Chapter 9 - THE DINNER TABLE CHANGED SIDES
Alejandro came home Friday night and found Sergio sitting at the dining table.
Mariana sat opposite him.
Rachel sat beside her.
No food.
No wine.
No bedroom door.
Alejandro stopped.
“What is this?”
Sergio answered first.
“A conversation.”
Alejandro looked at Mariana.
“You called my boss?”
“No.”
Sergio’s expression hardened.
“I came because your promotion review uncovered fraudulent disclosures.”
Alejandro’s face changed.
Not fear yet.
Calculation.
“This is personal.”
“No,” Sergio said. “You made it corporate when you filed medical documents about your wife.”
Alejandro looked at Mariana.
“You’ve been going through my things.”
“Yes.”
“Unbelievable.”
Mariana almost smiled.
“Interesting choice of complaint.”
Rachel placed copies of the forged power of attorney, Sunrise letters, HELOC application, and Vega Management records on the table.
Alejandro sat.
Then Sergio placed the promotion file beside them.
For ten minutes, nobody shouted.
That made it worse.
Mariana asked one question at a time.
“Did you know Dr. Bell was dead when his name appeared on this certification?”
“No.”
Lie.
“Did you tell Carla I agreed to be evaluated?”
“Yes.”
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Did you transfer money from Lucía’s account?”
Silence.
“Alejandro.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know about the vehicle recall before the crash?”
His face collapsed.
There it was.
The first real emotion.
“Yes.”
Mariana’s throat tightened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t.”
“You could.”
“You would have hated me.”
She stared.
“So instead you let me hate myself.”
He looked confused.
“For seven years, I thought I should have noticed something. I thought being a surgeon should have made me capable of saving my own child.”
“Mariana—”
“You knew there was something neither of us could fix after the fact, and you let me carry all the guilt because sharing yours frightened you.”
He started crying.
Sergio looked away.
Then Alejandro said:
“I never wanted you to stay sick.”
Rachel slid the forged incapacity letters toward him.
“Paper disagrees.”
He covered his face.
Then admitted the worst part.
Dr. Keller had suggested the medical narrative.
At first, only to protect Alejandro from inquiries about Lucía’s crash.
Later, Alejandro realized the same narrative made people sympathetic to him.
Then useful.
Then profitable.
Each lie made the next easier.
But there was another participant.
“Who altered the police mechanical file?” Mariana asked.
Alejandro looked up.
“I didn’t.”
“Then who?”
His answer surprised everyone.
“Lucía’s insurance attorney.”
May you like
Mariana went still.
The attorney had been her own brother, Rafael Torres.
