PART 3
He exchanged a look with my mother.
Then he shrugged.
“Fine.”
He opened his contacts and scrolled through the names.
I watched his thumb move across the screen.
A moment later, he selected a number.
The phone began ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then someone answered.
“Good evening, Richard.”
My father’s entire expression changed.
He straightened in his chair.
“Good evening, sir. I apologize for calling so late.”
The voice on the other end sounded calm.
“Is something wrong?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say something is wrong exactly. I wanted to discuss a situation involving your property.”
I lowered my eyes toward the table.
Your property.
Those two words almost made me laugh.
My father continued.
“I’m currently at the Arístegui Hotel with my daughter, Chloe. I understand she’s been managing the establishment for you.”
There was a pause.
Then the man asked:
“You’re with Chloe?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m calling.”
“Interesting.”
My father seemed encouraged.
He glanced at my mother, who immediately gave him an approving smile.
“I don’t want to interfere in your business,” Richard continued, “but I believe you should know certain things about the person you’ve entrusted with such an important operation.”
I folded my hands.
Here we go.
“What things?” the man asked.
My father cleared his throat.
“First, Chloe has been presenting herself as the owner of this hotel. She tells people this is her establishment. However, she isn’t the legal owner of the building.”
The voice remained silent.
My father mistook that silence for interest.
“Second, she has refused to cooperate with her own family despite having considerable financial resources. We’re simply trying to resolve a family matter, but she has become extremely difficult.”
I closed my eyes for a moment.
My mother leaned closer to the phone.
“She’s always been stubborn,” she added. “We thought perhaps you should know what kind of person you’re dealing with.”
Gabriel couldn’t resist.
“And honestly, sir, if she’s managing your property, you might want to reconsider that arrangement.”
I looked at him.
Seven years ago, I had paid his college tuition.
Tonight, he was trying to get me fired.
The man on the phone finally spoke.
“Are you finished?”
My father nodded, even though the man couldn’t see him.
“Yes, sir. I simply wanted to protect your interests.”
“Protect my interests?”
“Exactly.”
Another pause.
Then the man asked a question that made my father’s smile disappear.
“Richard, do you know where you are standing right now?”
My father frowned.
“At the hotel.”
“Which hotel?”
“The Arístegui Hotel in Chicago.”
“And who did you say you were visiting?”
“My daughter.”
“Chloe Arístegui?”
“Yes.”
The man’s voice became slightly firmer.
“Then perhaps you should put your daughter on the phone.”
Richard looked at me.
For the first time that night, he seemed uncertain.
“Of course. She’s right here.”
He pushed the phone across the table.
I picked it up.
“Good evening, Mr. Bennett.”
“Good evening, Chloe.”
My family exchanged confused looks.
My father mouthed something to my mother.
She shook her head.
I continued.
“Sorry to bother you this evening.”
“You’re not bothering me. I received your message from the financial office earlier. I was actually expecting to hear from you.”
I glanced at the phone.
“Everything is fine?”
“Everything is fine. The board approved the revised operating budget this afternoon. Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thank you.”
My father slowly leaned forward.
The name Bennett had finally caught his attention.
He knew it.
Of course he did.
Everyone involved in Chicago’s commercial real estate industry knew the Bennett family.
But he still hadn’t understood what was happening.
Mr. Bennett continued.
“Is there a reason your father is telling me that you’re misrepresenting your position here?”
I looked at Richard.
He was staring at me now.
I answered carefully.
“My father believes the hotel belongs to someone else and that I could be removed from my position if he complains.”
There was a short silence.
Then Mr. Bennett laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make the room uncomfortable.
“Well, that’s an interesting misunderstanding.”
My father immediately interrupted.
“Sir, I think perhaps there’s been some confusion—”
Mr. Bennett stopped him.
“Richard, let me explain something.”
My father went quiet.
“The Arístegui Hotel is not a property that Chloe simply manages for an outside investor.”
My mother’s smile vanished.
Mr. Bennett continued.
“Chloe is the controlling owner of the company that owns and operates this hotel. The property was acquired through her investment group three years ago. She is also the managing director.”
Nobody moved.
Not my mother.
Not Gabriel.
Not Martha.
Not even my father.
Mr. Bennett wasn’t finished.
“And since we’re discussing ownership, I should mention that the acquisition was completed without any financial contribution from your family.”
I lowered my head slightly.
I didn’t need to look at them to know what their faces looked like.
My father finally found his voice.
“That’s impossible.”
Mr. Bennett answered calmly.
“It’s a matter of public record.”
“But the building—”
“Richard, I don’t know what information you’ve been given, but I suggest you verify it before making further accusations.”
My mother grabbed my father’s arm.
He ignored her.
“Are you saying Chloe owns this hotel?”
“I’m saying she is the majority owner of the company holding the property, yes.”
The silence that followed was almost physical.
I thanked Mr. Bennett.
We exchanged a few final words about the board meeting, and I ended the call.
Then I placed the phone on the table.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at my father.
“Well?”
He stared at me.
“What?”
“You said you knew exactly who owned the hotel.”
