Elias, a thin, eighty-year-old man with the sharp mind of a young prosecutor, received him in the library, surrounded by volumes of law and jurisprudence.
“Sit down, boy. You have to tell me everything, without omitting any details,” Elias said, offering him a whiskey.
Elias nodded gravely, stroking his chin.
“That’s what she believes. But Sofia’s ambition is her greatest weakness. She doesn’t just want your money, Ricardo. She wants your legacy .”
Elias got up and walked towards a safe hidden behind a bookshelf.
“When you married her, I didn’t trust you. Her financial history was… too clean. Too many loose ends from her youth in Europe. I did a thorough investigation, and while I didn’t find anything that justified breaking off the engagement, I did find indications that she was looking for something very specific.”
He opened the safe and took out a yellowed document, wrapped in a red ribbon.
“This is your grandfather’s original will, the one who founded the company. And this,” Elias pulled out a smaller piece of paper, “is a codicil that your grandfather asked me to keep secret, only to be revealed in case of extreme necessity, or if the line of succession were threatened by outside interests.”
Ricardo took the paper, feeling the weight of the family history.
“What does it say?”
“Your grandfather was a wise man, Ricardo. He knew that wealth attracts vultures. The codicil states that if the principal heir (you) dies before the age of fifty without direct blood heirs, the entire fortune, including the mansion and illiquid assets, is transferred to a charitable foundation, with one exception.”
Elias approached, his voice low and urgent.
“The exception is if the death is proven to be a murder committed by the spouse. In that case, the spouse is not only excluded from the inheritance, but the foundation takes charge of using the funds to pursue the case to justice, regardless of the cost.”
Ricardo felt dizzy. Sofia had not only failed to kill him, but if she had succeeded, she would have lost everything.
“But she didn’t know,” Ricardo murmured.
The Return to the Mansion and the Trap
Ricardo knew he couldn’t stay hidden. He needed proof of the conspiracy for the police to act, and the proof was in his mansion.
“Elias, I need the hard drive from the home computer. And Sofia’s phone. The communications with Javier must be there.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Elias protested. “She’ll know she failed and she’ll be waiting.”
“Not if you think I’m dead,” Ricardo replied with a coldness that frightened even the lawyer.
Ricardo devised a daring plan. He would use the old Audi, but instead of going directly to the mansion, he would call the police from a payphone, reporting a serious accident at the cliff bend, without giving his name.
“I want to create a media frenzy. I want Sofia to believe that Plan A worked, but that my identity hasn’t been confirmed yet because of the condition of the vehicle.”
Elias reluctantly agreed, but insisted on sending two of his security guards, discreetly dressed as gardeners, to Ricardo’s property.
When Ricardo arrived at the mansion at dusk, the scene was one of mock mourning. There was a police car in the driveway, and Sofia was talking nervously to an officer.
Ricardo slipped in through the service entrance. He was wearing dark clothing and a cap.
He went straight to the study, where the safe containing the main computer’s hard drive was located.
While she was working on the combination, she heard voices in the hallway. It was Sofia and a man.
“You’re saying that the idiot was saved by a filthy kid!” Sofia’s voice was filled with suppressed fury.
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