Chapter 2 - A Glass of Water
"Put that down," Celeste said.
Ricardo kept reading. His name appeared twice, once as company president and once as the person supposedly requesting his father's financial authority. The dates were wrong. The language was too polished. Yet the signatures looked frighteningly real.
"Where did you get these?"
"Your accountant sent them. We can discuss this without making a scene."
"You made a scene when you put my father beside the dog."
Celeste glanced toward the kitchen doorway. "Lower your voice. Mia could hear."
Their ten-year-old daughter was at a friend's house, and Ricardo suddenly understood why Celeste sounded relieved about that. He helped Arturo into a chair, brought him fresh water, and watched him drink like someone who had been afraid to ask. Scout settled against the older man's bare ankle, refusing to move.
"We're going to the hospital," Ricardo said.
"He's being dramatic," Celeste replied. "Ask him what he did to the pantry door."
Arturo's eyes closed. "I was looking for crackers."
"At three in the morning," she added. "He wanders. He forgets."
"I wasn't wandering." Arturo's voice was barely audible. "She locked my bedroom after dinner."
Ricardo looked at the key ring hanging from Celeste's belt. One brass key had a strip of red tape around it.
She saw his glance and slipped the keys into her pocket. "Believe whatever you want. Just remember who's been here every day while you were off playing important businessman."
Ricardo called an ambulance instead of arguing. While the dispatcher asked questions, Celeste tried to take the envelope. He moved it out of reach.
Paramedic Jordan Wells examined Arturo's wrists and asked whether he felt safe at home. Arturo looked at his son, then at his daughter-in-law. A long silence followed.
"No," he finally whispered.
The word changed the room. Jordan wrote something down and gently asked Celeste to step outside. She smiled in a way Ricardo had once mistaken for confidence.
At the hospital, a nurse brought Arturo a sandwich. He stared at it without taking a bite.
"You can eat it," Ricardo told him.
"Even if I drop crumbs?"
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Ricardo turned away to hide his face. Behind him, his phone vibrated with a message from Celeste: IF YOU MAKE ME THE VILLAIN, I'LL SHOW EVERYONE WHAT YOUR FATHER DID TO YOUR COMPANY.
A second message arrived with a photograph of Ricardo's private business accounts.
