors in Javier's notebook?"
Silence.
"So you know about the notebook."
"I know Isabella took it."
Hearing my daughter's name in his mouth made something in me tighten.
"How?"
"Because Beatriz told me."
"Why is my wife reporting to my CFO about what my daughter finds in my house?"
Daniel exhaled slowly.
"Gabriel, if you want the truth, stop treating this as a simple affair or a cruel-stepmother story."
"Then give me the truth."
"The company has been vulnerable for nearly eighteen months."
"To what?"
"Debt exposure you don't know about."
I almost laughed.
"I sign the debt."
"You sign what reaches your desk."
The answer was designed to insult me and frighten me at the same time.
"Who created unauthorized debt?"
"People who were trying to protect you from a liquidity crisis."
"People meaning you?"
"People meaning the executive committee."
That was a lie because I chaired the executive committee.
"Name them."
"Not on the phone."
"Then come to me."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you have private security detaining Javier in your villa, and right now I have no reason to believe you'll listen before you start destroying careers."
"Javier broke into my safe."
A pause.
"Did he get the drive?"
The question confirmed that Daniel knew exactly why Javier had gone there.
"Why do you care?"
"Because that archive contains records that could collapse the company if regulators see them without context."
"Fraud usually looks bad without context."
"This isn't fraud."
"Then what is it?"
"Survival."
I looked through the glass doors toward the black sea beyond Sofia's old house.
"And Isabella?"
Daniel went quiet.
"What about her?"
"Why was she being sent to Switzerland?"
"That was Beatriz's decision."
"Your name replaced Sofia's brother as guardian administrator."
The silence on the line became absolute.
For the first time, Daniel sounded genuinely surprised.
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me."
"Gabriel, I never agreed to become Isabella's guardian."
I looked at Elena.
She frowned.
"Your name is on the amended documents," I said.
"Then somebody used it."
"Convenient."
"I don't care whether you believe me."
His voice sharpened.
"I knew Beatriz wanted you kept in Dubai because she said she needed time to deal with family matters, but I knew nothing about forged guardianship papers."
"You knew she wanted me away."
"Yes."
"And you helped make that happen."
"I helped stabilize a project schedule."
"You reminded me to remain for the opening."
"Because you are the chairman and your presence matters."
"And because ninety days mattered."
Another silence.
Daniel did not ask what ninety days meant.
That was enough.
"You knew."
"I knew there was a trust deadline."
"You just said you knew nothing about the guardianship papers."
"I knew Beatriz was trying to restructure family assets."
"My daughter's inheritance is not a family asset for you to restructure."
"I agree."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
Daniel sounded tired suddenly.
"I expect you to believe that Beatriz has been lying to both of us."
The line went quiet again.
Elena wrote one word on her pad.
DIVIDE.
She thought Daniel was trying to split us against Beatriz.
I thought the same thing.
But something in his surprise about the guardianship document felt different from his other evasions.
"Where is Beatriz now?"
"She left twenty minutes ago."
"Where did she go?"
"She didn't tell me."
"And you let her leave?"
Daniel laughed without humor.
"Contrary to your current behavior, Gabriel, I do not lock people inside houses."
"Javier was detained after breaking into mine."
"Then ask him why."
"I intend to."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"Before you do, understand something."
"What?"
"If the drive from your safe is recovered, do not connect it to any network."
Elena stopped writing.
"Why?"
"Because somebody installed a remote wipe trigger on the archive years ago."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You know everything until the answer matters."
"And you know less than you think."
Daniel ended the call.
Luis called seconds later.
The black drive had been found beneath a hedge outside the study window.
Javier was being held in a locked guest room with two security officers while police were on their way.
"Don't touch the drive," I said.
"Already bagged."
"Keep it offline."
"Why?"
"Remote wipe risk."
Luis was quiet.
"Who told you?"
"Daniel."
"Do we trust him?"
"No."
"Then why follow his advice?"
"Because caution costs us nothing."
