Chapter 17 - The Last Auction
Alejandro stepped between Valeria and his mother.
“What are you doing here?”
Esther looked at the painting.
“Correcting something that should have been corrected years ago.”
Camila approached.
“Doña Esther, you are currently cooperating in an active investigation.”
“I know.”
Esther handed her an envelope.
Inside was a signed statement.
And an original ownership record.
Esther explained.
The Virgin of San Miguel had been stolen by her father forty-one years earlier.
It was the first illegal piece that entered the Aranda collection.
Everything began with that theft.
Her father bribed an intermediary.
Then another.
Collectors learned the Arandas could obtain pieces that normal auctions could not.
The network grew.
Esther inherited it.
Ricardo discovered the truth years later.
At first, he benefited from it.
Then guilt changed him.
He wanted everything returned.
Esther resisted.
Marcela turned the resistance into violence.
“I came tonight because the buyer still expects the sale.”
Esther said.
Camila stared at her.
“You arranged this?”
“No.”
“Marcela did.”
“She gave the instructions before her arrest.”
Esther pointed across the gallery.
A man in a gray suit stood speaking to the museum director.
“That is the intermediary.”
Camila’s team moved quietly.
The buyer attempted to leave.
Agents intercepted him.
Behind the museum’s restoration laboratory, investigators found three additional stolen works packed for transport.
A fourth crate contained falsified customs documents.
The Luna Roja network had finally exposed itself.
But the final shock came from the museum director.
He confessed under questioning that Salcedo had used the museum for private transfers for nearly a decade.
Dozens of collectors were involved.
The Aranda scandal was no longer a family investigation.
It became an international case.
Valeria stood before The Virgin of San Miguel after the gallery had been cleared.
For years, people had treated the painting as money.
Leverage.
Power.
A secret.
She saw something else.
Damage.
Old repairs.
Survival.
Alejandro stood beside her.
“You found all of this because you wanted nursery frames.”
Valeria nodded.
“Ironic.”
He looked at her belly.
“Our child has expensive timing.”
Valeria laughed softly.
Then her face changed.
She put a hand against her abdomen.
Alejandro immediately panicked.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Valeria.”
She looked at him.
“The baby kicked.”
Alejandro exhaled.
He placed his hand carefully over hers.
Another kick.
His eyes filled with tears.
For a brief moment, the investigation disappeared.
Then Camila approached.
“We have enough to close the core case.”
Alejandro nodded.
“What happens now?”
Camila looked at Esther.
“Now everyone tells the truth publicly.”
Esther’s expression stiffened.
For the first time, Alejandro did not care whether his mother was embarrassed.
May you like
He looked toward the painting.
“Good.”
