Chapter 4 - NOT AN AFFAIR STORY
I wanted the affair to be the worst thing.
It wasn't.
By noon, Sofía had shown Elena and me thirty-seven suspicious charges.
Some were small.
A dinner.
A hotel.
A designer bag.
Others were not.
Consulting retainers.
Fake event deposits.
Vendor reimbursements.
Nearly 900,000 pesos over fourteen months.
Every one of them tied to my professional credentials.
I stared at the spreadsheet.
“I would've seen this.”
Sofía shook her head.
“Not if the invoices were routed through a vendor account you already used.”
“Who created it?”
She looked at Daniel.
He laughed nervously.
“You think I know how to do that?”
Sofía said, “No.”
Then she looked at Valeria.
Valeria stopped pretending to sleep.
“What?”
Sofía turned the laptop around.
The fake vendor was called VS Creative Experiences.
Valeria Salgado.
My sister-in-law sat up.
“That could be anyone.”
“Your tax number is attached.”
Her mouth opened.
Closed.
Carmen stepped between us.
“She made mistakes.”
Valeria stared at her mother.
“Mom.”
There it was.
Carmen knew.
I felt strangely calm.
“How much?”
Valeria began crying.
“I was going to pay it back.”
“With what?”
“My business.”
“What business?”
She gestured vaguely.
“Events.”
“You post restaurant videos.”
“I was building something.”
“With my signature?”
“I didn't forge it.”
Everyone looked at Daniel.
He shook his head.
“No.”
Valeria said, “Daniel, don't.”
He turned on her.
“You said nobody would check.”
I sat down.
It was almost funny.
My marriage wasn't collapsing.
It was opening like a rotten wall.
One piece came away and there was mold behind it.
Then another.
Then another.
Elena closed the laptop.
“Nobody deletes anything.”
Carmen scoffed.
“You're going to send your own family to jail over money?”
I looked at her.
“No.”
For one second, relief crossed her face.
Then I continued.
“They did that themselves.”
Daniel walked toward me.
“You cannot report this.”
“I can.”
“You'll ruin Camila's family.”
I stood.
“Camila's family put her on a balcony with stale bread while eating lobster purchased through fraud.”
“It was one dinner!”
“It was not one dinner.”
My voice finally rose.
Camila heard it.
She appeared in the hallway.
I stopped immediately.
Her face tightened.
“Mommy mad?”
I knelt.
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
“Grandma says when grown-ups are mad, kids should be quiet.”
I looked over her shoulder at Carmen.
Something cold moved through me.
I took Camila's hands.
“You never have to disappear because adults are upset.”
She nodded.
Then whispered, “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Always.”
“Grandma has another phone.”
Carmen's face changed.
Camila pointed toward the kitchen.
“She hides it behind the flour.”
Valeria stood so quickly she knocked over a glass.
“Mom, what phone?”
Carmen didn't answer.
I walked to the pantry.
Behind a bag of flour was a cheap prepaid phone.
It was locked.
But a message flashed across the screen.
UNKNOWN: The Madrid tickets are useless now. We need another way to get the girl out before Mariana learns why.
I turned around.
Carmen was gone.
(To be continued)
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