By two in the morning, a digital specialist Elena trusted had joined us at the villa.
We returned without Isabella.
She remained at Sofia's house with Marta and two security officers.
Leaving her even for a few hours felt wrong, but bringing her near Javier felt worse.
The specialist examined the drive inside an isolated workstation with no network connection.
It contained encrypted backups from my private office server.
Most were legitimate company archives.
One directory, however, had been created eighteen months earlier under a name I did not recognize.
LUCERO.
The directory was password protected.
"Can you open it?"
"Eventually."
"How long?"
Elena gave me a look before the specialist answered.
"I don't know."
For once, I accepted uncertainty without arguing.
Police arrived and formally took custody of Javier.
Before they led him away, he asked to speak to me.
Elena objected.
The investigating officer allowed a brief conversation with everyone present.
Javier looked smaller without his expensive estate jacket and confident posture.
"I didn't hurt Isabella."
Those were his first words.
"You helped the person who did."
"I didn't know what Beatriz was doing to her."
"You were in my house at night."
"For the accounts."
"You forged my signature?"
"No."
"Who did?"
He looked toward the officer.
"I want a lawyer."
"Then stop talking."
He looked back at me.
"But you need to know Beatriz is not running this."
Elena stepped closer.
"Who is?"
Javier swallowed.
"I said I want a lawyer."
"Then why ask to speak to Mr. Vega?"
His eyes returned to mine.
"Because they'll blame everything on me."
"Who are they?"
He shook his head.
"Ask Daniel about Lucero."
The police took him away.
At three fifteen, the digital specialist called from the study.
"I opened part of the directory."
Inside LUCERO were spreadsheets, scanned approvals, and payment instructions.
The records showed thirty-two million euros moved through layered construction vendors over eighteen months.
Some transfers returned to company projects under different names.
Others disappeared into offshore holding entities.
One receiving company was controlled by Beatriz's cousin.
Another was connected to Javier.
But the largest beneficiary was a firm called Northstar Advisory AG.
Elena searched the registration data.
The beneficial owner was hidden behind a Swiss fiduciary service.
Then the specialist opened a scanned instruction letter.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
This one looked almost perfect.
I had not signed it.
Above my forged signature was a countersignature.
Daniel Rivas.
"There," I said.
Elena did not look convinced.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"If someone can forge your signature, they can forge his."
I hated that she was right.
The specialist opened another file.
It was a photograph taken inside my study.
Beatriz stood beside the desk holding a document.
Daniel stood across from her.
The date embedded in the file was six months earlier.
Their expressions were tense.
Then we opened the next image.
Daniel was handing Beatriz an envelope.
The next showed her touching his arm.
The next showed them kissing.
I stared at the screen.
I expected rage.
Instead, I felt an almost absurd calm.
Infidelity was suddenly the least important betrayal in the room.
Elena watched me carefully.
"Gabriel?"
"Keep going."
The next file was not a photograph.
It was an audio clip.
Daniel's voice came first.
"If Isabella stays in Spain, the trust stays locked."
Beatriz answered.
"Then she won't stay in Spain."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"You said Gabriel would be gone long enough."
"He will."
"And the girl?"
Beatriz laughed softly.
"By the time he comes home, she'll be too scared to contradict me."
The clip ended.
Nobody in the study spoke.
My hands were perfectly still.
That frightened me more than shaking would have.
Elena finally whispered.
"Now we have motive."
I stared at Beatriz's frozen image on the screen.
"No."
"What do you mean?"
"We have one motive."
I pointed toward the thirty-two-million-euro ledger.
"But this started long before Isabella's trust became useful."
The specialist clicked another folder.
Inside was a list of project names.
One of them was Sofia House.
I leaned closer.
"That's not a company project."
Elena looked at me.
"It's the house where Isabella is sleeping tonight."
The file beside it contained a floor plan.
May you like
Every door, window, alarm sensor, and camera location had been marked in red.
SHE SAID YOU WOULD BELIEVE HER
