Chapter 4 - THE BLACK CASE
Roberto ran to the kitchen drawer. The case was gone.
He called Sofía’s doctor while Daniel searched the house. The medication was prescribed for a severe allergy. Sofía had never needed the emergency dose, but her doctor had insisted it be kept within reach.
Vanessa appeared in the kitchen doorway. “What is all this?”
“Where’s Sofía’s medication?”
“In its drawer.”
“It isn’t.”
“I didn’t move it.”
Daniel turned the tablet toward her. The paused video showed her holding the case.
Vanessa looked at it for a long moment. “I put it in my purse. We were going out tomorrow, and I didn’t want to forget it.”
“Give it to me.”
“It’s upstairs.”
Roberto held out his hand. “Your purse is right there.”
Vanessa snatched it from the counter and opened it. She searched once, then again, with increasing force.
“It must be in my room.”
Daniel walked past her toward the stairs. Vanessa blocked him.
“Get out of my way,” she said.
Roberto had heard enough lies to know she was frightened. He just didn’t know of what.
They found the case under a pile of scarves in Vanessa’s closet. Inside, the medication was still sealed.
Roberto handed it to Daniel. “Put this with María. Check the backup supply too.”
Vanessa leaned against the closet door. “You found it. Are we done?”
“No.”
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth about today. The truth about the cameras. Then I want you to leave.”
Her eyes filled with tears so quickly he might have believed them a day earlier.
“You’re throwing your wife out because a housekeeper turned your daughter against me?”
“Because Sofía is afraid of you.”
Vanessa wiped her cheek. “You know she gets confused.”
“She knows what you said.”
Vanessa lowered her voice. “Think about what you’re doing. Think about what people will say.”
Roberto had built a company while reporters called him ruthless and competitors called him worse. None of that frightened him as much as his daughter’s whisper upstairs.
“I should have thought about what was happening in my house,” he said. “Pack what you need tonight. Daniel will stay here while you do it.”
Vanessa’s phone lit up on the bed. A message preview appeared before she grabbed it.
DID HE FIND THE PAPERS?
Roberto looked at her. “What papers?”
Vanessa held the phone against her chest.
“Give it to me.”
May you like
“No.”
“Then call your lawyer,” he said. “Because I’m calling mine.”
