Chapter 4: My Wife’s Real Name

Chapter 4: My Wife’s Real Name

Karina snatched the phone from the counter.

Too late.

I had already seen the message.

“Why is Jorge Mendoza asking about my father’s box?”

She stared at me, her breathing suddenly shallow.

“Daniel, let me explain.”

“Start with who he is.”

She hesitated.

That hesitation told me everything.

“He’s my father.”

The room seemed to tilt.

I gripped the edge of the table.

“Your father’s name is Alberto Salazar.”

“That’s the name he used publicly when I was growing up.”

“So Karina Salazar isn’t your real name?”

“My legal name is Karina Mendoza.”

Nine years of memories became contaminated in an instant.

Our first meeting at a charity fundraiser.

The accidental second meeting at a café.

Her interest in my mother.

Her insistence that we combine finances.

Every time she had asked whether my family owned property.

“You targeted me,” I said.

Her eyes filled with tears.

“At first.”

The words hurt more than a denial.

“You admit it?”

“My father sent me to meet you. He wanted information about your mother and the Coyoacán property.”

“And you married me.”

“I wasn’t supposed to.”

I laughed bitterly.

“What does that mean?”

“I was supposed to get close, find the documents, and leave.”

“But instead you stayed for nine years?”

“Because I fell in love with you.”

I stepped away from her.

“You don’t get to use that word now.”

She reached toward me.

I recoiled.

“Did you poison my mother?”

“No.”

“Did you know someone was?”

Karina said nothing.

I felt something inside me break.

“Answer me.”

“I knew my father wanted her declared mentally incompetent.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“He said the medication would make her confused. Weak. Easier to control.”

“You knew.”

“I didn’t know it could kill her.”

“But you kept quiet.”

She lowered her head.

I took out my phone and called Marisol.

Karina looked up in panic.

“You can’t tell the police everything.”

“Why?”

“Because my father knows about the box.”

“He already knows I opened it.”

“No.” Her voice trembled. “He knows the box exists. He doesn’t know what else was inside.”

“What else?”

Karina stared at the folder.

“Your father didn’t only leave a deed.”

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