Chapter 9 - SERGIO’S REAL ROLE
Sergio did not answer questions voluntarily.
His attorney did.
At first, everything was innocent.
Consulting.
Family planning.
Educational support.
Then Ana found his invoices.
Sergio Valdés Advisory billed my household.
Two hundred forty thousand euros.
His separate security company billed another ninety thousand.
His educational company billed eighty-five thousand.
More than four hundred thousand euros.
For services nobody could clearly describe.
Then came the villa renovation account.
Another six hundred thousand.
My finance team compared invoices with actual work.
Less than one hundred thousand had been spent.
The rest?
Transfers.
Withdrawals.
Payments to Beatriz.
Now the plan widened.
Elena’s trust was not their first target.
It was the next one.
They had already been extracting money from me.
Slowly.
Under domestic categories I rarely reviewed.
Flowers.
Events.
Repairs.
Household staffing.
Charity.
School planning.
Every payment small enough to feel beneath a man managing four hundred million euros in property.
That was the trick.
I watched millions.
They stole thousands.
Until thousands became millions.
Ana summarized.
“About 1.7 million euros over three years.”
I stared.
“For what?”
“Personal spending.”
“Sergio’s companies.”
“Possibly gambling losses.”
“Possibly Beatriz’s accounts.”
“Still tracing.”
Then she showed me the most personal transfer.
Fifty thousand euros.
From Isabella’s education account.
I stood.
“No.”
Elena and I created that account when Isabella was born.
Separate from the larger trust.
It was supposed to pay for school.
University.
Languages.
Travel.
“Where?”
Ana answered.
“A jewelry dealer in Madrid.”
My hands went cold.
“What was purchased?”
She had the invoice.
Diamond necklace.
Beatriz wore it at our anniversary dinner.
I had complimented it.
She told me her mother gave it to her.
My daughter’s education money.
On my wife’s neck.
That night, Beatriz asked to speak privately.
Ana advised me to have counsel present.
Beatriz refused.
So I declined.
Then she changed her mind.
We sat in the library.
Her lawyer beside her.
Mine beside me.
Beatriz looked exhausted.
“You’re making me look like a criminal.”
Ana said.
“Answer Gabriel.”
Beatriz ignored her.
“I loved you.”
I stared.
“That is not the question.”
“You were never here.”
There it was.
The defense.
“You left me alone in this house.”
“I worked.”
“You chose work.”
“I chose a project you encouraged me to take.”
“You didn’t have to stay three months.”
I looked at her.
“So you punished Isabella?”
“I disciplined her.”
“Stole her money?”
“I borrowed household funds.”
“Filtered her messages?”
“I protected your concentration.”
“Kissed Sergio?”
Silence.
Her lawyer shifted.
Beatriz looked away.
Then she said.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Sergio was the only person who noticed how lonely I was.”
I almost laughed.
Isabella was eight.
Alone.
Dragging garbage.
And Beatriz wanted loneliness to excuse herself.
I stood.
“We are done.”
She looked at me.
“With the conversation?”
“No.”
May you like
I looked at my wedding ring.
“With the marriage.”