His mouth opened.
Then closed.
I leaned back.
“Apparently, you didn’t.”
My mother looked around the room as though she expected someone to tell her this was a joke.
“Chloe…”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
That question.
That ridiculous, unbelievable question.
I almost laughed.
“Tell you what?”
“That you owned this place!”
I looked at her for several seconds.
“Would you have congratulated me?”
She didn’t answer.
“Would you have called when I graduated? Would you have visited when I opened my first business? Would you have remembered my birthday?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?”
My mother looked down.
Gabriel suddenly became very interested in his phone.
Martha crossed her arms.
My father, however, was not ready to surrender.
He stood up.
“Fine. So you own the hotel. Congratulations.”
I waited.
“But that doesn’t change anything,” he continued. “We’re still your family. Your brother still needs help.”
I nodded slowly.
There it was again.
They had just discovered that I owned a hotel worth millions, and somehow they still believed the conversation should end with me giving them $1.1 million.
“Let me ask you something, Dad.”
“What?”
“Why exactly does Gabriel need one million one hundred thousand dollars?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I already told you. It’s an investment.”
“No. You told me it’s an apartment development. You haven’t explained the actual agreement.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Can we stop interrogating me?”
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“Show me the contract.”
He hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because if you’re asking me for over a million dollars, I want to know what you’re investing in.”
My father interrupted.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Then neither is my money.”
Gabriel looked at our father.
Something passed between them.
It was brief, but I noticed it.
They weren’t simply uncomfortable about discussing the investment.
They were afraid of something.
I had spent seven years learning how to recognize that expression in business meetings.
It usually appeared when someone was hiding a problem that could become expensive.
“Gabriel,” I said quietly. “Where is the contract?”
He pulled his phone from his pocket.
“I don’t have it with me.”
“Who is the developer?”
“Northbridge Urban Partners.”
I repeated the name.
“Northbridge Urban Partners?”
“Yes.”
“Who owns it?”
“Some investors.”
“Who?”
He rolled his eyes.
“I don’t know every detail.”
I turned toward my father.
“You reviewed the contract, correct?”
Richard hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Then you know the company.”
“Of course.”
“Who is the managing director?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked at Gabriel again.
“What’s the address of the development?”
He gave me a street name.
I opened my laptop.
I had access to property records, corporate filings, and a team of analysts who could verify a business in minutes.
I didn’t need to use all of that.
I simply searched the company’s name.
Within seconds, several results appeared.
I clicked on the first public business listing.
Then the second.
Then a corporate filing.
My expression changed.
Not because I was surprised by what I saw.
Because I was beginning to understand why my family had come to my hotel demanding exactly $1.1 million.
“Gabriel?”
“What?”
“How long have you been involved with this company?”
“About four months.”
“Have you already paid anything?”
He looked at my father.
That was enough.
“How much?”
“Nothing significant.”
“How much, Gabriel?”
He muttered something.
I couldn’t hear him.
“Speak clearly.”
“Forty-five thousand.”
My father immediately jumped in.
“That was a deposit. It was necessary to secure the partnership.”
I looked at him.
“Where did the forty-five thousand come from?”
“Personal savings.”
“Whose savings?”
Silence.
I turned toward my mother.
She looked away.
That was when I realized the situation was worse than I had initially thought.
“Mom?”
She folded her hands.
“Your father and I helped him.”
“With your savings?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
She didn’t answer.
I looked at Gabriel.
“How much money has the family already invested?”
He finally said it.
“One hundred and eighty thousand.”
I stopped typing.
One hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
My father had lost his construction materials business years ago.
My mother had never worked outside the home.
Gabriel was twenty-six and had never held a stable job for more than a year.
Where had that money come from?
I looked at Martha.
She suddenly became uncomfortable.
Then my father spoke.
“We borrowed some of it.”
“From whom?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if you’re asking me to put another million dollars into the same project.”
Gabriel slammed his palm against the table.
“You’re not listening! This is an opportunity!”
“Then show me the documents.”
“We don’t have time!”
“Why?”
“Because Monday is the deadline!”
I looked at the clock.
It was already late Friday evening.
“Who set the deadline?”
“The developer.”
“Why?”
Gabriel’s face tightened.
I closed my laptop halfway.
“Gabriel, listen carefully. A legitimate investment doesn’t become a good investment simply because someone gives you a deadline.”
He shook his head.
“You always have to make everything complicated.”
“No. I have to make sure I don’t lose a million dollars.”
My father walked toward the door.
“We’ve heard enough.”
I remained seated.
“Then you should leave.”
He turned around.
“You think you’re better than us now?”
“No.”
“You’re acting like you don’t owe your family anything.”
I looked at him.
“Seven years ago, I had one suitcase, four thousand eight hundred dollars, and nowhere to sleep.”
He said nothing.
“I worked three jobs. I cleaned hotel rooms. I answered reservation calls. I carried luggage. I studied accounting at night because I couldn’t afford to stop working.”
My voice remained steady.
“I slept in a room smaller than this office. I ate instant noodles because I needed to save money. I made mistakes. I lost money. I nearly closed my first business twice.”
