Gaby read Alma's warning twice before locking her phone.<\/p>\n
Marco had moved closer without seeming to realize it.<\/p>\n
"What did she say?"<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at him.<\/p>\n
"You know who sent it?"<\/p>\n
He did not answer.<\/p>\n
Romina stared between them.<\/p>\n
"Who is Alma?"<\/p>\n
Marco's silence lasted half a second too long.<\/p>\n
Romina's face hardened.<\/p>\n
"You told me she quit."<\/p>\n
"Stay out of this."<\/p>\n
The sharpness in his voice surprised everyone.<\/p>\n
Gaby felt the pieces shifting again.<\/p>\n
Until that moment she had assumed Romina and Marco stood on one side of the truth while she stood on the other.<\/p>\n
Now she was not so certain.<\/p>\n
"Alma says she worked for you," Gaby said.<\/p>\n
"She was fired."<\/p>\n
Romina frowned. "You said she resigned."<\/p>\n
Marco ignored her.<\/p>\n
Gaby unlocked her phone and read Alma's messages more carefully.<\/p>\n
Alma claimed her sister had also known Marco.<\/p>\n
Her sister had died seven months earlier.<\/p>\n
The child in the clinic photograph belonged to that sister.<\/p>\n
Gaby's stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
Marco had become involved after the mother's death, Alma wrote, supposedly because he wanted to help protect the child's interests.<\/p>\n
But Alma believed Marco had done the opposite.<\/p>\n
There had been money intended for the boy.<\/p>\n
A settlement.<\/p>\n
Marco had gained access to it.<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at the photograph again.<\/p>\n
The baby's soft cheek rested against Marco's jacket.<\/p>\n
"What settlement?"<\/p>\n
Marco rubbed both hands over his face.<\/p>\n
"This is ridiculous."<\/p>\n
"Then it should be easy to explain."<\/p>\n
"It's complicated."<\/p>\n
"That means it isn't ridiculous."<\/p>\n
Romina pulled out a chair and sat down slowly.<\/p>\n
Her wine had reached the edge of the tablecloth and begun dripping onto the floor.<\/p>\n
Nobody cared.<\/p>\n
"Marco," she said, "what settlement?"<\/p>\n
He turned toward her.<\/p>\n
"Not now."<\/p>\n
Romina's expression sharpened. "You've been talking to me for months about money becoming available."<\/p>\n
Marco said nothing.<\/p>\n
Gaby noticed it.<\/p>\n
So did Romina.<\/p>\n
"What money?" Gaby asked.<\/p>\n
Marco exhaled impatiently.<\/p>\n
"You two are taking fragments and creating some criminal conspiracy."<\/p>\n
"Nobody used the word criminal," Gaby said.<\/p>\n
He froze.<\/p>\n
Gaby's fear became steadier.<\/p>\n
She had learned something important.<\/p>\n
Marco was not frightened merely because his affair had been discovered.<\/p>\n
He was frightened of documents.<\/p>\n
Alma's documents.<\/p>\n
Gaby walked to the drawer where she had hidden the grocery pad.<\/p>\n
She took it out and added Alma's name.<\/p>\n
Marco watched her.<\/p>\n
"What are you doing?"<\/p>\n
"Keeping track."<\/p>\n
"Of what?"<\/p>\n
"Things you don't want me remembering."<\/p>\n
"Gaby, stop acting like this."<\/p>\n
She looked up.<\/p>\n
"Like what?"<\/p>\n
He had no answer that would not make the situation worse.<\/p>\n
Gaby's phone rang.<\/p>\n
Her cousin Steven.<\/p>\n
She had messaged him while copying Marco's records, asking whether he could come by that evening without explaining why.<\/p>\n
Now she answered.<\/p>\n
"Are you nearby?"<\/p>\n
"About ten minutes away."<\/p>\n
"Come now."<\/p>\n
Steven heard something in her voice.<\/p>\n
"Are you safe?"<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at Marco.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Do you want me to call anyone?"<\/p>\n
"Not yet."<\/p>\n
"I'll be there."<\/p>\n
She ended the call.<\/p>\n
Marco shook his head.<\/p>\n
"You're involving your family?"<\/p>\n
"You involved strangers in my finances."<\/p>\n
"Nothing has happened to your finances."<\/p>\n
Gaby opened the screenshot showing the private lender.<\/p>\n
Marco's mouth closed.<\/p>\n
Romina leaned forward.<\/p>\n
"What is that?"<\/p>\n
Gaby held up the screen.<\/p>\n
"A lender."<\/p>\n
Romina looked at Marco.<\/p>\n
"You said the financing was through the business."<\/p>\n
Marco's anger finally broke through his careful expression.<\/p>\n
"Would both of you stop?"<\/p>\n
The kitchen went silent.<\/p>\n
Gaby had heard Marco angry many times.<\/p>\n
At suppliers.<\/p>\n
At traffic.<\/p>\n
At employees who made mistakes.<\/p>\n
At himself when something broke.<\/p>\n
But rarely had she heard that tone directed at her.<\/p>\n
