Chapter 3 - The Video from the Dead

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I opened the laptop. The screen flickered to life instantly, displaying a single video icon on the desktop titled: PLAY_ME_FIRST_MAMA.mp4.
I clicked the file.
Neftalí appeared on the screen. He was sitting in this very cabin, at the small pine table, wearing his favorite navy wool sweater. He looked thinner than he had in his youth, but his eyes—dark, intelligent, and fiercely determined—were completely clear.
“Mamá,” Neftalí’s voice came through the laptop speakers, warm and vibrant, filling the cold room like a sudden fire on a winter hearth. “If you are watching this, it means my heart has failed, and Valeria has done exactly what I anticipated.”
A sob broke from my throat as I reached out to touch the glass screen.
“I am sorry, Mamá,” Neftalí continued, his voice tightening with deep emotion. “I am so sorry I had to play the part of a blind, passive husband for the last two years. I had to let Valeria believe she was in complete control of my life, my medications, and my estate.”
He took a slow breath on the recording.
“Four years ago, right after our wedding, I discovered that Valeria had not married me out of affection. She was working with Rodrigo Morales—her former business partner and lover—to systematically divert funds from my logistics firm. When my cardiomyopathy was diagnosed, their greed turned lethal. I caught her replacing my cardiovascular prescriptions with inert sugar placebos.”
My heart stopped beating. The cabin seemed to spin around me.
“I could not confront her directly in the courts then,” Neftalí explained, his jaw setting like granite. “Rodrigo had corrupted our local banking contacts. If I had simply filed for divorce, they would have tied my assets in litigation, and you would have been left penniless while I was hospitalized. So, I built a vault.”
Neftalí gestured to the room around him.
“The four-million-dollar mansion in San Angel was purchased 100% with my pre-marital commercial reserves through an irrevocable trust: The Eulalia Arismendi Heritage Foundation. Valeria never owned a single brick. She only possessed a revocable spouse license that automatically terminated upon my death.”
Neftalí leaned close to the camera, looking straight into my eyes.
“Valeria thought she was exiling you to die in these mountains, Mamá. In reality, she sent you directly to the fortress where I stored the keys to her destruction. Call Attorney Mateo Navarro. The number is on the back of the deed. Take back our house, Mamá. And never let them make you bow your head again.”
May you like
The screen faded to black.
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