My mother stared at me.
I continued.
“And not once did any of you ask if I was okay.”
Richard looked away.
“So no, Dad. I don’t think I’m better than you. I simply stopped expecting you to rescue me.”
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Gabriel spoke.
“You’re really going to let us walk out of here with nothing?”
I looked at him.
“You’re walking out with exactly what you brought in.”
He shook his head.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“Perhaps.”
I stood and opened the door.
Thomas, the security supervisor, was waiting outside.
“Everything okay, Ms. Arístegui?”
“Yes, Thomas. Please escort our guests to the lobby.”
My father stopped beside me.
He leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“You’ll regret humiliating your own family.”
I looked straight into his eyes.
“Then perhaps you should stop confusing consequences with humiliation.”
He walked away.
My mother followed.
Martha was last.
But Gabriel lingered in the doorway.
He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite understand.
“Chloe.”
I waited.
“Can we talk tomorrow? Just you and me?”
I studied his face.
“About what?”
He lowered his voice.
“Something I couldn’t say in front of Dad.”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Then he added six words that made me reconsider everything.
“I think we’re being set up.”
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
He looked over his shoulder to make sure our parents were gone.
Then he whispered:
“The company isn’t what Dad thinks it is.”
Before I could ask another question, he stepped into the hallway.
“Please. Tomorrow.”
And then he disappeared.
I stood there for several seconds, listening to the sound of their footsteps fading through the lobby.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
I returned to my office and called Daniel, my chief financial officer.
“Daniel, I need a favor.”
“Of course. What’s happening?”
“Have you heard of a company called Northbridge Urban Partners?”
He was silent for a moment.
Then I heard his keyboard.
“Give me a second.”
I waited.
A few seconds passed.
Then he spoke again.
“Chloe, why are you asking about them?”
“Someone in my family is involved with them.”
His voice immediately changed.
“How involved?”
“Apparently, my brother has invested forty-five thousand dollars. My parents and aunt may have contributed more.”
Daniel stopped typing.
“Chloe, I need you to listen carefully.”
“What?”
“We received a preliminary risk alert about that company two weeks ago.”
I sat down.
“What kind of risk alert?”
“Unverified ownership claims. Inconsistent project documentation. And a potential dispute involving the property they’re advertising.”
I looked at my laptop.
“Do they have an active development?”
“That’s what we’re trying to establish.”
“Daniel, I need everything you can find. Corporate registration, ownership, directors, previous projects, litigation, financial records. Everything available through legitimate channels.”
“Understood.”
“And Daniel?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t contact my family.”
“I won’t.”
I ended the call.
For the next twenty minutes, I sat alone in my office.
Outside, the hotel continued operating.
Guests checked in.
The restaurant served dinner.
Someone laughed near the elevators.
Life continued as though nothing had happened.
But my mind kept returning to Gabriel’s words.
I think we’re being set up.
At 11:43 p.m., my phone vibrated.
It was a message from an unknown number.
There was no greeting.
No explanation.
Just a photograph.
I opened it.
It showed a document with my father’s signature.
Underneath it was a paragraph that made my blood run cold.
PERSONAL GUARANTEE AND SECURITY AGREEMENT.
I enlarged the photograph.
Then I read the names.
Richard Arístegui.
Eleanor Arístegui.
Gabriel Arístegui.
And beneath them, a fourth name.
Mine.
Chloe Arístegui.
I stared at the screen.
I had never signed that document.
I had never agreed to guarantee Gabriel’s investment.
And I had certainly never authorized anyone to use my hotel as collateral.
I read the document again.
At the bottom was a description of the security being offered.
The Arístegui Hotel.
My hotel.
My hands went cold.
Then another message arrived.
This time, there were only two sentences.
Your family has already promised your property to someone else.
And they have until Monday morning to deliver the money.
I immediately called Daniel.
He answered on the first ring.
“Chloe?”
“Daniel, I need you to check something urgently.”
“What happened?”
“Someone sent me a guarantee agreement with my name on it.”
Silence.
Then he asked:
“Did you sign it?”
“No.”
“Send it to me immediately.”
I forwarded the photograph.
I heard him typing.
Then, after a few seconds, he said something that made my heart sink.
“Chloe, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I found the company.”
“And?”
“Northbridge Urban Partners was registered less than six months ago. Its listed director has connections to two businesses that were dissolved after major financial disputes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Can you identify the person behind it?”
“I’m trying.”
Then he stopped speaking.
“Daniel?”
“Chloe, I found something.”
“What?”
“The company has been using your name in its investor presentation.”
I stood up.
“What?”
“Your name. Your hotel. Your business profile. They are presenting you as a strategic partner.”
I felt the room become smaller.
“They have no permission to do that.”
“I know.”
“Who authorized it?”
“I haven’t confirmed that yet.”
I stared at the photograph on my phone.
My family hadn’t simply come asking for money.
They had come because they needed me to fund something.
Something they had already promised using my name and property.
And suddenly, the strange confidence in my father’s voice made sense.
