Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE WITH TOO MANY EYES
Security reviewed the mansion's cameras. The photograph had been taken from the east garden, near the old greenhouse. There were no clear images of the person who took it, but a camera had been disconnected for seven minutes that afternoon.
Only three employees had access to the security panel.
One was the head of security.
One was the estate manager.
The third was Rosa.
Alejandro refused to let anyone question Rosa without evidence.
“She has worked here for twenty years,” he said.
Daniel reminded him that loyalty did not make a person immune from investigation.
“I know. But we will not accuse people because their names appear on a list.”
The security chief, Mateo, reviewed the staff access logs. The panel had been opened with an administrator code, not an employee badge. That meant someone had either borrowed the code or obtained it through the estate manager's office.
Alejandro asked for the original logs to be preserved and requested an independent security review.
Meanwhile, Valeria had not returned to work. She answered Rosa's messages but ignored Alejandro's calls. On the third day, he sent a letter to her home.
He did not ask her to forgive him.
He wrote that he had been wrong to make her kindness part of an experiment. He explained that his recovery had been real, that the medical team had advised him to continue using the wheelchair in public until his strength was stable, and that he had concealed the truth because he feared a financial conspiracy.
He also admitted that fear had become an excuse.
At the end, he wrote: You deserved honesty. I cannot ask you to trust me again, but I want you to know that I understand why you don't.
Valeria read the letter twice in the small apartment she shared with her aunt. She placed it on the table and sat beside the window.
Her aunt, Teresa, brought her tea.
“Are you going back?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you miss the work?”
“I miss the person I thought he was.”
Teresa sat beside her.
“Sometimes a person can be good and still do something that hurts you.”
“That doesn't make it harmless.”
“No. It means you get to decide what happens next.”
Valeria looked down at the letter.
She had never wanted Alejandro's money. She had wanted him to recover, to laugh again, and to stop treating himself as if his life had ended. She had believed that he trusted her.
Now she wondered whether every quiet moment had been a test.
At the mansion, Alejandro received a call from the hospital compliance officer. The records showed that Renata had requested an update on his prognosis three times during the first month after the accident. Victor Salas had requested copies of the rehabilitation plan twice.
More troubling, a doctor named Dr. Esteban Rivas had amended one of the progress notes. The original note said Alejandro had shown early signs of nerve recovery. The amended version described his prognosis as “unlikely to regain independent mobility.”
Alejandro remembered Dr. Rivas. He had been the specialist who advised him to transfer to a long-term rehabilitation facility.
“Was the amendment authorized?” he asked.
The compliance officer said the hospital was investigating.
Alejandro ended the call and opened the photograph again.
Someone had known he was recovering.
Someone had wanted the world to believe he would never walk.
And someone inside his own house had taken a picture of him after he stood.
Daniel entered the study.
“Sir, we found the person who accessed the security panel.”
“Who?”
“The estate manager. He says he was instructed to disable the camera by Victor Salas.”
Alejandro stood slowly.
“Victor is not employed here.”
“He still has a contractor access pass from the period after your accident.”
Alejandro's expression hardened.
“Revoke it. Then find out why he came onto my property.”
Daniel hesitated.
“There is another detail. The estate manager says Victor was not alone.”
“Who was with him?”
“A woman.”
“Did he identify her?”
Daniel placed a still image on the desk.
The woman's face was partially obscured by a hat, but the red scarf around her neck was unmistakable.
Alejandro stared at it.
Renata had been inside his mansion after the engagement party.
And she had not come to say goodbye.
The security review uncovered a second problem. The estate's visitor system had not been updated after Victor Salas lost his formal role in the company. His old access pass had remained active because the household manager believed it was easier to keep the authorization than to request a new one each time he visited.
The pass had been used eleven times in the previous six months.
On four occasions, the visitor log recorded Victor's name. On the other seven, the entries were listed as maintenance or delivery visits.
Alejandro asked for the dates.
They matched several important moments in his rehabilitation: the week he first stood with a therapist, the day he completed his first walk across the clinic room, and the morning he told Dr. Alvarez he wanted to try walking without the parallel bars.
Someone had been tracking his recovery.
The security chief recommended that every staff member be interviewed. Alejandro agreed, but he insisted that interviews be conducted respectfully and that no one lose their job merely because they had once followed an outdated instruction.
Rosa was the first person he spoke to.
“Did you ever see Victor in the house after his access should have ended?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “He came twice. He said he was bringing documents from the board.”
“Did he ask about my health?”
“He asked whether you were sleeping better and whether you were still using the wheelchair. I thought he was being considerate.”
“Did you tell him?”
“I said you were working hard in therapy. I didn't give him details.”
Alejandro thanked her.
Rosa hesitated before leaving.
“May I say something, sir?”
“Of course.”
“You were not the only person who felt watched in this house. The staff knew that people were discussing your future as if you were already gone. We were afraid to say anything because we thought the company would replace us.”
Alejandro felt ashamed.
“I should have made it easier for you to speak.”
“Yes,” Rosa said. “You should have.”
She did not soften the answer.
After she left, Alejandro asked Daniel to create a protected reporting channel for household and company employees. The channel would be managed by an independent compliance firm, not by the executive office.
He also asked that staff receive written notice that no one would be punished for reporting concerns in good faith.
The change was small, but it mattered.
Later that evening, he received a short message from Valeria.
I heard there was a threat at the house. I hope you are safe.
He read it several times before replying.
I am. Thank you for asking. The police are handling it, and I hope you and your aunt are safe too.
Her response came a few minutes later.
We are safe. Please take care of yourself.
It was not forgiveness.
May you like
But it was not silence either.
Alejandro placed the phone on the table and allowed himself to be grateful for that small opening.
