Chapter 34 Partners

Chapter 34 Partners
I read Mateo’s words with shaking hands.

I attempted to maintain appropriate boundaries with Miss Vega after discovering she was my student. She pursued contact repeatedly. Appeared at my office uninvited. Initiated physical encounters despite my verbal objections. I take responsibility for not reporting her behavior or removing myself from the situation, but I want the record to reflect that I was not the initiator.

The words blur.

Marina grabs the document. “This is coerced testimony. What did you offer him?”

“Nothing. He volunteered to it.” Ruiz speaks for the first time. “Professor Sandoval is cooperating fully. Providing details of every encounter, every attempt he made to establish distance, every time Miss Vega contacted him first.”

“He’s lying to save himself…”

“Or he’s telling the truth and you’ve been lying to save yourself.” Morales sits again. “So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to give us your version of events. Every detail. Every encounter. Every conversation and we’re going to compare it to Professor Sandoval’s statement and the video evidence. Any discrepancies, any lies, any attempts to manipulate the narrative and we file conspiracy charges against you both.”

Marina squeezes my arm. Warning. Caution.

But I’m already talking. “I want to see Mateo. Now.”

“That’s not possible…”

“Then I’m not saying another word.” I stand. “Either you let me confront him with his lies, or I invoke my right to silence and you get nothing.”

Morales and Ruiz exchange looks.

“Five minutes,” Morales finally says. “Supervised. Recorded. And if either of you tries to coordinate stories, we end it immediately.”

They lead me down the hall to another interrogation room.

Mateo sits at the table, head in his hands. He looks up when I enter.

The expression on his face is guilt, fear, resignation, it tells me everything.

“You actually said that?” My voice shakes. “That I pursued you? That you tried to maintain boundaries?”

“Elena…”

“After everything. After my father died. After we survived your family and David and the entire world seeing us fuck…you’re throwing me under the bus to save yourself?”

“That’s not what I’m doing…”

“Then what are you doing? Because that statement says I’m the predator. That I manipulated you. That none of this was your fault.”

He stands. “They said they had evidence. That your father paid you. That you opened secret accounts. That you targeted me deliberately.” His voice rises. “They showed me GPS data proving you were tracking my movements. Bank transfers. A whole conspiracy laid out in documents and they said either I cooperate and confirm you initiated everything, or they charge us both.”

“So you believed them, that I was working with my dead father to entrap you?”

“I didn’t know what to believe! Your father planted cameras. Your mother knew. You conveniently showed up at exactly the right bar at exactly the right time.” He’s shouting now. “How am I supposed to know what was real? What if you were playing me from the beginning?”

The accusation hangs between us.

“Get out,” I say quietly.

“Elena…”

“Get. Out.”

Marina appears in the doorway. “This interview is over. Miss Vega is invoking her right to counsel.”

Mateo doesn’t move. “I’m sorry. I panicked. They made it sound so convincing…”

“You apologized to the wrong person.” I turn to the detectives. “I’ll make you a deal. Full immunity for everything, the affair, the modeling, all of it in exchange for the complete truth about my father’s plan and Mateo’s involvement.”

“Elena, don’t…” Marina starts.

“Including the parts that make me look bad. Including admitting I pursued him, initiated contact, couldn’t take no for an answer.” I look at Mateo. “Because apparently that’s the truth everyone wants to hear.”

Morales considers. “What are you offering that we don’t already have?”

“Proof that Mateo knew about the cameras. That he was working with my father the whole time. That everything he just told you was a lie.”

Mateo goes pale. “That’s not true…”

“Isn’t it? Because I have text messages between you and my father. From three months ago before we ever met. Discussing me, my relationship with David, my vulnerabilities, planning the whole thing.”

I don’t have the texts. I’m bluffing but Mateo doesn’t know that.

“You’re lying,” he says. But his voice wavers.

“Am I? Then why did my father’s phone records show seventeen calls to your number between June and September? Before I ever walked into your classroom?”

