I read the first paragraph.
Then the second.
By the third, I was crying.
Neftalí had known.
He had known something was wrong.
Not just with Vanessa.
With the company.
With money.
With people he trusted.
There were transfers from accounts I had never heard of.
Payments to shell companies.
Property transactions.
Loans that made no sense.
And photographs.
Photographs of people meeting in restaurants.
Men leaving offices.
Vanessa sitting across from someone I recognized.
One of the company’s senior executives.
I kept turning pages.
Then I found the recordings.
There were twelve files.
I listened to the first.
Neftalí’s voice filled the room.
“Mom, if you’re hearing this, I couldn’t tell you everything while I was alive.”
I covered my mouth.
His voice continued.
“I know I’ve disappointed you.”
I began crying harder.
“I know you think I don’t see what happens between you and Vanessa.”
I stopped breathing.
“I see it.”
The recording continued.
“I’ve seen the way she talks to you. I’ve seen the way she isolates you. I’ve wanted to confront her a hundred times.”
He paused.
Then his voice became quieter.
“But there are things happening inside the company that I don’t understand.”
I listened until the recording ended.
