“Let go of me.”

Mateo didn’t move. His fingers remained clamped around my wrist, as though holding me tightly enough could erase the scene I had just witnessed.

“Sofía, it isn’t what you think.”

I let out a quiet laugh.

“So Valeria was sitting on your lap because the chair in your office was broken?”

His jaw tightened.

“She lost her balance.”

“And the first three buttons of her blouse opened themselves?”

The elevator doors were still open. Two employees stood in the hallway pretending to look at their phones, but neither of them was truly looking away.

Mateo released me immediately and lowered his voice.

“Don’t make a scene here.”

That sentence extinguished the last trace of pain inside me. He wasn’t afraid of losing me. He was only afraid of being humiliated.

The sharp rhythm of high heels echoed down the stairwell. Valeria appeared, breathless, clutching a black folder against her chest.

“Mateo, the board is calling. The meeting was recorded on the company server.”

His eyes darkened.

“Be quiet.”

But I had already seen the silver lettering printed across the folder.

“SOFÍA ÁLVAREZ — TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP.”

I stepped toward her.

“Give that to me.”

Valeria moved backward. Mateo snatched the folder from her hands.

“These are internal documents.”

“My name is on the cover.”

“It’s only paperwork for tomorrow morning’s meeting.”

“What meeting?”

Neither of them answered.

My phone vibrated. The message was from Elisa, the company’s chief financial officer.

“Mrs. Álvarez, don’t let them delete the recording. I saved a copy. And please, do not sign anything tomorrow morning.”

I raised my eyes. Mateo was staring at my phone with a tense expression.

“Who sent that?”

“Someone who seems more concerned about me than my husband is.”

The elevator doors began to close. Mateo shoved his hand between them.

“You need to attend the board meeting tomorrow at nine.”

“I won’t be there.”

“You will.”

His voice was no longer pleading. It had become cold and commanding.

“You’ll explain that Valeria felt dizzy and fell onto me. You’ll tell them the recording was misunderstood.”

I stared at him, barely able to believe what I was hearing.

“You want me to stand in front of more than thirty people and make myself look like a fool to save you?”

“Not just me. The company.”

“Your company.”

Mateo clenched his teeth.

“The company was built with your family’s money, but every current loan is tied to your signature. If tomorrow’s deal collapses, the bank will seize your father’s house first.”

For a moment, every sound around me disappeared.

“My father’s house?”

Mateo suddenly fell silent.

He had revealed too much.

That house was private property my mother had left to me. I had never used it as collateral.

Valeria turned pale and looked at Mateo.

“You haven’t told her?”

“Shut up!”

That was when I understood that what I had seen in the office was only the surface. Beneath the betrayal was a much larger plan, one that had been prepared for months and aimed directly at everything registered in my name.

I pressed the button to close the doors.

This time, Mateo wasn’t fast enough to stop them.

“Sofía, if you walk out of this building, you’ll regret it.”

I looked at him through the narrowing gap.

“The only thing I regret is trusting you for eight years.”

When I stepped outside, I immediately called Camila Ortega, the lawyer who had handled my mother’s will.

After hearing everything, Camila remained silent for several seconds.

“Three months ago, my office received a copy of a power of attorney bearing your signature. It authorized Mateo to use your house and your company shares as collateral for a twelve-million-peso credit line.”

A chill traveled down my spine.

“I never signed anything.”

“I didn’t think the signature looked right either. I tried to call you, but Mateo’s secretary said you were undergoing treatment for a nervous breakdown and weren’t permitted to deal with financial matters.”

“I’ve never received treatment.”

“Then do not go home alone. And under no circumstances should you meet Mateo without a lawyer present.”

But my taxi was already stopping in front of the house.

The light in the upstairs study was on. I was certain I had turned it off before leaving.

The front door was unlocked.

Inside, drawers had been pulled open and their contents scattered across the floor. The safe hidden behind the painting stood empty. Copies of my mother’s will, the property deed, and my stock certificates were gone.

My phone vibrated again.

An unknown number had sent three lines.

“The necklace was not a gift for his mistress.”

“It was payment for Valeria’s silence.”

“To discover what she has been hiding, open this file before Mateo gets home.”

Below the message was an encrypted link.

I tapped it.

A video appeared. The image trembled slightly, as though it had been recorded secretly inside Mateo’s office.

He was sitting across from a man in a gray suit. The same black folder I had seen earlier lay between them.

The man asked, “What happens if Sofía refuses to confirm the transfer before the board?”

Mateo answered calmly.

“We use the medical report. Once she is declared emotionally unstable, she will lose her voting authority.”

The blood in my veins seemed to freeze.

The man turned to the final page.

“And the transfer signature?”

Mateo picked up a pen, bent over the document, and signed my name with a smooth, practiced movement.

Sofía Álvarez.

The handwriting was almost perfect.

Then he said, “By noon tomorrow, she will no longer own the house, the shares, or anything else powerful enough to fight me.”

The video had not yet ended when I heard the front door close softly.

I spun around.

A shadow stretched across the floor outside the study.

Then Mateo’s voice reached me, calm enough to be terrifying.

“Sofía, I know you saw the folder.”

The door handle slowly began to turn.

“Open the door. We need to talk about the psychiatric report bearing your name.”