Chapter 13 - THE FAKE DEED
The deed looked real enough to terrify me.
My name. Diego’s name. The parcel number. A notary stamp.
I read it three times before Nadia took it from my hands.
“This is not proof,” she said. “It is a document. Documents can lie.”
The county recorder confirmed the deed had been electronically submitted the morning after our wedding.
My supposed signature appeared beside Diego’s.
The notary was Victor Salazar.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
The filing gave us something important: a trail.
Victor had finally moved from planning into recorded action.
Nadia assembled a forensic document examiner, contacted the recorder, and added the deed to the fraud complaints.
Meanwhile, Rosa kept posting online.
She called me abusive. Materialistic. Cold.
I stared at the picture.
Diego was smiling at me like I was the only person in the room.
That hurt more than the insults.
Because part of him had loved me.
And part of him had still agreed to use me.
That evening, Diego asked to speak through Nadia.
This time, we allowed a recorded video call.
He looked smaller than I remembered.
“Victor prepared the deed,” he admitted.
“Did you know?” I asked.
“I knew he wanted to add me.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Diego closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The word landed harder than the slap.
“Why?”
“Mom said it was temporary. She said once the refinancing closed, we would reverse everything.”
“You planned to steal my land for a temporary period?”
“I kept telling myself it wasn’t stealing because we were married.”
Nadia said nothing. She did not need to.
I asked, “Did you marry me for the property?”
“No.”
“Did your mother encourage you to marry me because of it?”
His silence lasted too long.
Then he whispered, “She found out about the land before I proposed.”
My chest tightened.
“And you still proposed.”
“Yes.”
I ended the call.
Five minutes later, Nadia received an email from Victor’s attorney.
May you like
He wanted to negotiate.
And his first demand was that I surrender the original deed to my father’s land.
