Chapter 7 - WHAT SURVIVED THE FIRE
Alejandro rushed inside.
Smoke filled the room.
The phone lay beside a small pile of burning papers.
He kicked the papers away.
Then he grabbed the phone with his jacket.
The screen was cracked.
The casing was burned.
But the device hadn’t been completely destroyed.
“Renata!”
No answer.
He heard movement upstairs.
Alejandro followed it.
The old wooden staircase groaned beneath his feet.
At the top, a door slammed.
He ran.
The room was empty.
A window stood open.
Outside, a car engine started.
Alejandro reached the window.
A black sedan disappeared down the road.
He called Mateo.
“She’s gone.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Police are ten minutes away.”
Alejandro looked at the damaged phone.
“I got Mariana’s phone.”
“Does it work?”
“I don’t know.”
It didn’t.
Not immediately.
But the next morning, a digital forensic specialist recovered part of the storage.
Alejandro sat beside Mateo while files appeared one by one.
Photographs.
Messages.
Audio recordings.
Most were ordinary.
Then they found a folder.
Its name was simple.
R.
Inside were screenshots of messages between Mariana and Renata.
Nine years earlier.
Renata:
YOU ALWAYS TAKE WHAT I WANT.
Mariana:
I didn’t take anything from you.
Renata:
Alejandro was supposed to choose me.
Alejandro stared.
His heart hammered.
Mateo looked at him.
“You knew her?”
“No.”
The next message explained.
Renata had seen Alejandro at an architecture conference.
They had never spoken.
But she had asked Mariana to introduce them.
Mariana had refused.
Not because she wanted Alejandro.
At that time, Mariana was dating someone else.
Months later, Alejandro and Mariana met independently through a project.
They fell in love.
Renata became furious.
The messages grew darker.
YOU THINK YOU WON.
YOU HAVE HIS HOUSE.
HIS NAME.
HIS CHILD.
YOU STOLE MY LIFE.
Mariana eventually blocked her.
Then came an audio file.
Recorded five days before Mariana’s death.
Alejandro pressed play.
Mariana’s voice filled the room.
“If something happens to me, I need someone to know this.”
Alejandro stopped breathing.
Mariana continued.
“Renata Salazar contacted me again.”
“She knows where Lucía goes to school.”
“She knows where Alejandro works.”
“She says I owe her a life.”
“I’m probably overreacting.”
A nervous laugh.
“But I’m scared.”
Alejandro covered his mouth.
Mateo stared at the screen.
The recording continued.
“She sent me a photograph of my car.”
“And yesterday, someone left a red scarf tied to my mirror.”
Alejandro remembered.
The red vehicle.
He stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“Call the detective.”
Mateo was already dialing.
The recovered files were transferred to police.
By afternoon, the old crash investigation was reopened.
Alejandro sat with Detective Sofía Mendoza.
She had reviewed the original report.
“There was evidence of brake failure.”
Alejandro nodded.
“That’s what they told me.”
“What you may not know is that investigators could never determine why.”
“What does that mean?”
“The brake line was damaged.”
Alejandro stared.
“Damaged how?”
“At the time, they considered road debris.”
“And now?”
Sofía closed the file.
“Now we have a woman threatening Mariana days before the crash.”
Alejandro’s stomach turned.
“You think Renata did it.”
“I think we need evidence.”
“What about the red car?”
“We’re looking.”
Alejandro left the station feeling like the ground beneath his life had disappeared.
Then his phone rang.
It was Lucía’s school.
“Mr. Rivera?”
“Yes?”
“This is Principal Vargas.”
Alejandro immediately tensed.
“Is Lucía okay?”
“She isn’t here.”
“What?”
“We received an email from you this morning saying she would be transferred.”
Alejandro stopped walking.
“I sent no email.”
Silence.
Then the principal said something worse.
“The email included your identification and legal authorization.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
Renata still had copies of his documents.
“Do not release any records.”
“Of course.”
“And call me if anyone comes there.”
He hung up.
Then another message arrived from Renata.
May you like
YOU TOOK MY WEDDING.
NOW I’LL TAKE YOUR PERFECT LIFE APART ONE PIECE AT A TIME.
