Chapter 13 - The Break-In
That night, someone broke into Camila's house.
They didn't take jewelry.
They didn't take cash.
They went straight to the guest room where I kept the documents.
But the originals were already in Elena's safe.
The intruder found copies and tore them apart.
Camila's security camera caught a woman entering through the back gate.
Ofelia.
She used the spare key Camila had given me years earlier.
When police questioned her, Ofelia claimed she had come to "talk sense into me."
The video showed her searching drawers for twenty-three minutes while no one was home.
At one point she found an empty folder labeled PROPERTY RECORDS and actually smiled. Then she opened it, realized the originals were gone, and struck the dresser hard enough to knock over a lamp. That single reaction mattered. It showed she had not come to talk. She had come to remove evidence.
Camila watched the clip beside me and whispered, "She really thought she could keep doing this forever."
Mauricio called again.
"Don't press charges against my mother."
"She broke into my sister's house."
"She's scared."
"So am I. The difference is I don't commit crimes when I'm scared."
"You're tearing the family apart."
I almost shouted.
Instead, I asked one question.
"Mauricio, when did you stop seeing me as your wife and start seeing me as collateral?"
He said nothing.
That silence answered more than an apology could have.
The next morning, Elena received a settlement offer.
Mauricio would admit the forged loan documents were prepared without my knowledge.
In exchange, I had to withdraw every complaint against Ofelia and sign a confidentiality agreement.
There was one more condition.
I had to transfer the Del Valle apartment to Mauricio as part of the divorce.
I laughed when I read it.
Then Elena pointed to the final page.
"Laura. Look at the signature."
It was Mauricio's.
May you like
And beneath it was a second signature I did not recognize.
Javier Rivas.
