Chapter 14 - THE PLAN TO MAKE ME THE VILLAINI read Lorena's note three times. The words didn't get easier.
"She expected me to come home angry," I said.
"She counted on it," Chen answered.
The cracked pantry wall, Lorena's photos, Carlos's warning about a soldier losing control—it had all been useful to them. They hadn't planned the plate of rice. They had planned how to turn my reaction into their story.
Mom covered her mouth. "She wanted you arrested?"
"If I couldn't help you, she'd have more time," I said.
Chen documented the note and took the packet into evidence. A handwriting comparison would take time; meanwhile, the electronic messages, hospital findings, and witnesses were making the picture harder for Lorena to explain away.
That evening, Lorena called me from a number I didn't recognize. I nearly hung up.
"Daniel, please," she said. "I know you're hurt. Carlos manipulated me."
"You dumped food on my mother."
Silence.
"I was exhausted," she whispered. "You left me alone with her."
"You made her afraid to eat in her own kitchen."
"You don't know how much money that property is worth now. The new bypass is coming. We could've started over."
There it was. Not caregiving. Not exhaustion. A sale price.
"How much?" I asked.
"One point eight million, maybe two, once the county approves the road."
I looked across the room at Mom, sitting in Dad's chair with a cup of tea. To Lorena, she'd become an obstacle between a signature and a fortune.
"Where's Carlos?" I asked.
"I don't know."
A man's voice spoke faintly in the background: "Tell him the other papers are gone."
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Lorena ended the call.
It was Carlos.
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