Chapter 3 - The Hidden Cameras
We returned to the ranch with four deputies.
Rodrigo wasn't there.
The house was empty.
But something immediately caught my attention.
There were cameras.
Everywhere.
Kitchen.
Hallway.
Backyard.
Chicken coop.
Barn.
I stared at the monitors.
“He was watching her.”
Deputy Hill nodded.
“Looks like it.”
I watched the footage.
Rodrigo appeared on screen.
He walked into the chicken coop.
Mariana was on her knees.
He placed a bowl of dry corn beside her.
“Eat.”
She looked at him.
“Please, Rodrigo.”
“You're lucky I'm feeding you at all.”
He locked the door.
Then walked away.
I covered my mouth.
We watched another recording.
Mariana was crying.
Rodrigo stood outside.
“Tell me where the documents are.”
“I don't know.”
“Then you'll stay there.”
He walked away.
The deputy stared at the screen.
“This is enough for an arrest warrant.”
But I noticed something else.
A hidden folder.
The footage went back almost two years.
And there were recordings of Sofia.
I couldn't watch.
But Deputy Hill did.
He found one video showing Rodrigo dragging Sofia into the tack room.
Another showed him threatening Mariana.
Then a third showed something worse.
Rodrigo meeting a man I didn't recognize.
They were standing beside the barn.
The stranger handed Rodrigo an envelope.
Rodrigo said:
“Once the ranch is transferred, she'll be gone.”
The stranger asked:
“And the girl?”
Rodrigo answered:
“She won't matter.”
I felt sick.
“What ranch transfer?”
My late husband's property was still legally mine.
I had never signed anything.
But the investigators searched the office.
They found forged documents.
A deed transfer.
My signature.
My name.
Everything looked legitimate.
Except I had never signed it.
My attorney confirmed the forgery.
Rodrigo had been trying to steal the ranch.
And there was more.
He owed almost $600,000.
If he couldn't pay, he would lose everything.
The ranch was his only way out.
I sat at my husband's old desk.
Eight years ago, he had told me:
“Teresa, this land isn't just property.”
I had smiled.
“What is it?”
“It's security.”
Now I understood.
Rodrigo had spent years trying to turn that security into cash.
He had destroyed his own marriage.
Hidden his daughter.
Starved his wife.
And tried to steal his father's legacy.
But there was one mystery left.
Who was the man helping him?
The deputies found his name in the financial records.
Daniel Cortez.
A real estate developer.
I recognized it.
He had approached my husband years earlier about buying part of the ranch.
Alejandro had refused.
Now Cortez was trying again.
Except this time, Rodrigo was helping him.
That night, my attorney arrived.
He looked at the forged deed.
Then at me.
“Teresa, this is much bigger than domestic abuse.”
“I know.”
“Rodrigo wasn't planning to sell the ranch.”
“What was he planning?”
“He was planning to use your death to transfer everything.”
I stared.
“My death?”
He nodded.
“There is a life insurance policy.”
I felt cold.
“Whose name is on it?”
He looked at me.
“Yours.”
The room went silent.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
Leave Texas tonight, or your granddaughter won't see another sunrise.
I looked at Sofia sleeping in the next room.
Then I deleted the message.
“No.”
My attorney stared.
“What?”
May you like
I stood.
“I'm not leaving.”
