Chapter 10 - THE MONEY BEHIND THE NURSERY
We reached the house twelve minutes later.
Clara was gone.
The safe was open.
My passport was there. Sofia’s birth certificate was there. The cash envelope I kept for emergencies was untouched.
The only missing items were corporate seals, two blank signed checks, and the hard-copy deed to a Hill Country property I had inherited from my grandfather.
Camila stared at the empty shelf.
“She didn’t panic. She came for documents.”
I called Clara.
Straight to voicemail.
Then I called Nico.
His phone was disconnected.
By noon, my finance director had traced Blue Mesa.
For four months, invoices connected to our “nursery renovation” had been paid to contractors that did not exist. Custom cabinetry, imported stone, private medical transport, baby-proofing consultants.
Total: $286,400.
The nursery upstairs had cost less than twenty thousand.
I felt physically sick.
My finance director slid a spreadsheet across the desk.
“Someone approved every payment from your household discretionary account.”
My electronic initials appeared in the authorization column.
Again, not mine.
“Can we freeze the transfers?”
“Already done.”
“What about tomorrow’s eight-fifty?”
“Blocked.”
For the first time since Sofia shouted at the party, I could breathe.
Then the security technician called.
He had reviewed the cameras from the previous month.
Clara had entered my home office nine times while I was traveling.
On three of those nights, Nico came with her.
On one, they were accompanied by a third person.
Brandon.
I called him.
He answered immediately.
“You were in my house.”
Silence.
“You told me you didn’t know what Blue Mesa was.”
“I can explain.”
I almost laughed.
Everyone suddenly had an explanation.
“Do it fast.”
He exhaled.
“I knew they were restructuring. I did not know the pregnancy was fake.”
“You helped forge my signature.”
“No.”
“You notarized it.”
Another silence.
Then Brandon said something I did not expect.
“Mateo, before you call the police, you need to know Clara was not the one who designed this.”
“Who did?”
“Nico.”
“And why would Clara agree?”
May you like
Brandon lowered his voice.
“Because she owed him more money than you know.”
