Chapter 3 - THE HOUSE PALOMA LOST
By noon, Gustavo had moved Paloma and the babies out of the motel.
Not because the motel was unsafe.
Because someone knew where they were.
Gustavo didn't tell Paloma that immediately.
He simply said he had a guesthouse on a property outside town.
She refused.
"I already owe you too much."
"You owe me nothing."
"You bought everything."
"Then pay me back someday."
"With what?"
Gustavo shrugged.
"Coffee."
Paloma almost smiled.
Almost.
The guesthouse stood behind Gustavo's main home.
It was modest compared with the large stone house beyond it, but to Paloma it looked like a palace.
Two bedrooms.
A kitchen.
A washing machine.
A crib Gustavo's housekeeper had borrowed from her daughter.
Then another arrived.
Then two more.
Paloma stood in the nursery doorway staring at four cribs.
She covered her mouth.
Gustavo pretended not to notice her tears.
That afternoon, he asked about the house she had shared with Rafael.
"The landlord evicted us."
"When?"
"Six weeks after Rafael disappeared."
"Why?"
"Rent wasn't paid."
"Didn't Rafael leave anything?"
Paloma laughed bitterly.
"Seventeen dollars."
Gustavo looked stunned.
"That's what I had after buying formula."
"Seventeen dollars?"
"And four babies."
She looked toward the nursery.
"I sold my wedding ring."
Gustavo lowered his eyes.
"Then my phone."
"What about family?"
"My mother died when I was nineteen."
"Father?"
"Never knew him."
"Rafael's family?"
"They said he had embarrassed them."
Gustavo's expression hardened.
"They blamed you?"
"They told me if I had been a better wife, he wouldn't have disappeared."
For the first time, Paloma saw anger flash across Gustavo's face.
"People say cruel things when cruelty costs them nothing."
That evening, Gustavo's security director arrived.
His name was Daniel Costa.
He placed a laptop on the kitchen table.
"We recovered part of Rafael's deleted file."
Paloma sat opposite him.
Daniel opened several documents.
Rafael had worked as an inventory supervisor.
He had access to delivery records.
Invoices.
Material purchases.
One month before disappearing, Rafael had flagged repeated discrepancies.
Steel shipments that existed on invoices but never reached construction sites.
Concrete purchases billed twice.
Equipment rented from companies that didn't appear to exist.
Gustavo leaned back.
"Someone was draining money through fake suppliers."
Daniel nodded.
"And Rafael found it."
Paloma stared at the screen.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Probably because he thought silence protected you."
"It didn't."
Her voice cracked.
"It left me carrying four babies down a road."
Nobody answered.
Daniel changed the screen.
"There's more."
An email appeared.
It had been written by Rafael.
The recipient was Gustavo.
The message had never reached him.
Mr. Almeida, I have proof someone inside your company is stealing from you.
I believe they know I found it.
If anything happens to me, protect my wife and children.
Paloma stopped breathing.
The date was three days before Rafael disappeared.
She read it again.
Then again.
Her anger collapsed beneath something worse.
Fear.
"He knew."
Gustavo nodded slowly.
"He knew he was in danger."
Paloma stood abruptly.
"Where is he?"
"We don't know."
"Then find him."
"We're trying."
"No."
She pointed at Gustavo.
"You have money."
Her voice rose.
"You have people."
"You have security."
"You have everything I didn't have for three months."
Tears streamed down her face.
"So don't tell me you're trying."
"Find my husband."
Gustavo didn't defend himself.
He simply nodded.
"I will."
That night, Paloma finally slept.
At 3:46 a.m., Gustavo's security alarm sounded.
Someone had entered the property.
Daniel called immediately.
"Gustavo."
"What?"
"We caught someone near the guesthouse."
Gustavo ran outside.
Two security guards had restrained a man near the fence.
The stranger wasn't carrying a weapon.
He was carrying an envelope.
May you like
On the front were four words.
FOR PALOMA MENDES ONLY.
