Chapter 4 - THE DEED MY AUNT HID INSIDE A COOKBOOK
Valeria stood inside the bank’s private viewing room staring at the empty folder.
The original deed, Aunt Estela’s will, and old property-tax records were gone.
The access history showed the box had been opened twelve days earlier.
The visitor used Valeria’s identification and a notarized authorization.
The forged document carried Martín Salgado’s seal.
Security footage showed a woman entering the vault in a wide-brimmed hat and dark glasses.
Adriana.
She had copied Valeria’s identification, imitated her signature, and removed the documents before Fernanda threw the laundry.
The humiliation had not started the operation.
It was intended to finish it.
“Without the original deed, can they take the apartment?” Valeria asked.
“The registry still has a certified record,” Lucía said. “But the original contains Estela’s handwritten restrictions.”
Aunt Estela had been suspicious of almost everyone.
She never married and built a modest fortune running a printing shop. When she left the apartment to Valeria, she included instructions that the property remain separate from any future spouse and never be pledged to a business without independent legal review.
Those restrictions would make Sergio’s claimed renovation agreement far weaker.
Adriana knew.
Sergio knew.
The original deed had to disappear.
Bank security provided clear footage of Adriana leaving with a brown folder.
Police searched her apartment.
They found no deed.
Fernanda watched officers open closets and remove computers.
She sat on the sofa with her arms crossed.
“This is ridiculous,” she said. “My mother didn’t steal anything.”
Adriana remained calm.
“Valeria gave me access years ago.”
“Then why wear a disguise?” an officer asked.
“I have light sensitivity.”
Fernanda almost looked at her.
It was a bad lie, even by their standards.
Sergio was questioned separately.
He admitted knowing Adriana wanted the documents but claimed he believed Valeria had consented.
Every time evidence appeared, Sergio moved one step away from the plan.
He had not designed it.
He had not understood it.
He had not believed anyone would be hurt.
He remained close enough to benefit and distant enough to deny.
Valeria requested a complete inventory of his belongings before collection.
Inside a toolbox, police found two blank pages bearing her original signature at the bottom.
She remembered signing them after Sergio said the electricity provider needed authorization for a building inspection.
He had saved the pages for future documents.
One had already been scanned.
The metadata matched the disputed renovation agreement.
The signature page was genuine.
Everything above it had been replaced.
Sergio’s ownership claim began collapsing.
But the original deed remained missing.
The family-court hearing opened Monday morning.
Sergio arrived wearing a simple blue shirt rather than his usual work clothes. His lawyer presented him as a husband who had spent four years improving a home, only to be discarded after one argument.
Valeria sat beside Lucía.
Behind them, reporters filled the gallery.
Sergio testified first.
“I loved my wife,” he said. “I still do.”
“Did you intend to steal her apartment?” his lawyer asked.
“No.”
“Why did you discuss transferring it?”
“My sister proposed a family company. I believed it could protect the property and reduce taxes.”
“Why didn’t you discuss it openly with Valeria?”
“I was afraid she would misunderstand.”
Valeria almost laughed.
He concealed the truth because she might misunderstand the truth.
Lucía questioned him.
“Did you tell Fernanda the apartment was basically yours?”
“I may have said it felt like ours.”
“Did you know she had dropped out of school before moving in?”
“No.”
A message appeared on the courtroom screen.
Sergio had written to Adriana:
Fernanda can stay until Valeria signs. After that, I don’t care where she goes.
His face changed.
Lucía continued.
“Did you send edited messages to Valeria’s employer?”
“I was concerned about her mental state.”
“Before or after she played the recording?”
“After.”
“So your concern began after she discovered your property plan.”
“That is not what I said.”
“Did you collect anti-anxiety medication under her name?”
“My sister asked me to.”
“You used your identification and signed as spouse.”
“I thought it was for Valeria.”
“She had never been examined.”
“I trusted the doctor.”
“Did you plan an anniversary dinner where Martín Salgado would bring documents?”
Sergio looked toward his attorney.
“Yes.”
“Were you instructed to place medication in Valeria’s wine?”
“No.”
Lucía played the video call.
Adriana held the bottle.
Sergio’s voice came from outside the frame.
“One tablet should be enough. I don’t want her unconscious.”
The courtroom became silent.
Valeria felt something inside her close permanently.
Sergio stared at the screen.
“That was taken out of context.”
“What context makes that acceptable?” Lucía asked.
No answer came.
Camila testified next.
She described Fernanda’s filming, the false student-residence story, and the instructions to provoke Valeria.
Fernanda’s attorney tried to attack her credibility.
“Did you not enjoy spending time in the apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Did you eat Valeria’s food?”
“Yes.”
“Did you record people without permission?”
“Yes.”
“So you participated.”
Camila looked toward Valeria.
“Yes. I should have spoken sooner.”
The admission strengthened rather than weakened her.
Fernanda was called.
She entered the witness chair with less confidence than she had shown online.
Her lawyer advised her to invoke her right against self-incrimination on several questions.
But when Lucía asked whether Adriana instructed her to throw the laundry, Fernanda answered.
“No.”
Camila’s cloud video appeared.
Adriana’s voice said:
Tomorrow morning, do the laundry thing. Make it disgusting. Sergio will laugh. If Valeria touches you, fall.
Fernanda looked at the floor.
“Did your mother tell you to provoke Valeria?” Lucía asked.
“Yes.”
Adriana stood in the gallery.
“Fernanda!”
The judge ordered her to remain silent.
Fernanda’s face crumpled.
“She said we would finally have a real home.”
“You had a home with your mother.”
“She said Familia Norte would buy a bigger place after selling Valeria’s apartment.”
“Did you know Valeria had not agreed?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“I realized she didn’t know anything.”
“When?”
“The day before I moved in.”
“Why did you continue?”
Fernanda began crying.
“Because my mother said if I backed out, we would lose everything because Uncle Sergio had already borrowed money.”
Sergio turned toward Adriana.
“What money?”
Adriana looked away.
The judge noticed.
After the hearing, the court rejected Sergio’s ownership claim, maintained the protective order, and referred the drugging evidence to criminal prosecutors.
Valeria retained exclusive possession of the apartment.
It should have been the decisive victory.
Then fire trucks arrived outside the courthouse.
Valeria’s building was burning.
Someone had entered her apartment through the service balcony.
The fire began inside Aunt Estela’s old kitchen cabinet.
When firefighters opened it, they found the remains of a brown folder.
Adriana had returned the stolen deed only to destroy it where suspicion would fall on Valeria.
But the fire also exposed something hidden behind the cabinet wall.
A metal box.
Inside was Aunt Estela’s handwritten property ledger, a duplicate deed, and a letter addressed to Valeria.
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The first sentence read:
If Sergio or his family ever discovers what this apartment is truly worth, do not believe the first offer they show you.