Mateo’s face drains of color.

The detectives lean forward.

“Miss Vega,” Ruiz says carefully. “Do you have access to these messages?”

“My father’s phone. It’s with his personal effects. My mother has it.”

“We’ll need to see it…”

“I’ll provide it but first, I want that immunity deal in writing and I want Mateo charged with conspiracy. Because if I’m going down for being the predator, he’s going down for being the architect.”

Marina is staring at me like I’ve lost my mind.

Mateo is shaking. “Elena please. There are no messages because I never spoke to your father before he died…”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” I turn to leave. “Get the immunity paperwork ready. I’ll bring the phone tomorrow.”

Morales stops me. “Miss Vega. If you’re fabricating evidence…”

“I’m not. My father documented everything. Including his accomplice.” I look at Mateo one last time. “You wanted to throw me to the wolves? Fine but I’m taking you with me.”

I walk out.

In the hallway, Marina grabs my arm. “What the hell was that? You don’t have any texts…”

“I know.”

“So you just committed perjury and evidence tampering in front of two detectives…”

“They don’t know that yet.” I’m already walking toward the exit. “By tomorrow, I’ll have something to give them.”

“How? Your father’s phone is probably wiped…”

“Then I’ll create something.” I push through the exit doors into cold night air. “I’m done being the victim. Done being the pursued, the manipulator, the predator, the pawn. If everyone wants me to be the villain? Fine. I’ll be the fucking villain.”

Sofia is waiting by her car. “How bad?”

“Catastrophic. Mateo turned on me. I turned on him. The police think we’re both lying.” I climb into the passenger seat. “Take me to my mother’s.”

“Why?”

“Because she has my father’s phone and I need to see who he was really talking to in those last few months.”

We drive to Valencia in silence.

My mother’s apartment is dark. I use my key again.

She is asleep on the couch, surrounded by Papa’s things. I search quietly until I find his phone in a box marked “Personal Effects.”

It’s locked. It needs a code, I try his birthday, mama’s birthday and then mine.

Finally: our restaurant’s address.

It unlocks.

I open his messages. Scroll back three months.

There, a number I don’t recognize. Seventeen text conversations between June and September.

I open the first one, my hands start shaking.

Papa: She broke up with the Chen boy today. She’s vulnerable. Ready.

Unknown: Good. I’ll be at Refugio Friday night. Make sure she’s there.

Papa: She will be there. It’s the nearest Bar to David’s apartment. She thinks it was her idea, after the breakup she’ll need a place to clear her head.

Unknown: Perfect. Once we have documentation, we can proceed to phase two.

Papa: Are you certain about this? If she finds out…

Unknown: She won’t and even if she does, she’ll be too compromised to expose us. This only works if she believes it’s real.

Papa: And Mateo Sandoval?

Unknown: He’s the perfect patsy. History of scandals, weak boundaries, wealthy family. Once we have evidence of him pursuing her, the lawsuit practically writes itself.

Papa: What if they actually fall in love?

Unknown: Even better. Emotional investment makes better plaintiffs.

I scroll to the contact name.

It’s not Mateo, it’s not Carlos Sandoval, it’s definitely not David.

The contact is saved as “M.C.” Marina Castillo. Mateo’s lawyer.

The woman who’s been representing us both from the beginning. Who knew every detail of our case, our evidence, our strategy. Who had access to all our communications.

Who’s been in the interrogation room today, feeding information to the police, positioning us against each other.

My father wasn’t trying to protect me or Mateo.

He was working with Marina to create the perfect lawsuit. Against the university. Against the Sandoval family. Using us both as pawns.

And Marina has been playing both sides from the beginning.

I’m about to call Sofia when footsteps sound behind me.

I turn.

Marina stands in my mother’s doorway, holding a gun.

“You should have stopped looking, Elena.” Her voice is calm, professional. “Now I have to clean up one more mess.“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​