Chapter 8 - THE TRIP HE CANCELED
Roberto had been due to leave for London the following week. He would have been gone for ten days.
Vanessa had arranged for Adrian’s management company to receive access to Sofía’s trust during that window. The forged medical authorization would have let Vanessa speak for Sofía without waiting for Roberto.
Claire explained what she could prove and what remained uncertain. “We can stop the transfer. Harris will pursue the forgery. I still want to know whether anyone inside your company helped Adrian.”
Roberto thought of how easily Adrian had known his travel schedule.
At the office, he met with his deputy, Marcus Reed, and the company’s security director. They reviewed access logs for the past month. Someone had downloaded Roberto’s calendar, including private travel details, from a senior assistant’s account.
The assistant insisted she had not done it. The log showed the account had been accessed late at night from a computer in an empty conference room.
Marcus rubbed his forehead. “Who was in the building?”
“Eight people,” the security director said. “Adrian wasn’t one of them.”
“Check the cameras.”
A familiar phrase. Roberto felt his stomach tighten.
The footage showed a cleaning crew, two executives leaving late, and a man in a baseball cap walking through the conference floor with a visitor badge. The cap hid his face, but Roberto recognized his limp.
“Adrian,” he said.
The visitor log listed a different name. The badge had been approved by Marcus.
Marcus went still. “I never approved that.”
His credentials had been used while he was giving a presentation downstairs.
Adrian had found his way into both Roberto’s home and his office.
Roberto sent the footage to Harris. She warned him not to contact Adrian directly.
At six that evening, he returned home. Sofía and María were making cookies in the kitchen. There was flour on Sofía’s sleeve and a small, proud smile on her face.
Roberto wanted to hold on to the ordinary sound of them talking.
Then Daniel came in carrying a padded envelope found outside the gate. No return address. Roberto opened it in the office.
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Inside was a photograph of Sofía at the kitchen table, taken through the window less than an hour earlier.
On the back, someone had written: TELL HARRIS TO STOP.
