Chapter 4 - THE OTHER MAN
Valerie did not run.
She was smarter than that.
Instead, she called Alejandro.
Crying.
“Alejandro, your mother went through my things.”
He recorded the call.
“What things?”
“My medicine.”
“Why was medicine hidden behind Sophie’s bathroom vent?”
Silence.
Then:
“That wasn't mine.”
“Whose was it?”
“I don't know.”
“Interesting.”
“Alejandro, your mother hates me.”
“My mother barely knows you.”
“She has never accepted me.”
“She watched you marry me.”
“For Sophie.”
There.
Always Sophie.
Valerie continued.
“That child has manipulated everyone since Marissa died.”
Alejandro’s grip tightened.
“She is eight.”
“Eight-year-olds lie.”
“Do they hide prescription bottles behind vents?”
Valerie hung up.
Marcus traced her next calls.
One number appeared repeatedly.
Nathan Cole.
Alejandro knew the name.
A former regional operations director at Rivers Freight.
Fired eleven months earlier for falsifying vendor invoices.
Alejandro had personally terminated him.
Valerie had worked in Nathan’s branch office.
Suddenly six months no longer seemed romantic.
It seemed organized.
Marcus obtained financial records.
Three months before Valerie met Alejandro, Nathan transferred $18,000 to her.
Two months later, another $12,000.
After the wedding, the payments stopped.
Instead, Valerie began receiving cash deposits.
“What is this?”
Alejandro asked.
Marcus looked grim.
“We think your marriage may have been part of something else.”
Then the tablet provided the missing piece.
Recording sixteen.
Valerie talking on the phone.
This time the other voice was audible.
Male.
“You’re taking too long.”
Valerie:
“I married him, didn't I?”
Male:
“That wasn't the objective.”
“What do you expect me to do? He adopted the girl.”
“Then make him regret it.”
Alejandro felt nauseated.
Valerie:
“If Sophie keeps getting sick, eventually he’ll agree she needs specialized care.”
“And?”
“There are residential programs.”
“Then get her into one.”
Alejandro stopped the recording.
“No.”
Marcus said nothing.
Alejandro replayed it.
Residential care.
Remove Sophie.
Isolate Alejandro.
Then what?
The answer came from another folder.
Photographs Valerie had accidentally synchronized to Sophie’s tablet through the family cloud account.
Pictures of Alejandro’s office.
Insurance documents.
Corporate shareholder agreements.
His signature.
His passport.
And one photograph of a draft will.
Alejandro stared.
Under his current estate plan, Sophie inherited a substantial trust.
If Alejandro later had biological children, the structure changed—but Sophie remained protected.
Valerie had photographed everything.
Marcus leaned back.
“This wasn't about jealousy.”
“No.”
Alejandro finally understood.
Sophie was not merely a child Valerie resented.
She was an obstacle.
May you like
And somewhere in Dallas, Nathan Cole had spent months helping Valerie remove obstacles from Alejandro Rivers’ life.
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