Chapter 8 - THE MAN INSIDE HER FATHER’S HOUSE
The access records led to Gabriel Cruz, Don Roberto’s longtime executive vice president.
Gabriel had attended Elena’s childhood birthdays.
He had carried her father’s casket-shaped briefcase during Elena’s mother’s funeral because Don Roberto’s hands were shaking too badly.
Elena had trusted him like family.
Claire’s investigators discovered that Gabriel had downloaded confidential loan agreements and property valuations months before Alejandro met Elena.
He then transferred the files to a consulting company owned by his brother-in-law.
That company received payments from a Varela shell corporation.
Elena wanted to confront him.
Claire stopped her.
“If Gabriel knows we found him, Victoria will erase everything.”
Instead, Elena invited Gabriel to lunch.
She told him she was nervous about the merger and asked whether her father would survive if it failed.
Gabriel avoided her eyes.
“The company needs this partnership.”
“Does my father know Varela owns some of our debt?”
Gabriel’s fork stopped moving.
Then he smiled.
“Your father leaves complicated matters to people he trusts.”
Elena understood the warning.
Gabriel had convinced himself that betrayal was simply another business decision.
She leaned forward.
“If Alejandro hurts me, would you still tell me to marry him?”
Gabriel’s face changed, but only briefly.
“Powerful marriages require sacrifice.”
That sentence ended Elena’s uncertainty.
She left the restaurant and vomited in an alley.
Not because she was weak.
Because she finally understood that the people helping Alejandro did not see her as a person.
She was collateral.
Claire forwarded Gabriel’s financial records to a state prosecutor and a financial-crimes detective. They agreed the case was serious, but they needed stronger evidence before moving openly.
A warrant issued too early could alert Victoria.
Elena had to continue pretending.
That evening, Gabriel visited Don Roberto and encouraged him to approve the final merger celebration.
Elena watched from the doorway as her father embraced the man secretly selling his company.
Don Roberto saw her pale expression.
“What’s wrong, mi niña?”
She wanted to tell him everything.
Instead, she kissed his cheek.
“Wedding nerves.”
Gabriel smiled behind him.
He believed Elena was afraid.
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He had no idea she had recorded their entire lunch.
👉 Gabriel’s betrayal explained how Varela entered the Marquez company, but the person who mailed Elena the first debt records remained unknown—and that hidden ally was closer to Alejandro than anyone expected.