She realized why.<\/p>\n
For twenty-two years Marco had rarely needed anger to control a disagreement.<\/p>\n
Gaby had usually chosen peace before conflict could grow.<\/p>\n
She had interpreted that habit as maturity.<\/p>\n
Now she wondered how often it had simply made his life easier.<\/p>\n
"Leave," she said.<\/p>\n
Marco stared at her.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Both of you. Leave my kitchen."<\/p>\n
"This is my house too."<\/p>\n
Gaby's pulse jumped, but her voice stayed level.<\/p>\n
"Then you should have thought about that before discussing another house with her."<\/p>\n
Romina stood.<\/p>\n
"I'll go."<\/p>\n
Marco turned on her. "Sit down."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Something had changed in Romina too.<\/p>\n
She picked up her handbag.<\/p>\n
"I don't know what you've done, Marco, but I'm not staying here while you explain things to me in pieces."<\/p>\n
"You knew exactly what we were planning."<\/p>\n
"I knew what you told me."<\/p>\n
"And you were happy enough with that."<\/p>\n
Romina flinched.<\/p>\n
Gaby saw guilt there.<\/p>\n
Romina was not innocent.<\/p>\n
But guilt and full knowledge were not necessarily the same thing.<\/p>\n
A horn sounded outside.<\/p>\n
Steven.<\/p>\n
Gaby collected her purse, the folder where she kept household documents, and her phone.<\/p>\n
Marco stepped between her and the doorway.<\/p>\n
"Where are you going?"<\/p>\n
"To meet Alma."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
The word came too quickly.<\/p>\n
Too forcefully.<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at him for several seconds.<\/p>\n
"Move."<\/p>\n
"She's unstable."<\/p>\n
"Move, Marco."<\/p>\n
"She stole information from my company."<\/p>\n
"Then you can tell the police."<\/p>\n
His eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
Gaby saw that he hated that answer.<\/p>\n
Romina noticed too.<\/p>\n
Marco lowered his voice.<\/p>\n
"Gaby, listen to me. You don't understand the people you're dealing with."<\/p>\n
Gaby slid the blue household folder under her arm.<\/p>\n
"After this afternoon, I could say exactly the same thing about you."<\/p>\n
She walked toward him.<\/p>\n
For a moment she wondered whether he would actually refuse to move.<\/p>\n
Then Steven knocked on the front door.<\/p>\n
Marco stepped aside.<\/p>\n
Gaby passed him.<\/p>\n
At the doorway she turned.<\/p>\n
"Do not remove anything from this house."<\/p>\n
Marco laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
"You're giving me orders now?"<\/p>\n
"No. I'm telling you what I'm documenting."<\/p>\n
She left.<\/p>\n
Steven was waiting beside his car.<\/p>\n
He was in his late fifties, broad-shouldered, gray beginning to show at his temples. He had the unhurried manner of a man who believed most emergencies became easier once people stopped shouting.<\/p>\n
He took one look at Gaby.<\/p>\n
"What happened?"<\/p>\n
"Marco has been seeing someone."<\/p>\n
Steven's jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
"That's not why you called me."<\/p>\n
Gaby almost smiled.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
She showed him Alma's messages.<\/p>\n
He read them without interrupting.<\/p>\n
When he finished, he looked toward the house.<\/p>\n
Marco stood behind the front window.<\/p>\n
"Get in," Steven said.<\/p>\n
They drove across town.<\/p>\n
Alma had chosen a bakery caf\u00e9 near a busy intersection. The place was public, brightly lit, and crowded enough that Gaby understood immediately why Alma had selected it.<\/p>\n
They found her at a corner table.<\/p>\n
She was younger than Gaby expected, perhaps thirty-two or thirty-three. Her denim jacket looked worn at the elbows. Dark circles sat beneath her eyes.<\/p>\n
Beside her was a gray stroller.<\/p>\n
A baby slept inside.<\/p>\n
Gaby stopped.<\/p>\n
She recognized him.<\/p>\n
The child from Marco's photograph.<\/p>\n
Alma stood.<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Hayes?"<\/p>\n
"Gaby."<\/p>\n
Alma nodded.<\/p>\n
"I'm sorry."<\/p>\n
"For which part?"<\/p>\n
Alma's eyes filled briefly.<\/p>\n
"All of it."<\/p>\n
Gaby sat.<\/p>\n
Steven took the chair beside her.<\/p>\n
Alma remained standing long enough to check the stroller before returning to her seat.<\/p>\n
"His name is Mateo," she said.<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at the baby.<\/p>\n
"Your sister's son?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Where is his father?"<\/p>\n
