Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT THEIR FATHER DIED
Alejandro didn't move.
Marcela began crying.
"I was nineteen."
"She told me his prescription had changed."
"She gave me a bottle."
"She told me to replace the one in his bathroom."
Alejandro's face hardened.
"And you did it."
"I trusted her."
"You never asked why?"
"I was nineteen."
"So was I."
Marcela flinched.
Alejandro's voice dropped.
"You watched me bury him."
"I didn't know."
"When did you find out?"
Marcela looked at the floor.
"Three years later."
He stared at her.
"And you stayed silent."
"Mother said there was nothing we could do."
"She said if the truth came out, the company would collapse."
Alejandro stepped away as though being near her made him sick.
"Seven years."
Marcela wiped her face.
"I was scared."
"And Valeria?"
Marcela's eyes closed.
"Mother thought she had found something."
"What?"
"Your father's old papers."
Alejandro turned toward the bedroom.
Valeria had worked as an art conservator.
She understood archives.
Old documents.
Ink.
Paper.
Restoration.
A perfect person to notice something hidden.
Marcela continued.
"Valeria asked too many questions about a painting in Father's study."
Alejandro remembered it.
A nineteenth-century landscape that had hung there for decades.
"She said the backing had been replaced."
Marcela nodded.
"Mother panicked."
"Why?"
"Because Father hid documents behind it."
Alejandro looked stunned.
"What documents?"
"I don't know."
"Mother had the painting removed last month."
Alejandro rushed downstairs.
His father's study remained at the eastern end of the mansion.
He hadn't used it in years.
When he opened the door, the wall above the fireplace was empty.
The painting was gone.
He called the house manager.
"Where is my father's landscape?"
The man hesitated.
"Doña Esther ordered it sent for restoration."
"Where?"
"I wasn't told."
Alejandro turned.
Valeria had slowly come downstairs with Teresa supporting her.
He rushed toward her.
"You should be in bed."
"I heard shouting."
"You were right about the painting."
Valeria looked at Marcela.
Marcela couldn't meet her eyes.
Valeria spoke quietly.
"I never found documents."
"I only noticed the frame had been opened before."
Then Teresa spoke.
"I know where the painting went."
Everyone turned toward her.
The elderly housekeeper looked terrified.
"Your mother told me never to say."
Alejandro approached.
"Tell me."
Teresa swallowed.
"It never left the mansion."
"Then where is it?"
May you like
She pointed toward the floor.
"In the old wine cellar."
