Part 7
Andrés took out his own phone and called the accountant.
That night, a local business publication posted the first article.
The headline reported that a senior executive at Fundación Costa Alborán had been suspended after a “workplace accident involving a pregnant legal adviser.” The article named neither woman but described Elena as “a person with close family ties to the chairman.”
By morning, another outlet had names, photographs, and a quotation attributed to a source close to Clara.
The source claimed Elena had produced a biased report targeting the executive director after a dispute over Andrés’s contract. The fall was described as “an unfortunate loss of balance during a heated exchange.”
The photograph of Elena had been taken at a legal conference three years earlier. She was mid-sentence, one hand lifted, her expression severe. Clara’s photograph came from the foundation website and showed her smiling beside children at a coastal literacy program.
Public perception had begun with lighting.
Elena read the article twice before Andrés took the phone from her.
“Comments are worse,” he said.
“I wasn’t reading them.”
“You were about to.”
“I was evaluating the framing.”
“You were about to evaluate three hundred strangers calling you your father-in-law’s mistress.”
Elena looked at him.
He winced. “That is one of the comments.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“It is my phone.”
“It is also six in the morning.”
She held out her hand until he returned it.
The comments divided quickly into familiar positions. Clara was a jealous criminal. Elena was a nepotism hire. Rafael was covering a family scandal. Andrés’s company was corrupt. The baby had been invented to manipulate sympathy. The foundation’s donors deserved answers. The foundation’s beneficiaries should not suffer because rich people fought on marble stairs.
The last comment stayed with Elena.
At ten, Ana called to say the board had authorized a forensic review of the financial records and appointed an interim executive director.
“At noon,” Ana continued, “Ms. Vidal’s counsel will hold a press conference.”
“Can the board prevent her from discussing confidential matters?”
“It can threaten legal action. That may amplify whatever she says.”
“What is the foundation releasing?”
“A statement confirming the independent investigation and asking the public not to speculate.”
“They are already speculating.”
“Yes.”
“I want to issue my own statement.”
Ana was silent long enough that Elena knew the answer.
“Not yet,” she said.
“Clara has framed the entire event.”
“And anything you say will be examined against incomplete evidence.”
“My silence looks like guilt.”
“It may.”
Elena moved the phone to her other ear. “That is not an acceptable strategy.”
“It is not a strategy. It is a cost.”
After the call, Elena stood at the kitchen counter making tea she did not want. She poured water into the cup, forgot the tea bag, and watched steam rise from plain water.
Andrés came in carrying a box from the unfinished nursery.
“What is that?”
“Files from the project.”
“You kept paper copies in the baby’s room?”
“We ran out of shelf space.”
“That room had an empty bookcase.”
“It has a bookcase full of your pregnancy books.”
“I own four.”
“You own eleven.”
“Three are cookbooks.”
He put the box on the table. The small exchange did not resolve anything, but it loosened the room enough for both of them to breathe.
They reviewed the project records together.
Litoral’s summaries were polished and vague. Each included photographs from the site, but the metadata showed that several images had been taken by Andrés’s own employees and emailed to Clara days before appearing in the consultancy reports.
One report contained an engineering diagram copied from Marín Obras Costeras’ preliminary assessment. The title block had been removed.
“They repackaged our work,” Andrés said.
“Who approved payment?”
“My project manager verified the invoices, then I signed.”
“Did you review the deliverables?”
“Not closely enough.”
“Why?”
“Because the wall was moving, Elena. We had pumps failing, residents complaining about night noise, a municipal inspector threatening to close the access road, and Clara calling twice a day to ask whether the donors’ visit could still happen.”
“That explains it.”
“It doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
He looked at her, perhaps surprised she had not offered comfort.
They found a message from Clara sent three days before the contract was signed.
Use Litoral for compliance. Rafael wants no delays. Treat their cost as reimbursable emergency supervision.
Andrés had replied with a thumbs-up symbol.
He stared at it for a long time.
“That little hand may cost me my company.”
“The payment records matter more.”
“It looks like agreement.”
“It is agreement.”
“I meant agreement to avoid delay.”
“I know.”
“No one else knows.”
Elena touched his wrist. “Then we show them the full sequence.”
He withdrew his hand, not angrily, but enough.
At noon they watched Clara’s press conference on a muted laptop. She sat beside her attorney in a hotel meeting room. She wore a navy dress instead of ivory, and her blonde hair remained secured in the same low bun.
When Andrés turned up the volume, Clara was answering a question about the staircase.
“I deeply regret that Elena was injured,” she said. “I reached toward her during an emotionally charged disagreement. Any suggestion that I intended harm is false.”
“Did you push her?”
“I attempted to prevent her from taking confidential foundation records after I raised concerns about her undisclosed conflicts.”
Her attorney leaned toward the microphone. “The video will show a brief physical interaction that has been mischaracterized because of the chairman’s family relationship with Ms. Marín.”
Clara looked directly toward the cameras.
“For months, I resisted pressure to approve a legal report that would conceal irregularities involving the chairman’s son. When Elena realized I would disclose her marriage and challenge her independence, she became upset.”
Andrés paused the video.
“She has reversed the entire thing.”
Elena’s pulse beat hard in her throat.
“Continue.”
May you like
Clara was asked about the missing document case.
“It contains evidence supporting my concerns,” she said. “It has been secured by counsel and will be provided to appropriate authorities under conditions that preserve confidentiality.”
