Chapter 7: The Thing Victoria Finally Said
Victoria called on a Sunday.
Elena almost didn't answer.
She was sitting in her father's garden with Nicolás asleep on her chest, and the afternoon was warm, and she had spent the last eleven days in courtrooms and lawyers' offices and she was very tired.
She answered.
"I need to talk to you," Victoria said.
"Not through lawyers.
Just us."
"Why?"
"Because I know things that your lawyer doesn't.
And because I'm not going to be able to live with myself if I don't tell you."
Elena looked at Nicolás.
His small chest rising and falling.
"One hour," Elena said.
"My father's house.
You come alone."
Victoria came alone.
They sat in the front room.
Rafael was in his study.
The door was open.
Elena had not asked him to be there, but she had not asked him to leave either.
Victoria looked older than she had at the party.
She sat with her hands in her lap and didn't try to fill the silence.
"Start from the beginning," Elena said.
Victoria looked at the window.
"Alejandro came to me two and a half years ago.
He told me he had made a mistake.
That there was a woman.
That it was over, but that there was a child coming and he needed to manage it quietly." She paused.
"He asked me to help him keep it from you."
"And you agreed."
"I told myself it was to protect the family.
To protect you.
That knowing would only hurt you and the baby would be born and you would never have to know and—" She stopped.
"I know how that sounds."
"It sounds like you chose him over me."
Victoria's eyes filled.
"Yes.
I did.
I'm sorry."
Elena waited.
"There's more," Victoria said.
"I know."
Victoria looked at her sharply.
"The transfers," Elena said.
"The two that were approved while he was traveling.
Your access level."
Victoria went very still.
"How do you know about that?"
"It doesn't matter.
Tell me what happened."
Victoria pressed her hands flat on her knees.
"He asked me to approve them.
He said it was a restructuring payment, that the timing was complicated, that he needed someone he trusted to handle it while he was away.
I asked him what the account was.
He said it was a vendor account." She paused.
"I didn't look closely enough.
I should have."
"Did you know what you were approving?"
"Not then.
I found out later.
When I understood what Inversiones Clave was." She looked at her hands.
"By then I had already signed the approvals.
My name was on the documents.
I was — I was part of it, whether I meant to be or not.
And he knew that.
He reminded me of it.
Gently.
The way he does everything."
The way he does everything.
Elena thought of the voicemail.
*I'm not threatening you.
I'm asking you to be rational.*
"He used it to keep you quiet," Elena said.
"Yes."
"About Camila.
About the money.
About all of it."
"Yes." Victoria's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Elena.
I am so sorry.
I know that doesn't—"
"Are you willing to make a formal statement?"
Victoria blinked.
"To the authorities?"
"To my lawyer first.
Then wherever she determines it needs to go."
A long pause.
"If I do that," Victoria said slowly, "my name is on those transfer documents.
I could be—"
"You could be," Elena agreed.
"That's a risk you'll have to weigh.
But you came here today.
That means something."
Victoria looked at the window again.
The garden.
The ordinary Sunday afternoon outside.
"He called me last night," she said.
"He told me not to contact you.
He said if I did, he would make sure the transfer documents were the first thing the investigators saw.
With my name on them and no context."
Elena said nothing.
"He's going to try to use me as a shield," Victoria said.
"Isn't he."
"Yes."
Victoria sat with that.
Then she reached into her bag and took out a small notebook.
She placed it on the table between them.
"I've been keeping notes since I found out about Inversiones Clave.
Dates.
Conversations.
What he said to me and when.
I didn't know if I would ever use it." She looked at Elena.
"I'd like Dr.
Vargas to have it."
Elena picked up the notebook.
It was dense with handwriting, dates in the margins, names circled.
"Victoria." Elena looked at her directly.
"What he did to you — using your name on those documents, keeping you afraid — that's on him.
Not just on you."
Victoria's composure broke.
Not loudly.
Just a single breath that came out wrong, and then her hand over her mouth, and then a long moment of silence while she put herself back together.
"I should have protected you," she said finally.
"I should have told you."
"Yes," Elena said.
"You should have."
She didn't soften it.
But she didn't add anything either.
She picked up her phone and called Dr.
Vargas.
"I have a witness," she said.
"And a notebook.
Can you come tomorrow morning?"
She listened.
"Yes," she said.
"I think it changes everything."
May you like
She hung up.
In his study, Rafael quietly closed the door.
