“I invested it.”
“Where?”
He didn’t answer.
“Robert.”
“Real estate.”
Daniel immediately asked:
“What properties?”
Robert looked at him.
“Three.”
“Names.”
“Two commercial buildings and a hotel.”
“Location?”
Robert hesitated.
Then he gave the addresses.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Those properties are owned by a company.”
Robert nodded.
“What company?”
Robert looked at me.
“The company is registered under Elena Carter.”
My entire body went numb.
I dropped the blue folder.
It hit the floor.
The deed slid halfway out.
Robert whispered:
“That’s why they need the original.”
I stared at him.
And suddenly the entire puzzle came together.
The forged signature.
The missing deed.
The $1.7 million debt.
My mother’s hidden money.
The company in my name.
Robert’s return.
None of it had been about reconciliation.
He had not come back because he missed me.
He had come back because I was standing on top of something worth millions.
And he needed me to sign it away before I discovered what he had done.
I looked at my children.
Then at Robert.
“Tell me everything.”
Robert shook his head.
“You don’t want to know.”
“I’ve spent two years believing you left because you didn’t love me.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“And now I’m discovering you left because you were hiding something.”
He said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“Tell me everything, Robert.”
He finally looked at me.
And whispered:
“I didn’t leave you.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“I didn’t leave because I wanted another woman.”
My heart stopped.
“I left because your mother ordered me to.”
The room became completely silent.
Marisol whispered:
“What?”
Robert looked at me.
“Your mother knew she was dying.”
He swallowed.
“And she knew someone was trying to steal her money.”
I felt my knees weaken.
“Who?”
Robert’s face turned white.
“Your father.”
I stared at him.
“My father was dead.”
Robert nodded.
“I know.”
“Then what are you saying?”
He reached into his jacket.
Pulled out a folded photograph.
And placed it on the table.
I looked down.
It was a photograph of my father.
Standing beside my mother.
Standing beside Robert.
And beside them was a man I had never seen before.
On the back of the photograph were four words.
Words written in my mother’s handwriting.
He knows everything, Elena.
PART 5
The photograph slipped from my fingers.
It landed face down on the table.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
I could hear my own breathing.
Slow.
Uneven.
Too loud in the silent room.
Then I looked at Robert.
“My father?”
He nodded.
“Your father knew about the money.”
“My father died before my mother.”
“I know.”
“And you’re telling me he was involved in this?”
“Not the way you think.”
I picked up the photograph again.
My father was smiling.
My mother was standing beside him.
Robert stood slightly behind them.
And the stranger stood at the edge of the picture.
