Chapter 16 - SERRANO'S LAST BARGAIN
Serrano was arrested at a private airfield outside Toluca.
He had false documents.
Cash.
And a plane waiting.
Beside him was a former Aranda Foundation accountant named Federico Ruiz.
Ruiz had disappeared eleven years earlier.
Everyone assumed he had stolen money.
He told investigators a different story.
He had kept copies.
Bank records.
Contracts.
Private correspondence.
Enough to prove the scheme stretched back nearly two decades.
Serrano immediately offered to cooperate.
He wanted protection.
He claimed Doña Esther ordered him to alter Rafael's medication.
Marcela had replaced the bottle without knowing what it contained.
Serrano then monitored Rafael's condition.
When Rafael collapsed, Serrano delayed emergency care.
Alejandro listened to the statement in silence.
His father had not simply died.
He had been allowed to die.
Then Serrano spoke about Javier Mendoza.
He denied killing him.
But he admitted Esther had ordered Javier followed.
A contractor was paid to frighten him.
The confrontation turned violent.
Javier died.
The death was staged as a robbery.
Valeria left the room when she heard that.
Alejandro followed.
She stood against the hallway wall.
For years, she had imagined a stranger had killed her father for his wallet.
Now she knew he died because he refused to look away.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to feel."
She whispered.
"You don't have to know today."
Alejandro answered.
She looked at him.
"You used to always have an answer."
"I was usually wrong."
That almost made her laugh.
Then Valeria's expression changed.
Pain crossed her face.
She grabbed the wall.
Alejandro moved instantly.
"What is it?"
She pressed both hands to her stomach.
"The baby."
Another wave of pain came.
Alejandro called for help.
At the hospital, doctors rushed Valeria into an examination room.
Alejandro stood outside, terrified.
Not of losing money.
Not of losing the company.
Not of losing his name.
Only them.
The doctor emerged twenty minutes later.
"The baby's heartbeat is strong."
Alejandro nearly collapsed with relief.
"But Mrs. Aranda needs complete rest."
The doctor lowered his voice.
"Her body has been under extreme stress for too long."
Alejandro looked through the glass.
Valeria lay in bed.
Pale.
Exhausted.
Still fighting.
May you like
For the first time, he understood what she had been trying to tell him from the beginning.
Sometimes survival looked like refusing to get out of bed.