Alma's expression tightened.<\/p>\n
"That's one of the things Marco lied about."<\/p>\n
She placed a thick folder on the table.<\/p>\n
Gaby's hands went cold.<\/p>\n
Alma explained carefully.<\/p>\n
Her sister, Elena, had worked at Marco's business.<\/p>\n
When Elena became pregnant, her circumstances had been difficult. Marco offered help. After Elena died, he became increasingly involved in paperwork concerning Mateo.<\/p>\n
At first Alma had been grateful.<\/p>\n
She had been grieving, caring for an infant, and trying to understand legal documents she had never expected to see.<\/p>\n
Marco had seemed competent.<\/p>\n
Generous.<\/p>\n
Patient.<\/p>\n
Then Alma discovered inconsistencies.<\/p>\n
Documents listed Marco in a role she had never agreed to.<\/p>\n
Money intended for Mateo had moved.<\/p>\n
Records disappeared from the business office.<\/p>\n
When Alma questioned Marco, he became defensive.<\/p>\n
Soon afterward, she lost her job.<\/p>\n
"How much money?" Steven asked.<\/p>\n
Alma named a figure.<\/p>\n
Gaby felt the breath leave her lungs.<\/p>\n
It was enough to explain Marco's confidence about buying another house.<\/p>\n
Perhaps enough to explain more.<\/p>\n
"Why contact me?" Gaby asked.<\/p>\n
Alma opened the folder.<\/p>\n
"Because your name started appearing."<\/p>\n
She slid several pages across the table.<\/p>\n
Gaby saw her full legal name.<\/p>\n
Gabriela Hayes.<\/p>\n
Her home address.<\/p>\n
A proposed loan.<\/p>\n
She stared at the amount.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Steven took the document.<\/p>\n
"You applied for this?"<\/p>\n
"I've never seen it."<\/p>\n
Alma pointed toward the bottom.<\/p>\n
There was a signature.<\/p>\n
Gaby's name.<\/p>\n
But not Gaby's handwriting.<\/p>\n
For several seconds she could hear nothing except the soft hiss of the caf\u00e9's espresso machine.<\/p>\n
Steven studied the page.<\/p>\n
"You're certain?"<\/p>\n
Gaby almost resented the question.<\/p>\n
Then she understood why he asked.<\/p>\n
"Completely."<\/p>\n
Her handwriting had a distinctive capital G. The signature on the page imitated its shape but missed the small backward curve she had made since childhood.<\/p>\n
She looked through the other papers.<\/p>\n
There were discussions of refinancing.<\/p>\n
Property valuation.<\/p>\n
A possible sale.<\/p>\n
Her house.<\/p>\n
The house she had spent eighteen years paying for.<\/p>\n
Alma touched another page.<\/p>\n
"I found messages about this."<\/p>\n
Gaby read them.<\/p>\n
Marco had told someone that Gaby would eventually cooperate.<\/p>\n
Another message suggested that if she did not, there were other ways to obtain authorization.<\/p>\n
Gaby stopped reading.<\/p>\n
Steven's voice was quiet.<\/p>\n
"We need copies of everything."<\/p>\n
"I made three sets," Alma said.<\/p>\n
She reached into her bag.<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at her.<\/p>\n
"You expected something to happen to the originals."<\/p>\n
Alma did not answer directly.<\/p>\n
Instead she glanced toward the window.<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
Steven followed her gaze.<\/p>\n
A dark sedan had pulled to the curb.<\/p>\n
Marco's car.<\/p>\n
Romina sat in the passenger seat.<\/p>\n
Gaby felt something inside her settle.<\/p>\n
Marco had followed them.<\/p>\n
Alma immediately stood and placed one hand on Mateo's stroller.<\/p>\n
Steven gathered the documents.<\/p>\n
"Stay seated, Gaby."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Marco pushed through the caf\u00e9 door.<\/p>\n
His eyes went first to Alma.<\/p>\n
Then the baby.<\/p>\n
Then the folder in Steven's hands.<\/p>\n
"Gaby," he said. "We're leaving."<\/p>\n
Gaby placed her phone on the table.<\/p>\n
She activated the recorder.<\/p>\n
"No, Marco."<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
"This ends now."<\/p>\n
Gaby looked at the forged signature bearing her name.<\/p>\n
For the first time that day, she agreed with him.<\/p>\n
Something was about to end.<\/p>\n
It simply wasn't going to be what Marco expected.<\/p>\n
Gaby read Alma's warning twice before locking her phone. Marco had moved closer without seeming to realize it. "What did she say?" Gaby looked at him. "You know who sent … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20155,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20120\/revisions\/20155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}