Chapter 14 - Camila's Last Three DaysAlejandro had never seen Camila's final will.
Not the signed original.
He had been in shock when she died.
Camila was thirty-four.
A rare aggressive infection had turned from illness to intensive care within days.
By the time Alejandro understood she might not recover, lawyers and doctors were already surrounding them.
Afterward, Helena handled probate.
Alejandro signed what needed signing.
He trusted everyone.
That word again.
Trusted.
Helena came to Madrid the next morning carrying a locked case.
“Yes,” she said. “Camila changed her will.”
Alejandro stared.
“Why didn't I know?”
“You did.”
“I didn't.”
“You signed acknowledgement.”
Helena showed him.
His signature.
Real.
Alejandro remembered nothing.
The document was dated six days after Camila's death.
He had probably signed twenty papers that afternoon.
“What changed?”
“Two things.”
Isabella sat nearby with Lucía.
Alejandro asked whether she should hear this.
Dr. Martín had advised against automatically excluding her from conversations about her own life.
So Alejandro asked.
“Do you want to stay?”
Isabella nodded.
Helena continued.
“First, Camila moved the Marbella villa entirely into Isabella's trust.”
Alejandro knew that now.
“Second?”
“She removed you as sole trustee.”
Alejandro frowned.
“I'm trustee.”
“Co-trustee.”
“With whom?”
“Me.”
He stared.
That explained why Beatriz could not simply access everything.
“Why?”
Helena looked at Isabella.
Then Alejandro.
“Camila was worried.”
“About me?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Helena hesitated.
“Beatriz.”
Silence.
Alejandro stopped breathing.
“Camila knew Beatriz?”
Isabella looked between them.
Lucía closed her eyes.
Alejandro noticed.
“You knew.”
Lucía whispered:
“Yes.”
His heart began pounding.
“How?”
Beatriz had told Alejandro they first met at a charity dinner eleven months after Camila died.
That was apparently another lie.
Helena opened a folder.
Photographs.
Camila.
Beatriz.
Together.
At a restaurant.
Another at a charity event.
Another outside the villa.
Dates from months before Camila died.
Alejandro stared.
“What was she doing here?”
Lucía answered.
“She worked with Camila.”
“In what?”
“Event consulting.”
Alejandro felt sick.
Beatriz had entered his life pretending to be a stranger.
“Did Camila dislike her?”
“At first, no.”
Helena continued.
“Then Camila suspected money was disappearing from a charitable foundation.”
Alejandro looked at the photographs.
“Beatriz?”
“She couldn't prove it.”
“How much?”
“About two hundred thousand euros.”
“Why wasn't I told?”
“Camila wanted evidence before accusing anyone.”
“What happened?”
“Three days before she became critically ill, she called me.”
Helena's voice softened.
“She told me that if anything happened to her, Isabella's assets must remain protected from anyone Alejandro married.”
Alejandro felt defensive even though Camila was dead.
“Anyone?”
“She didn't name Beatriz in the will.”
“But she told you.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me when I married her?”
Helena's expression became painful.
“I tried.”
Alejandro remembered.
Two weeks before the wedding, Helena requested dinner.
Beatriz had become violently ill that evening.
Alejandro canceled.
Helena sent an email.
He remembered receiving something about “estate considerations.”
Beatriz told him it was routine and offered to handle it.
He let her.
His own pattern was becoming unbearable.
Delegation.
Convenience.
Trust without verification.
Isabella touched one photograph.
“Mommy knew her?”
“Yes,” Alejandro said.
“Did Beatriz lie?”
“Yes.”
No softening.
No protection through half-truth.
Isabella looked at the photograph for a long time.
“Why?”
Alejandro had no answer.
Helena did not either.
Then Lucía said:
“There is more.”
Alejandro turned.
Camila had recorded a voice message from the hospital.
Not a farewell.
A warning.
Lucía had kept it private because Camila made her promise to give it to Alejandro only if Isabella's inheritance was ever threatened.
Lucía pressed play.
Camila's weak voice filled the room.
“Alejandro, if you're hearing this, something has gone very wrong.”
He closed his eyes.
Four years disappeared.
Camila continued.
“I don't know if Beatriz stole from the foundation. But I know she has been asking questions about Isabella's trust.”
Alejandro looked at the photograph.
Then Camila said:
“And I need you to know something I was too afraid to tell you.”
A pause.
“Beatriz didn't become interested in our family because of me.”
May you like
Alejandro felt cold.
“She was asking about you before we ever hired her.”
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