PART 2 — THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR
I stood at the end of the hallway, staring at Ricardo.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
He looked at me.
Then at the camera.
Then back at me.
His face changed.
Not the expression of a man caught cheating.
It was something else.
Fear.
“Valeria…”
I raised my hand.
“Don’t.”
His mouth closed.
Lorena appeared behind him.
She was wearing a robe, her hair pulled back, and the moment she saw me, she began crying.
“I can explain.”
I looked at her.
“You both told me he was in Monterrey.”
Neither answered.
I stepped closer.
“Why was there a camera in your apartment?”
Lorena covered her mouth.
Ricardo looked down.
Then he whispered something I never expected.
“Because we thought someone was watching you.”
I froze.
“What?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded document.
“This isn’t what you think.”
I almost laughed.
“My husband’s shoe is underneath your sister-in-law’s couch. He’s been secretly staying one floor above me while telling me he’s in another city. There’s a hidden camera in her living room. And you’re telling me this isn’t what I think?”
Ricardo shook his head.
“No. The camera wasn’t there to spy on Lorena.”
He looked toward her.
“It was there to protect her.”
I stared at them.
Then Ricardo said the sentence that changed everything.
“Javier didn’t die in that highway accident.”
THE BROTHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
I felt the hallway tilt beneath me.
“That’s impossible.”
I had attended Javier’s funeral.
I had watched Ricardo identify the body.
I had seen Lorena collapse beside the coffin.
I had held her hand.
Everyone had.
Ricardo pulled another photograph from his pocket.
It showed Javier.
Older.
Thinner.
Standing beside a black SUV.
Alive.
My hands began shaking.
“Where is he?”
Ricardo looked at Lorena.
She finally spoke.
“We don’t know.”
I stared at her.
“You knew?”
She nodded through tears.
“For six months.”
Then she told me the truth.
Javier had been involved in a financial scheme connected to several businesses.
When he discovered that someone inside the organization was stealing money, he tried to expose them.
Instead, he became the target.
The highway crash had been staged.
The body recovered afterward had been badly burned.
Javier had survived and disappeared before the people hunting him could find him.
But he couldn’t contact his family.
Not openly.
Because the people responsible were monitoring everyone connected to him.
Including Lorena.
Including Ricardo.
And eventually…
Including me.
WHY RICARDO LIED
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