Chapter 4 - The Broken Old ManThat afternoon, I returned home. Before entering the kitchen, I heard laughter. Camila and Mauricio were drinking champagne — a bottle I had bought years earlier for an anniversary. The moment they saw me, their expressions changed.

"Dad," Camila said warmly. "We were so worried about you. You look exhausted."

Mauricio immediately brought up the power of attorney again.

I decided to give them exactly what they expected. A broken old man. For two days, I acted confused. Whenever they brought me paperwork, I complained of dizziness. Sometimes I said my chest hurt. Other times I told them I wanted my lawyer to review everything first.

Meanwhile, a private investigator I trusted, Esteban Cruz, began examining Mauricio's finances. The first folder he brought me was enough to ruin him. Shell companies. Enormous debts. Loans from dangerous lenders. Businesses close to collapse. Mauricio desperately needed Renata's fortune because his financial world was falling apart.

Then Esteban placed a second folder on my desk. "This one is going to hurt more."

Inside were photographs taken in Florida. Mauricio with another woman. And a three-year-old child. He had another family.

For one brief moment, I thought perhaps Camila was also a victim. Esteban shook his head. "Don't feel sorry for her yet."

Then he played an audio file recovered from my daughter's phone. Three days before Renata died, Mauricio had messaged Camila saying the trust required biometric verification. Camila had responded:

"Mom is sedated. The nurse is going to dinner at seven. I'll get the fingerprint."

Esteban placed a tablet in front of me. Security footage from the room where Renata spent her final days began playing. Camila entered carrying an ink pad. My wife was unconscious. My daughter lifted Renata's hand and pressed her thumb onto several documents.

Something inside me broke.

But Esteban still wasn't finished. He placed a third folder on the desk.

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"What else could there possibly be?"

Esteban looked at me carefully. "Camila has been communicating with a private doctor." He paused. "This time, Renata wasn't the target." My stomach tightened. "You were."